Rise of a New Superpower

Our inaugural section on China examined how that country is directing its commercial growth outward, building foreign economies and its political muscle along the way. Readers grappled with how the world has yet to change China — and how China has yet to change the world

Re “The Chinese Century” [Jan. 22]: I am from China, and I’m studying in a medical school in the U.S. Like many young people in China, I have a lot of worries about the country’s uncertain future. Chinese society has extremely good aspects, such as a booming economy and increased opportunities for young people, but also bad sides, like Internet censorship and peasants’ and laborers’ poorly protected rights. China’s leaders must be made to understand that democratic reforms are urgently needed. Not only is China’s peaceful rise an aspiration of 1.3 billion Chinese, but it will be good for the rest of the world too.
Kou Qin
Augusta, Georgia, U.S.

time reported on China’s business activity in Africa but was silent on the continent’s economic strategy. It involves the New Partnerships for Africa’s Development (nepad). Far from being a begging bowl, as many have misunderstood them to be, the partnerships are aimed at achieving political reform, sustainable economic growth and social justice. The China-Africa Summit that was held in China last year emphasized nepad as a long-term framework within which China should engage Africa. China is a critical player that Africa will work with strategically to establish fair procedures for international trade. As for colonization, the African people will ensure that it never happens again.
Tshilidzi Marwala
Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.

Your article overemphasized the lack of democracy in China, leading to speculation about possible global catastrophe and war. Democracy can’t be imposed on a nation, however; it must evolve to take root and endure. China has come a long way from the feudal regime it was only 100 years ago, and it will reach democracy on its own terms. China’s strategy to meet its demand for natural resources is peaceful. Fierce competition for natural resources does not preclude international cooperation. Maybe China will align its strategies with the U.S.’s if the U.S. stops interfering in China’s internal affairs and starts looking for common goals such as world peace and prosperity.
Christina Feng
Malvern, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Most people don’t realize that China has 55 ethnic minorities. An abrupt switch to a democratic system would probably prove disastrous. A strong central government exercising a bit of authoritarianism is probably not the worst evil for China at this point in time. China has made substantial progress in integrating capitalist reforms, which have brought immeasurable economic benefits. As the century moves along, the government will gradually relax its policies and adopt concepts like intellectual-property rights and maybe even human rights. I look forward to Time‘s regular section on China.
George Lu
Rockville, Maryland, U.S.

There is a lot of hubris in the notion that a country needs to subscribe to American democratic principles to be civilized. It is reminiscent of 19th century Europeans who equated civilization with Christianity. Not all Christians are nice people, and not all democracies are nice places to live. In fact, some of them may even show unusually aggressive behavior toward others — in the name of democracy, of course, just as was done in the name of Christianity in the past.
Avelino Sousa-Poza
Phalaborwa, South Africa

Try, Try Again
“Looking for the restart button” [Jan. 22] stated that part of President George W. Bush’s strategy for saving his presidency involves a “new way forward” in Iraq. But just as the reasons for the war were baseless, there is no imaginable outcome that could be called a victory, although this doesn’t mean that the brave men and women who have fought in Iraq have been defeated. The ignominious defeat belongs to the Bush Administration and it alone. Let’s make sure that not one more person dies for Bush’s mistaken adventure.
John Cosgrove
Keyport, New Jersey, U.S.

In December 2005, nearly 70% of adult Iraqis took the trouble to vote in their national elections. If we are not willing to fight to help decent, peaceful Iraqis establish democracy, what are we willing to fight for? Some commentators have pointed out that more Americans have died fighting in Iraq than during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. They forget that more Americans died on the beaches of Normandy in an hour on D-day than in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Barb Yagley
Troy, Michigan, U.S.

The Iraq invasion and its chaotic aftermath have damaged the U.S. for the foreseeable future. The basic premise for going to war was wrong, and Bush’s and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s team made grievous mistakes that will forever define Bush’s presidency. Will a troop surge help? No, it will continue to fill the President’s last years in office with dead soldiers and ever increasing anger and threats.
Fred Adkins
London

Reinventing the Phone
“The apple of your ear” [Jan. 22] showcased Apple’s new iPhone. I remember a time when no one would think of spending a cent on an item that had such a tiny video screen. Remember the television screens in the early ’50s? Well, we have come full circle and are right back where we started and don’t mind squinting at a tiny screen. On the other hand, ophthalmologists and optometrists are patiently waiting for the bucks to start rolling in when our eyes go bad.
Kristi Richter
Chicago

Now not only do we have to be aware of distracted drivers using cell phones and iPods, but, in the not too distant future, they will be surfing the Net and watching reruns of I Love Lucy. Society needs to catch up to technology.
Bob Scoza
Long Valley, New Jersey, U.S.

If Steve Jobs and his team at apple would invent a little device that could clip to a soldier’s belt and trip every electronic trigger for improvised explosive devices within a couple of hundred meters, then I would really be impressed.
Dean M. Brayton
Gold Canyon, Arizona, U.S.

President Ford’s Legacy
Re “Farewell to a decent man” [Jan. 15] Shame on Time for insufficiently acknowledging the contributions of Gerald Ford, perhaps one of the most important American Presidents of the 20th century — certainly one of the most decent. Ford may not have been flashy or tested well with TV audiences, but he was a President with courage, wisdom, honesty, integrity and compassion — in other words, a leader in whom we could place our trust. What other person could have done the hard but necessary work of leading the country out of, as President Ford himself put it, the long national nightmare of Watergate? Ford’s extensive service to his country should not have been glossed over in four pages; he deserved the cover, and we deserved a full examination of his life and his importance to American life today.
Peter Chien
Rome, New York, U.S.

I don’t buy the portrayal of Ford’s pardon of President Richard Nixon as a reflection that “mercy and healing” were very much on Ford’s mind at the time. Far from an act designed to help a poor beleaguered President and heal this nation’s wounds caused by the Watergate affair, the pardon was a calculated political move. The pardon blocked application of the rule of law to a President who committed criminal acts while in office and was intended to save Nixon and the Republican Party from further legal scrutiny. It will forever sully Ford’s record as President.
Charles Tripp
Professor of Political Science
Westminster College
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.