By Dayo Sobowale
The Communist Party of China celebrated its birthday with pomp and ceremony on July 1 to mark its founding 100 years ago. July is my favourite month for no other reason other than that I was born on July 15, 1951 . You can therefore see that I am in the same mood with the Chinese in this month of July. That mood however, should not affect an objective analysis of the way that the Chinese Communist Party has led its people for the past 100 years, as I intend to do today . If however, it turns out that my analysis seems favourable to the party, I assure you that would be a mere coincidence and not because of the fact that I was born in July the same month that the Chinese Communist Party seized power in China 100 years ago .
I intend to see China through a comparative political and cultural analysis and I will use the speech of the Chinese leader to his people to illustrate how the Chinese see themselves in terms of values , and the security of our world at large and their role now , and in the future in global politics. In reality, aside from the negative development that the pandemic started in China, there is no denying that China has arrived on the world stage with a bang .The fact that the last president of the US , Donald Trump spent his entire tenure fighting China on trade tariffs and intellectual property makes the importance of China on the world scene abundantly clear . China has the largest market with a population of 1.5bn which it has promised to use as a security brick wall against any nation planning to attack it . China in the world at large can be compared somewhat, with the epitaph in Saint Paul’s Cathedral London, on Christopher Wren, the architect and builder of the famous and majestic Cathedral. The epitaph simply says –‘If you must see his work, look around you’ . That much can be said and seen of the Chinese giant of a dragon in the ports, bridges, seaways, high tech, airports of the world at large . Even at home here in Nigeria, the Chinese company handling the 10 lane Badagry Express Way and the massive bridges astride the Marina going to Victoria Island from Ijora, show a vivid Chinese presence in terms amazing engineering and construction brilliance that makes me to doff my hat to the Chinese in terms of their presence in our midst here in Nigeria . My only fear is that we are paying their loans as and when due because the Chinese never give a free lunch and would seize Lagos, like they have seized some ports in Asia, when loans were not paid according to loan repayment schedule and agreements.
I now go to the speech of the Chinese leader President Xi Jinping to his people at Tiananmen Square. For the occasion Xi wore a Chinese tunic looking very much like Mao Tse Tung and did not wear his usual sleek suit. He reportedly warned foreign powers that they would have their heads bashed if they attempted to bully or influence China and China would not stand for any sanctimonious preaching from any nation. He warned that China is bent on unification with Taiwan and would defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity on that score. Of course there is no denying he was warning the US, the EU, and NATO, its military alliance. Russia is out of this as it is a well-known China’s ally against these nations the Chinese leader is warning so glaringly .
The issues here revolve around values and human rights . The nations of the west see human rights as the ultimate human values and have identified this in terms of sex , race , gender and the planned collapse of the family and the marriage institution . That was the excuse they gave in lambasting Hungary which has legislated that its children should not be taught knowledge that disrespect the family and recognizes mainly gender and not biological identity and cannot distinguish between a man and a woman. China , Russia hate such human, sexual and gender identification and Nigeria is on the same page with China with its anti-gay laws. To the Chinese, what is important is political stability,economic development and the security of its people with the use of legal institutions and the deployment of high class technology to protect its people and secure China’s presence in international waters and globally .
China is unabashedly socialist and its leader reiterated this in his 100 year anniversary speech. You can compare this with the US where the Republicans are calling members of the new Biden Administration socialists, an unthinkable thing in the US before. But that is reality and the cause is not far- fetched .The pandemic created high welfare spending on health grounds to protect Americans and such government spending is the way of big government in a welfare state characteristically . On the other hand, small government is the way of capitalism, the hallmark of the Republican Party. So while Republicans berate the Biden Administration as socialist they too would have spent a lot of money to fight the pandemic if they had won the 2020 presidential election.
Meanwhile, China has no qualms on its socialist status over the last 100 years and the Communist Party of about 7m members has been lording it over its population of 1.5bn and that really is business as usual with China and it seems good for the people and the party, at least for the last 100 years.
It is necessary to take a look at the situation in Nigeria especially with regard to our values and culture, especially with our religious composition and religions. Two developments caught our attention this last week. The first was the capture of the Igbo leader of a secessionist group in the east with the aid of the Interpol in a foreign land . That is a good security feat for the security forces and should boost their morale given the prevailing insecurity in the land, especially in the North where bandits are having a field day even in the president’s home state. But it was also reported that unidentified armed men attacked a Yoruba leader in his home killing people and abducting his wife . It is the duty of the security forces to protect Nigerians and not allow armed men to attack people who have a different view from that of the government . The essence of democracy is that the majority should have its way while the minority has its say. Nigeria is a democracy and it should practice what it preaches as a nation under the leadership of the government of the day . Some people while applauding the arrest of the secessionist leader have called on the government to use the same zeal and strategy to stop or arrest the leaders of the herdsmen who are Muslims or Boko Haram leaders who say No to Western education in the North East and the bandits in the North West and bring them to trial too. What is good for the goose should be good for the gander. That is the only way that we all can have a sense of belonging and the firm belief that the government will defend us all, regardless of our religion, beliefs and values.
Once again, from the fury of this pandemic, good Lord deliver Nigeria.
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