China is not our enemy

I take issue with the column by Eli Fishman, "China is our enemy." While many of the facts he reports may be accurate, they do not in themselves make China our enemy.

The population of China may be three or four times larger than the United States, and it may have more men than women. But this does not make China our enemy. India also has a population nearing 1.5 billion, but we do not consider India our enemy.

If the United States had 1.5 billion people, it would have to adopt more stringent population controls. India is a nation that needs to get more control over its population growth to avoid widespread suffering among its people. China realizes that its population can not continue to grow unchecked, and it is having success in decreasing the growth rate. While the measures China has adopted to decrease its population growth rate may not be what we would select, we should not condemn China without understanding its culture.

Whether China is religious or not does not make it our enemy. We have atheists in our own nation, but we do not consider them enemies of the state. Fishman admits that Tibet was an autonomous region within China. When the dalai lama sought to make Tibet an independent nation, he met with the same resistance Southern states met in the 1860s when they sought to secede from the United States. The Falun Gong is a religious group that refuses to abide by the laws of China. Religious groups in the United States that violate our laws are dealt with accordingly by government authorities. All religious groups in China are experiencing exceptional growth under the current policies of the Chinese government.

Is there persecution? Yes. But whenever and wherever religious groups grow, there is always opposition. In fact, the Apostle Paul said, "Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (II Timothy 3:12). This happens even in the United States.

As China adopts the free-market economic system, we should give it time to adjust and learn. A market economy is not a perfect system. Even in the United States there are still areas where workers are not always treated fairly. China is buying more and more American products, and this will only increase in the future, which will be good for the U.S. economy. Americans buying Chinese "junk" is more a commentary on Americans than on the Chinese.

The fact that China has a different political system does not make it our enemy. There is no perfect political system among nations. The Chinese government has used harsh measures to put down rebellion in the past, but there have been great changes during the past 20 years in China. China does not pose a threat to any nation in the world today. Taiwan remains an internal matter since it is legally a province of China and not an independent nation.

We spent over 30 years working as missionary/teachers among the Chinese in Taiwan and China, and we can find no reason why the Chinese should be considered our enemy. We have every reason to consider them our friends. On Feb. 9 Chinese will celebrate their spring festival or Chinese New Year ,and we count it a privilege to celebrate with them.

Ron Winstead is a Jackson resident.