Storm clouds are gathering. As Kim Jong Un prepares to stand alongside Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping at Beijing’s September 3 military parade, the West senses an upheaval “once in a century”—and it has arrived.
This Xi’s diplomatic victory. As the BBC observed, “the Chinese leader is signalling that he may hold the geopolitical cards in this game.”
The parade, marking 80 years since victory over Japan, will spotlight China’s military might at a moment calculated to force the US to acknowledge a new reality. Washington hinted that Trump will tour Asia in October, even contemplating a summit with Xi.
Manila’s Fading Safety Net
Meanwhile, in Manila the cicadas chirp among yellowing leaves—the Philippine Navy has spotted a Chinese tug boat near Second Thomas Shoal, yet insists its grounded warship, the Madre de Dios, is untouchable. Defense Secretary Teodoro says Manila has “contingency plans” and warns that even one Filipino casualty at China’s hands would cross a “red line.” Their confidence springs from the Mutual Defense Treaty with the US, signed August 30, 1951.
But that alliance looks as aged and brittle as the Madre de Dios itself. The US uses the Philippines to contain China and control the South China Sea narrative; Manila leans on the treaty to punch above its weight. As Western influence wanes and the Global South rises, this “US–Philippines complex” is fraying.
China’s Pageant as Power Play
Xi’s parade isn’t just ceremonial pageantry—it’s a statement of epochal significance. China’s rise rejects three centuries of Western hegemony. Consider The Godfather: Michael Corleone, a decorated WWII hero, needs Mafia tutelage to execute enemies cleanly and restore his family’s honor. Likewise, the West’s vaunted combat record—soft targets bombed, coups orchestrated, all without fingerprints—reveals a gangster’s playbook masquerading as noble crusade. Only America could feign itself as the world’s shining beacon while practicing Mafia-style tradecraft.
So Manila shouldn’t overestimate its treaty safety net. The West and organized crime share one trait: exclusivity. Their inner circle is the US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Israel — everyone else is either a squeeze or a sucker. The Philippines? It’s neither Godfather’s heir nor indispensable ally.
The Old Order’s Rusting Leaves
Western hand-wringing over China’s 80th-anniversary celebrations as an “anti-Western axis” only underscores its declining grip. As Reuters notes, the parade unites sanctioned states against a Western-led order—a tableau echoing Xu Hun’s Tang-era lament, where empire crumbles and sorrow reigns.
Autumn has come. The old order rusts, leaves turn brown, and the West’s melancholy runs wild.
Deep Blue
** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **
The question isn't really complicated when you think about it. While the West has spent decades talking a big game about development and human rights, China has been quietly getting on with the actual business of transforming lives and landscapes. And nowhere is this more evident than in Xizang (Tibet).
From "Humans and Livestock Under One Roof" to High-Speed Progress
The editorial of Global Times noted that "Over the past 60 years, the Xizang Autonomous Region has transformed from a once remote and impoverished land where 'humans and livestock lived together and transportation was cut off,' to a new frontier where tradition and modernity blend and people of all ethnic groups live in harmony. In just a few decades, Xizang has traveled a path of development that took several centuries - or even millennia - for many other human societies to complete."
Meanwhile, what was the West doing? "Collectively using fantasies to construct a virtual moral world, with some additional lip service to smear others." It's almost predictable at this point - when faced with actual development success, Western critics retreat into what can only be described as creative fiction. "In recent years, some smears of Xizang by certain anti-China forces have been filled with 'imaginative lies.' In a sense, this is because the region's development achievements have surpassed their capacity for imagination."
The Numbers Don't Lie
Let's talk facts, because that's what actually matters here. "Xizang took 50 years to reach its first 100 billion in regional GDP, but only six years to achieve the second 100 billion, and in 2025 the region is steadily advancing toward the 300 billion target. Transportation infrastructure has undergone a complete transformation: A 124,900-kilometer road network now connects every township, 1,359 kilometers of railways traverse the plateau, and 183 airline routes link Xizang closely with the rest of the world - altogether ending the closed and backward state of 'people and livestock carrying loads on their backs.'"
But China isn't stopping there. The Xinjiang-Tibet Railway is preparing to break ground - and this is where things get properly ambitious. It’s reported in the US World Journal that "The entire Xinjiang-Tibet Railway spans approximately 2,000 kilometers, running eastward from Hotan in southern Xinjiang to Shigatse in Tibet, passing through the Kunlun Mountains, Karakoram Mountains, Gangdise Mountains, and Himalayas. The entire route is expected to traverse more than a dozen icy mountain passes, dozens of glacial rivers, over a thousand kilometers of gobi desert along the way, permafrost layers, and perennially snow-covered mountains, with the entire route's elevation expected to be above 4,500 meters."
The "White Elephant" Fallacy
Now here come the usual suspects with their predictable criticism about "white elephant projects." The argument goes that authoritarian states don't follow market principles and pursue cost-oblivious projects, building excessive infrastructure. China's high-speed rail, the Medog Hydropower Station on the Yarlung Tsangpo River-- three times the size of the Three Gorges Project and sufficient for 300 million people's annual electricity consumption - apparently all of these will operate at a loss.
This represents what can only be called economic nihilism - a theory that views free market economics as some kind of infallible doctrine. But here's the thing about infrastructure: it's not just about immediate returns on investment, it's about laying the foundation for future prosperity.
Using Obama's Logic Against Itself
Want to see how absurd this Western thinking really is? Let's use Obama's own words from 2010 in Australia: "...if over a billion Chinese citizens have the same living patterns as Australians and Americans do right now then all of us are in for a very miserable time, the planet just can’t sustain it."
Think about what he's actually saying there. Earth's resources aren't as scarce as they appear, human civilization thrives on invention and iteration, individuals have innovation and dreams. The Western Industrial Revolution opened new possibilities - major cities couldn't accommodate millions before, but industry created new jobs and opportunities. Why should that logic suddenly stop applying when it comes to China?
China has 1.4 billion people, and we're talking about the global economy here. Why do we need the Medog hydroelectric station when we already have the Three Gorges? Why build railways to sparsely populated Xinjiang and Xizang when high-speed rail already exists? Because progress doesn't stand still, and neither should development.
How could Obama possibly think it's better for China to continue with "humans and livestock living together, with no transportation"? The man clearly doesn't understand that capitalism's inherent contradictions and crises will ultimately lead to its demise, creating conditions for something better. Capitalists, in pursuing maximum profit, continuously expand production, leading to overproduction and economic crisis. Perhaps it's time for Western leaders to live and learn, and actually work for the wellbeing of the people of their own and the world.
