NEW YORK (AP) - The image of Ted Koppel interviewing world
leaders is so ingrained that it feels odd to see him wearing a
hardhat for a nervous trip into a Chinese coal mine, or sitting in
a Chongqing karaoke bar where teenage girls are hired to
"entertain" male customers.
Good thing he did, since the field work is what makes his
four-part Discovery Channel series, "The People's Republic of
Capitalism," so valuable. It premieres 10 p.m. Wednesday, with
three other installments at the same time on successive nights.
The series illustrates how dramatically China has changed in
ways obvious and not-so-obvious, from the jumble of new skyscrapers
in a city that barely existed two decades ago, to the drag bars
that operate despite official disapproval.
The opening images drive home the point that the U.S. and
China's economic interests are intertwined. A woman laid off at a
Briggs & Stratton plant in Missouri, wondering if she has the
skills to find new work, contrasts with the company's thriving
plant in China. Discovery traces an Ethan Allen sofa from its
assemblage in China, the upholstery done in the U.S. to its
purchase by a rich couple in China.
"You may not think you care much about what is happening in
China," Koppel told The Associated Press. "Let me tell you, what
happens over there is going to make quite a difference with what is
going to happen over here."
What is happening in the auto industry shows the complexity.
China is adding 25,000 new vehicles a day, many to first-time
buyers, and the country is embarked on a road-building binge
similar to what happened in the United States during the Eisenhower
administration.
More Buicks were sold in China last year than in the U.S., and
Ford increased its sales in China last year by 30 percent, the
Discovery series says. Liberty Mutual insurance is setting down
roots in a society where accident payoffs are often done in cash,
on the spot. Now some Chinese automakers are looking to export
their cars to the U.S.
Estimates are that by 2030, China will have more cars on the
road than the U.S.
Gas prices are already swirling toward $5 a gallon in the U.S.
now. What happens when there's so much more need for oil?
"We're going to be competitive with these people, and whether
that competition is resolved by collaboration or confrontation is
really the big question for the next 20 years," said Koppel, the
longtime "Nightline" host who was ABC News' Hong Kong bureau
chief from 1969 to 1971.
He recalled asking citizens of China during the 1970s about
their ambitions and hearing only that they wanted to do what was
best for their country.
"Now to see their kids 30 years later and you ask the kids the
same thing - what do you want to do? what do you want to be? (The
answer is) `I want to get rich. I want to make some money,"' he
said. "Everything is writ large in China. The changes are
absolutely mind-blowing. They've pushed about 300 million people
into the middle class."
Producers are so intent upon showing the changes on the ground,
a little more political perspective would have come in handy, like
a short history lesson on how the decision was made to turn China
aggressively capitalist.
The old "Nightline" Koppel, the one who made public officials
squirm, still makes an appearance in an interview with a man who
doesn't want to admit China punishes officials who take bribes but
not the businessmen who offer them.
Billionaire real estate developer Vincent Lo points out the
obvious irony that it's a communist country that now has "the most
pro-business government in the world." He considers some European
countries far more socialist than the once-feared "Red" China.
"The mistake that some people make, I think, is that they
assume capitalism is a political doctrine," Koppel said. "It's
not. It's an economic theory. You can have a totally capitalistic
society, which China is rapidly becoming, and still not be one step
closer to democracy."
The Discovery series appears like it was largely done before the
strong earthquake that struck the southwestern region around
Chongqing in May. It is dealt with briefly, and Koppel said it
provides a useful example of how the communist government keeps
such a strong hold on the country despite the economic freedoms.
Shortly after the earthquake, in an unusual phenomenon for
China, many people packed cars with supplies and drove to the
stricken region to help. The government let this go on for a few
weeks, then shut it down.
It was something the people were not asked to do by the state.
If this sort of thing continued, it could foster a spirit of
volunteerism, and ultimately organizations that could be a rival
for Communist Party control, he said.
Discovery interviews a 93-year-old peasant woman who, despite an
evident need for medical care, still says she's seen no better time
for China. That's a clue about why the new economic freedom hasn't
yet been followed by a strong yearning for political freedom,
Koppel said.
"What is keeping everybody more or less on balance right now is
the inarguable fact that China is better off today than it was 30
years ago," he said. "If for any reason it looks like that has
stopped, then the Chinese government has lost its legitimacy and
its reason for having earned the peoples' trust."
http://www.discovery.com
EDITOR'S NOTE - David Bauder can be reached at dbauder(at)ap.org
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