China’s 70th birthday: A nurtured narrativeBy FRANK CHINGhome/Opinion/Op-Ed Columns/China’s 70th birthday: A nurtured narrativeTHE People’s Republic of China is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its founding this week with fireworks, a huge parade showing off its latest military hardware and a vast outpouring of facts and figures to show the progress that had been made under Communist Party rule. China’s per capita GDP had actually dropped relative to the world average from 1952 to 1978. The paper on China and the world seeks to reassure other countries that they have nothing to fear from a resurgent China. In Southeast Asia, China’s Communist Party gave material aid to underground communist movements even after those countries had established diplomatic relations with China. Beijing called itself the friend of those governments, while its Communist Party supported insurgents in those countries whose aim was to overthrow those governments.

Source: Manila Times September 30, 2019 16:12 UTC