Strange he should be in Japan on the day a historic earthquake shook a nuclear reactor in Virginia. Odd. The timing of it all.
But not missed by the right wing extremist media of the USA was a comment made by the Vice President in China regarding their one child policy.
Nixon went to China in 1972 when H.W. was 'an envoy' to mainland China. H. W. was actually in Taiwan because the USA did not enjoy an embassy at that point.
The first USA Embassy in China was opened in 1979, the very year China decided to institute its "One Child Policy."
The Right Wing Anti-Abortion Crowd can condemn the 'idea' of a restrictive policy for political reasons, but, at the time China had a lot people and serious human rights issues including profound poverty. The One Child Policy was a daring way for the Chinese nation to begin to reduce their enormous population that would result in less and less stress on China's ability 'to provide' for their people and enhance the potential for building schools and universities to build the country's brain trust.
I do believe it is better for the Chinese people to speak to their government regarding this than anyone else. A few years ago as there became a 'wealthy class' of citizens. Not just a ruling class, but, a wealthy class, they began to speak out against the now institutionalized policy. The women among the wealthy wanted more than one child. They were able to address the topic in a social venue as a method to move the government to consider lifting the ban that has been in existence for over 30 years now.
What Vice President Biden did was to bring practicality to the topic of allowing families to decide about the number of children. His hopes are not to return poverty to China, but, to provide the Chinese government a reason to consider changing the dynamics of this policy to educate their people regarding population growth and choices.
I applaud the Vice President for even breaching the idea. He did it well without insulting his hosts, the Chinese government and people. I am confident his words fell on the ears of those eager to hear them and encourage a dialogue to change the policy.
The One Child Policy was a very brave step for China to take. It worked for the most part. It reduced the burden of a growing populous that would be forever in poverty and allowed breathing room for change within China.
When Vice President Biden addressed China about this topic he did it well and with diplomatic grace, honoring the USA and China. You know. That is a real switch for Joe.
