The numbers speak for themselves. 746,000 New Energy passenger cars were sold in China between January and October. By the end of 2018, all buses and taxis in the vital tech hub city of Shenzen will be electric. The central borough of the city of Dalian is expected to reach this benchmark by 2020. Chinese manufacturers created 358,000 non-fossil fuel buses from 2014 to 2017.
The Wall Street Journal quotes Sandra Retzer of the German Agency for International Cooperation as saying that when it comes to electric cars: “China is the only one in the race; it’s all Chinese manufacturers.”
The push for New Energy Vehicles is at the center of the “Made in China 2025” technology project heralded by Xi Jinping and the Communist Party. From 2009 to 2017 the Chinese government spent $48 billion to subsidize electric cars.
Meanwhile, the White House is singing a different song. Lawrence Kudlow of the White House National Economic Council announced on December 3rd that subsidies to US automakers to create electric cars are on the chopping block. He announced “We want to end, we will end those subsidies and others of the Obama administration…” This announcement comes in the aftermath of an agreement between Trump and Xi Jinping to end China’s 40% tariff on US made cars.
So, why is it that China is pushing electric cars like mad, while US leaders seem reluctant? So far the only moves by the US government have been weak subsidies to automakers, and even these small moves are on the verge of being rolled back.
The Fossil Fuel Economy: An Economic Prison for Humanity
As a small clique of western financiers emerged to dominate the global economy, oil was essential. John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, the descendent of which is the supermajor known as Exxon-Mobil, rides high over the world. Oil was discovered on the Arabian Peninsula in 1938, and soon the British were working to empower the House of Saud with weapons and other support.
The Russian Empire granted access to the oil fields of Azerbaijan to the Rothschild banking dynasty and various Swiss and British oil corporations. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, British troops were deployed to Azerbaijan to fight the Bolshevik Red Army in a vein attempt retake the oil that had been seized by the new Soviet government.
Wall Street and London have cornered the global oil market. Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and other despotic vassal states secure their access and control in the Middle East. Nigeria’s impoverished, corrupt state apparatus enables unlimited access for BP, Shell, Exxon-Mobil and Chevron. Hydraulic Fracking has made the USA an oil exporting, rather than importing country.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 opened the door for countries to challenge this economic setup. In 1920, the Bolsheviks convened the “Conference of the Peoples of the East” in Baku. Eventually the Soviet Union became aligned with the Patriotic Officers and the Baathist movement in the oil rich Middle East, as well as various socialists and nationalists throughout Africa and Latin America.
As a result of the process that began during the Cold War Russia, Venezuela, Iran and a few other countries have seized control of their oil resources. They now sell oil in competition with the Wall Street, London monopolists and have used the proceeds to build independent economies. These countries battle constant acts of subversion and sabotage, intended to secure the monopoly of western bankers and push them off the market. The independent, oil exporting socialist governments of Iraq and Libya were directly toppled by US-led intervention leading to humanitarian catastrophe, a refugee crisis and a rise in terrorism.
During the administration of George W. Bush, oil prices skyrocketed to above $110 per barrel, some of the highest in history. Then, under the Obama administration in 2014, oil prices dropped to catastrophically low levels, below $27 at one point. These dramatic shifts caused huge problems for people all over the world. In an economy centered on petroleum, developing countries were left at the mercy of the selfish manipulations of western bankers as carried out by their puppets governments and hired vassals.
The Chinese Dream of National Rejuvenation
As the oil banking global financial system emerged, the five thousand year old civilization of China faced unprecedented humiliation. The British waged two Opium Wars, forcing the country to import narcotics and not erect protective tariffs. The Germans, the British, and other western powers lined up with Japan and ravaged China economically, holding back development.
However, the Chinese people fought back. Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s Nationalist Movement gave birth to the Chinese Republic, and after Chiang Kai Chek betrayed the ideals of his predecessor, the Chinese Communist Party stepped up to lead the battle to create a new country.
In the battle against western economic domination and domestic backwardness, the Chinese Communist Party received significant support from the Soviet Union, just as the Chinese Nationalist KMT had during the 1920s. In the 1930s the Soviet Union became a world superpower, becoming the top producer of steel, wiping out illiteracy, and bringing running water and electricity to the entire country. It also began extracting and refining its vast oil resources.
When the Chinese Communist Party took power in 1949, it was closely aligned with the Soviet Union. The first steel mills and a number of power plants in China were constructed with Soviet assistance. The first 11 years of the People’s Republic of China involved a deep level of friendship and cooperation with Russia.
After 1961, China no longer received Soviet support but continued to work toward industrializing. China began constructing the massive China Pakistan Friendship Highway in 1966. This is the most elevated roadway in the world and it has laid the basis for the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) rapidly emerging in 2018.
One of China’s weaknesses is that it has very little domestic oil resources. As the Chinese Communist Party has taken the country down the road of modernization and industrialization, dependence on foreign oil and natural gas has increased.
China imports oil from many different countries, but the oil market remains a sphere dominated by Wall Street and London bankers, enabling them to rule over developing countries. Because much of China’s oil is imported by sea, it has become vitally important for China to maintain security in the South China Sea. Tensions between the US military and the Chinese military in this maritime region have increased during recent years.
China has also pushed to build an alternative to the US controlled Panama Canal. China is currently working with the socialist government of Nicaragua on a $40 billion project to construct an alternative route for trade vessels.
Learning From The Fall of Rome
The fossil fuel economy is essential to Wall Street and London’s domination of the world economy. For this reason, they see technological progress as dangerous. Meanwhile, many countries around the world, including countries like Iran and Russia that are very dependent on fossil fuels themselves, have joined with China’s efforts to push for a way out of the oil based global order.
Kaivan Karimi, a high-ranking executive at Blackberry, recently spoke up about how China isn’t only leading the world in New Energy Vehicles, but also in the exciting potential for driverless ones. Karimi is quoted as saying: “When autonomous driving takes off, I believe China will be the leader, just by the fact that you will have the infrastructure in place, which means you will be producing and actually putting cars on the road versus everybody else, who will still be trying because the infrastructure is not in place.”
Many attribute the fall of the Roman Empire to its refusal to embrace technological progress. Rather than developing new farming techniques and methods of producing tools and goods, the Romans oversaw the gradual decline of their agricultural output. As their own ability to produce decreased, the Romans simply made up the difference by conquering other people and plundering their crops and resources.
The Roman Empire fell because it stopped trying to advance productive forces. It entered an arrangement with the world, where its rule depended on holding back social progress and beating down other nations and peoples.
China, on the other hand, has rapidly transformed itself and restored its position as a global superpower with the opposite approach. The Chinese Communist Party is guided by Marxism and historical materialism and sees human progress as essential. Furthermore, in 1978 China launched its reform and opening up, and openly repudiated the ultra-leftist clique known as the Gang of Four, who distorted Marxism and worshipped poverty.
History is marching forward, and China intends to march forward with it. The question remains, however, will the United States continue to try and hold back an outmoded economic setup? While Wall Street and London bankers are certainly making super-profits, the people of America, like the ancient Romans, are seeing their standard of living and productive capacity decreased. Will they be able to force their government to change its priorities? Only time will tell.
Caleb Maupin is a political analyst and activist based in New York. He studied political science at Baldwin-Wallace College and was inspired and involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
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