A school of Confucianism in PNG should set a good platform for better relations between China and PNG

Albert K. Tobby responds to some of the questions I raised here about Chinese presence in the Pacific and particularly in Papua New Guinea. David, you've raised some very important and serious questions, which demands proper answers. Here is my simple piece of thought: PNG is not alone in the quest to know China, the world is; except for about less than 10% of the worlds population who controls mainstream information flows through language, economic and political dominance.

What PNG and the world knows today is exactly what this 7 - 10% (ruling group) wants us to know. Our knowledge is limited to our exposure and access to information. For example, think of our education system, We've read western literature since elementary all the way to university and little did we know about China. From history to law and religion to physics, all we know about is western invention and civilization. Almost absolutely nothing about China. I say this is by design and not by coincidence.

The world history and the current international system is the design of the victors/rulers (i.e. west). It is an irony that, even though China has the oldest civilization in the world and were the first to initiate vital inventions (e.g. printing machine, gun powder, seismograph, wheelbarrow, kite and compass, etc..) that literally transformed human civilization, yet little is known about them.

Christopher Columbus circum navigate the globe only once in the1490's but Zhang He (Chinese sailor & diplomat) first voyage to Africa was in 1405. While theories of early world map varies from early Greece, Spanish, and Chinese civilizations , Zhang He's voyage to Africa affirmed earliest China's world view. Inspite of having scores of undisputable evidence supporting Chinese earliest civilization; China has been a closed society since the opimium war (1840's) and have been systematically subjected to foreign invasion and humiliation.

That is why, we know very little about their way of life, however this doesn't mean that their way of life cannot be practiced anyway in the world. Chinese way of life have stood the test of time for more than 3 millenia as compared to only few hundreds of the western (particularly US and Australia) way of life.

I recommend that instead for PNGn's to view the western way of life as the prototype, we should open our minds and exercise flexibility to accomodate China's way of life. It is discriminatory to highly value one culture and despise the other and furthermore it is direct violations of the UN declaration of Human Rights which we are a signatory to.

It is about time Papua New Guinean (government & civilians) stop listenning to the western jargons and rhetoric about China and form our own independent views about China. This will be particularly difficult because PNG's mindsets especially the literate (alas the illiterate) for generations have been train to think the exact opposite. Our (PNG's) current perspective of the world (China) is the one shaped through our past 17 + years of formal education in PNG.

On the other hand, China's business internationalization is very young. They are the late comers to international business arena but within less than 30 years, they've shaked and transformed global business practices. That is why everyone is making a big fuss out of China's rise.

Papua New Guineans instead of joining the tide of skepticism and making foul cries, we should re-adjust our world veiw and engage pragmatically and constructively with the Chinese in a way that best suits our national and local development needs.I agree, Papua New Guineans (government and civilians) need to know more about China and Chinese and vise versas so that we can engage in a mutually beneficial way.

Perhaps a proper awareness program (more better school of Confucianism in PNG) about China's (political system, economy, business practices, history and culture etc..) civilization will set a good platform for constructive engagement in the future.