Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A571-W339

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号: A571-W339

 

Release Date: October 2, 2010

发布日:2010年10月2日

 

Topic: The Way Out for China (Part XXV): The RenMinBi Currency Vote in the US Congress and the Cheap Goods Produced by the Exploited Chinese Workers - Wei Jingsheng

标题: 《中国的出路》之二十五:美国国会的人民币汇率议案及中国廉价劳动力生产的廉价商品 -- 魏京生

 

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准(英文在前,中文在后)

 

Note: Please use "Simplified Chinese (GB2312)" encoding to view the Chinese parts of this release.  If this mail does not display properly in your email program, please send your request for special delivery to us or visit:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2010/report2010-10/WeiJS101002ChinaWayOut25CurrencyVoteHR2378A571-W339.htm which contains identical information.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

The Way Out for China (Part XXV): The RenMinBi Currency Vote in the US Congress and the Cheap Goods Produced by the Exploited Chinese Workers

-- by Wei Jingsheng

 

 

In East Asia, recent attention has been given to disputes over the Senkaku islands, known as the Diaoyu islands to Chinese and the Pinnacle Islands in English.  In fact, these islands are not particularly significant for the Chinese people's fate.  In an effort to maintain its one-party dictatorial regime, the Chinese Communist Party has been bought out by international forces, in a way of betraying territories and interests that are much greater than this.  We should be more concerned about the rights and interests of ordinary Chinese.  Such is the future of China.  Such is the most relevant and important issue to our people's fate.  Here, I am talking about the trade sanction resolution debate in the US Congress.  (This bi-partisan resolution has the official title H.R.2378 - Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act.)

 

Even though the trade imbalance between China and the USA has fattened a group of capitalists and also indirectly enriched a group of bad politicians in the US, still the USA is a democratic nation trying to put its people first.  When popular discontent rises, more and more politicians have to stand on the side of the people or have to leave the post which they represent.  This truth would be a dream of vain hope in a movie in China, yet it is a reality in the USA that even children know.

 

Although this H.R.2378 has not reached the House floor for a vote yet, already almost half of the US representatives have co-sponsored this resolution.  Now the only issue left is for the Speaker of the House to pick the date and to line it up for a vote.  Speaker Nancy Pelosi has very clearly stated an attitude to align herself with the people.  Although commerce that represents the interest of the big businesses and the Chinese Communist Party has been lobbying very hard against it, for once it has not been effective.  To this date, we have not seen any representative dare to make a contradictory resolution or even a compromise version.  Therefore, it is only a matter of time to pass this resolution in the US Congress without too much suspense, unless the Chinese Communist regime immediately increases value of the Chinese currency RenMinBi by a substantial amount. [*editor's note: H.R. 2378 passed the House on Wednesday 29 September with a vote of 348 - 79, after Mr. Wei wrote this article on September 24, 2010.]

 

The motive for the Americans to balance the US-China trade and eliminate the trade deficit is very obvious.  It is to restore the vitality of the U.S. economy and walk out of the economic crisis.  Most people are aware that the economic crisis has been caused by the huge foreign trade deficit maintained over a long period of time.   The main cause of this deficit is due to the unreasonable cheap labor maintained by the Chinese Communist regime.  There are two main ways to maintain cheap labor.  One is to suppress the trade unions and human rights movement like what the Chinese government do.  The other is to maintain the below-market price of the Chinese currency, RenMinBi.

 

When the Chinese currency is undervalued, the price of all Chinese export is undervalued, which makes it artificially very competitive.  This is the true reason that Chinese goods of poor, fake and shoddy quality can fill the Western markets.  Indeed, China does have a lot of goods that meet international standards, due to its technological advances and import of foreign advanced technology.  However, there are many more products that rely solely on low price to gain a competitive edge, making the China name synonymous with shoddy material while unreasonably crowding out the markets of Western enterprises.

 

This activity has resulted in two strange global phenomena in the past decade.  The first is that product quality is getting worse.  The second is that wealth is becoming more concentrated.  On one side, the rich countries are getting poorer, while the poor countries are getting richer.  On the other, regardless of rich or poor country, rich people are getting richer while poor people are getting poorer.  The Gross Domestic Products are growing in both poor and rich countries, yet their market consumptions are relatively in decline or stagnation.  This asymmetry between production and consumption is the root cause of the entire economic crisis.  And, the main cause that produced this economic crisis is the extreme expansion of production in China, while consumption is stagnating.

 

An important means to export this unbalance to the whole globe is from the joint participation between China's exporting trade and Western capital.  A product produced by cheap labor in China replaces an American worker who would make 20 to 50 times more in income.  So even if the products are sold at half of the price, the profit is significantly increased, while the shared consumption decreased.

 

Where has the money gone?  Into a rapid increase of the wealth of select individuals globally.  Increased wealth in the middle class and poor would bolster the consumer market.   Increased wealth of the already wealthy does not.  Instead, these wealthy people put their money into investment and the financial market.  This false investment is the major source of the economic crisis: there is a capitol surplus, a production surplus, yet the global market consumption capacity cannot respond.  This phenomenon first appeared in China, then via the unfair trade relationship got exported to the world (primarily to Western developed countries, because initially consumers there were seduced by the lower prices) to maximize the profit.

 

The cheap labor in China is maintained by the suppression of the workers and maintaining a low RMB value.  However, only with a high price market in the West, can the maximum profit be realized.  So the Chinese model has adopted a basic principal of Marxism: the Western democracy is a democracy of the capitalists.  By way of benefit sharing, they were able to buy these Western capitalists, thus help to buy Western politicians and control Western politics for the Communist Party.  On this issue, Deng Xiaoping is more a Marxist than Joseph Stalin or Mao Zedong.

 

But Marx was more a cynic, rather than a scholar.  His theory must be revised to fit with reality.  When the controlled Western politics fattens the Nazi or the Communist Party, Western politics itself will have problems.  Although the people's reaction maybe slower, ultimately, people have rights and the vote.  Neither money nor power can block the people's mouth.  This is the importance of freedom of speech.  This is the essence of the Western-style democracy.  After the American people found out this plot by the capitalists and politicians in both China and the USA, gradually they are forcing the Western politicians to retreat from the situation that makes these capitalists and politicians rich at the expense of the people.  This is the initiative for the USA to have trade sanctions against China.

 

The Chinese Communist Party and its propaganda tools have always tried to spread the opinion that the current status of the Sino-US trade maintains cheap consumer goods in the West while ensuring the employment of Chinese workers.  This seemingly correct theory is actually a deception.  The current global economic crisis has exactly proved that it is a deception.  While the Western consumers indeed benefited from more than a decade of low priced consumption, it was exactly this irrational over-consumption that deprived them of their jobs.  Nowadays, many people cannot or dare not face cheap goods anymore.  The Western economy has not become more prosperous due to this cheap consumption; peoples' lives have become more difficult.

 

China's situation is even more tragic.  When people are thinking that maintaining the Japanese model of low priced exports could develop China's economy, while migrant peasant workers are cheering for the jobs that they might find in the export business, quietly, many others are losing their jobs and benefits.  By the Chinese government's own statistics, the Chinese people's consumption level has not grown in synchronization with the production growth.  To use genteel words by an academic scholar: China is a factory of production for the world.  The value that the consumer market has lost has become the wealth of the capitalists and corrupt officials in China and the world.  American society and its people do not enjoy much of the fruits of economic growth, and the Chinese society and its people have even less.

 

Therefore, many Chinese people have begun to cherish the Mao era. The fact is that Mao Zedong's ideas and ways already met their end and were proven to be wrong long ago, and now Deng Xiaoping's ideas and ways are also proven to be wrong and coming to an end.  For China to have a normal development that could be sustained, we must let our people live a life that matches their production ability.  The whole world must open a new political and economical path.  Later, we will continue to discuss this issue.

 

 

To hear Mr. Wei Jingsheng's commentary, please visit:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2010/WeiJS100924ChinaWayOut25CurrencyVoteHR2378.mp3

 

(Written and recorded on September 24, 2010.  Broadcasted by Radio Free Asia.)

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

This is a message from WeiJingSheng.org

 

The Wei Jingsheng Foundation and the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition are dedicated to the promotion of human rights and democratization in China.  We appreciate your assistance and help in any means.  We pledge solidarity to all who struggle for human rights and democratic governance on this planet. 

 

You are welcome to use or distribute this release.  However, please credit with this foundation and its website at: www.weijingsheng.org

 

Although we are unable to afford to pay royalty fees at this time, we are seeking your contribution as well.  You may send your articles, comments and opinions to: HCP@weijingsheng.org.  Please remember, only in text files, not in attachments.

 

For website issues and suggestions, you may contact our professional staff and web master at: webmaster@Weijingsheng.org

 

To find out more about us, please also visit our websites at:

www.WeiJingSheng.org and www.ChinaLaborUnion.org

for news and information for Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition and human rights and democracy movement as whole, especially our Chinese Labor Union Base.

 

You may contact Ciping Huang at: HCP@Weijingsheng.org or

Wei Jingsheng Foundation office at: 1-202-543-1538 Fax: 1-202-543-1539

 

Wei Jingsheng Foundation's postal address is:

Wei Jingsheng Foundation, P. O. Box 15449, Washington, DC 20003, USA

 

You are receiving this message because you had previous shown your interest in learning more about Mr. Wei Jingsheng and the Chinese Democratic Movement.  To be removed from the list, simply reply this message and use "unsubscribe" as the Subject.  Please allow us a few days to process your request.

 

*****************************************************************

中文版

 

Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A571-W339

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号: A571-W339

 

Release Date: October 2, 2010

发布日:2010年10月2日

 

Topic: The Way Out for China (Part XXV): The RenMinBi Currency Vote in the US Congress and the Cheap Goods Produced by the Exploited Chinese Workers - Wei Jingsheng

标题: 《中国的出路》之二十五:美国国会的人民币汇率议案及中国廉价劳动力生产的廉价商品 -- 魏京生

 

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准(英文在前,中文在后)

 

如有中文乱码问题,请与我们联系或访问:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2010/report2010-10/WeiJS101002ChinaWayOut25CurrencyVoteHR2378A571-W339.htm

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

《中国的出路》之二十五:美国国会的人民币汇率议案及中国廉价劳动力生产的廉价商品

-- 魏京生

 

 

在东亚,最近人们的注意力都被中日之间的钓鱼岛纠纷所吸引。其实那倒是无关中国命运的小事件。共产党为了收买国际势力以维护一党专政的统治,出卖的领土和利益比这个小岛大得多。我们更应该关注的是普通老百姓的权利和利益。这才是中国的前途。这才是和老百姓的命运最相关的重大事务。我说的就是美国国会正在讨论的贸易制裁法案。正式的说法是人民币汇率问题。

 

虽然中美之间不平衡的贸易养肥了一批美国资本家,也间接地养肥了一批美国的不良政客,但这毕竟是民主政治:老百姓至上。当人民的不满日益高涨的时候,越来越多的政治家不得不选择站在老百姓的一边,否则你就得回家种红薯。这在中国是电影里的梦想,而在美国却是小孩子都知道的现实。

 

所以,现在法案还没有提交众议院辩论,就已经有将近一半的议员联署。剩下的就是议长决定什么时候拿出来排上号来投票的问题了。议长南希佩洛西的态度十分明确地站在老百姓的一边。虽然代表大企业和中共利益的商会十分卖力地在游说,但是效果十分不理想。至今没有议员敢提出相反的或者折中的议案。因此通过这议案只不过是时间问题了,没多少悬念,除非中共立即大幅度提高人民币的币值。

 

美国人要平衡美中贸易,消灭贸易逆差的动机十分明显。那就是要恢复美国经济的活力,走出经济危机。大多数人都意识到这一波的经济危机是美国长期维持对外贸易的巨额逆差造成的。而这个贸易逆差主要是因为中国政府长期维持不合理的廉价劳动力。维持廉价劳动力有两个主要手段,一个是镇压工会和维权运动;另一个就是维持人民币的低于市场价格的币值。

 

在人民币被低估的情况下,所有中国出口商品的价格就被低估了,也就是说一下子变得很有竞争力了。这就是中国的劣质的、假冒的,和粗制滥造的商品可以充斥西方市场的真正原因。中国确实有很多商品,由于自己的技术进步和外资企业输入的先进技术而符合国际市场的标准,但更多的却是仅仅依靠超低价格获得竞争力的商品,使得中国制造获得了粗制滥造代名词的坏名声,同时不合理的挤占了西方企业的市场。

 

这就造成了十年来的两个全球性的怪现象;一是商品质量越来越差;二是财富愈来愈集中。富国越来越穷;穷国越来越富。可是无论富国还是穷国,都是富人越来越富,穷人越来越穷。穷国和富国的国民生产值都在迅速地增长,而他们的市场消费却在相对下降或者停滞。这种生产和消费的不对称;是所有经济危机的根本原因。而制造了本次经济危机的主要原因,正是中国的生产极度扩张,而消费却停滞不前。

 

中国的出口贸易和西方资本参与了这个过程,是把这个不平衡出口到全球的重要手段。一个中国的廉价劳动力所生产的同样的产品,所取代的是一个二十到五十倍的美国工人。即使它以一半的价格出售。他们共同的消费也减少了一半甚至更多。

 

那些钱到哪儿去了呢?这就是全球富翁迅速增加的原因。中产阶级和穷人的钱多了会大部投入到消费市场;富翁们钱多了大部分不会投入到消费市场。而是投入到投资和金融市场。这正是本次经济危机的主要表现:资金过剩、产能过剩而全球市场消费能力却不足。这个现象首先出现在中国,然后通过不公平的贸易关系出口到了全球,主要是西方发达国家,因为在那儿才有最好的价格。也就是说可以实现利益最大化。

 

用镇压人民和压低人民币值的方法维持了廉价劳动力。还得有西方的高价市场才能实现利益的最大化。但是,必须有西方国家的认可你才能做到这一点。于是中国模式就采取了马克思主义的一个基本原理:西方的民主是资本家的民主。用分享利益的方法收买西方资本家,他们就会帮着收买西方的政客,控制西方的政治为共产党所用。在这一点上邓小平比斯大林、毛泽东更像一个马克思主义者。

 

但是马克思更像一个愤青,而不太像一个学者。他的理论必须加以修正才比较符合现实。当受控制的西方政治养肥了纳粹和共产党之后,西方的政治本身就会出问题。因为人民的反应虽然是迟钝的,但最终的主权还是在人民的手里。而且无论是金钱还是权势,都不能堵住老百姓的嘴。这就是言论自由的重要性。这就是西方式民主的本质。在人民都发现中美资本家和政客们做的这个局之后,他们渐渐地反应过来了,正在迫使西方的政客退出这个让他们和资本家发财,却让老百姓买单的政局。这就是美国不得不贸易制裁中国的起因。

 

共产党和他们的宣传工具一直都在散播一种舆论,说中美贸易现在的格局维持了西方的廉价消费品,同时保证了中国工人的就业。这种理论貌似正确,实际上是一种欺骗。现在的全球经济危机正好证明了这是一种欺骗。西方的消费者确实享受了十几年的廉价消费,但这种不合理的过度消费剥夺了他们的工作机会。现在很多人面对着廉价商品不能或者不敢消费了。西方的经济并没有因为廉价消费更繁荣,生活却因为廉价消费变得困难了。

 

中国的情况更悲惨。就在人们以为维持廉价出口的日本模式可以发展中国经济的时候,就在农民工欢呼他们可以在出口企业中找到工作的时候,另一些人在悄悄地失去他们的工作和福利待遇。按中国政府自己的统计,中国人的消费水平并没有随着生产的增长而同步增长。用一位学者文诌诌的话说,是一个为别人生产的世界加工厂。消费市场失去的那一大部分价值,变成了中外资本家和中外贪官污吏的财富。美国社会和人民没有享受到太多经济增长的成果,中国社会和人民享受到的更少。

 

所以,很多中国人开始怀念毛泽东了。其实,毛泽东的一套早就破产了,如今邓小平的一套也已经破产。中国要走上可持续的正常发展,就必须让老百姓过上与他们的生产能力相称的生活。全球必须开辟一条新的政治经济道路。我们在今后会继续讨论这个问题。

 

 

聆听魏京生先生的相关录音,请访问:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2010/WeiJS100924ChinaWayOut25CurrencyVoteHR2378.mp3

 

(撰写并录音于2010年9月24日。自由亚洲电台播出。)

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

魏京生基金会及中国民主运动海外联席会议以推动中国的人权与民主为己任。

我们欢迎任何形式的帮助与贡献。我们愿与世界上为人权与民主而奋斗的人们一起努力。

 

我们希望您能够帮助我们散发我们的资料。但请标明出处与我们的网址:www.weijingsheng.org

欢迎投稿(暂无稿费)或批评建议,请寄信箱:  HCP@WEIJINGSHENG.ORG

 

魏京生基金会通讯地址:

Wei Jingsheng Foundation, P. O. Box 15449, Washington, DC 20003, USA

电话: 1-202-543-1538 传真:1-202-543-1539

 

魏京生基金会网址:WWW.weijingsheng.org

中国民主运动海外联席会议及中国团结工会的网址为:www.ChinaLaborUnion.org

 

阁下之所以收到本信,是因为阁下以前曾表示有兴趣了解魏京生先生和中国民主运动。

倘若阁下希望不再收到类似信息,请回复本信并用 unsubscribe 作为主题(Subject)。