Reflections on sunday : Huờechē, the fire vehicle of China

Peoples of this world are truly different. In early 1990, the wise leaders of the then government of Rwanda were putting finishing touches on its grand project of completely wiping out a section of its population. Meanwhile, in a different continent on the eastern part of the globe, the leaders of China were putting finishing touches on a totally unrelated project: building a network of high-speed rail lines. Today’s Rwandan leaders are still trying to patch the Rwandan society up so that it can build a normal country. The Chinese, on their part, are almost consummating their target of covering their country with 17,000 kilometres of high-speed railway by year 2020. In the years that Rwandans have been trying to get back on their feet, the Chinese have been sprinting towards super-power capacity. The result is a visit from a governor of one of the states of the United States of America to China. A few decades ago, no single individual from anywhere in the West could visit China without being excommunicated. Moreover, Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California, is not just visiting. He is in China to solicit their assistance in building a similarly high-speed railway and also the loans to fund it. How I like the ironic twist of fate! Late Ronald Reagan (RIP), 40th US President (1981 – 1989), pronounced the Asian country part of the evil empire. Now his not-so-distant descendants are running to that erstwhile ‘evil empire’ with a begging bowl. Reporters in the West, always behind the times, only the other day were up in arms clamouring for their leaders to rein in that ‘strong-man-government’ of China, the way they are doing it about our Rwandan government. Listen to Schwarzenegger, who has seen different in China: “A visit to a mammoth manufacturing plant in the eastern city of Qingdao absolutely blew me away.” That is a humbling experience, if ever there was one! Visualise the towering figure of Schwarzenegger the man bending to lend his attentive ear to a diminutive Chinese, and you’ll see a Goliath-David story. Or consider Schwarzenegger the one-time Mr. Universe who became the ‘Terminator Hercules’ of the American film world. The giant vanquished all enemies and seemed capable of taking on the whole world, if it came to that. Now consider the subtly strong but tiny martial arts actor of the 1960s, known as Bruce Lee. As economies in the 1970s, USA could as well have been Schwarzenegger – and China, a weak Bruce Lee. Only in the case of China and USA, the small is not vanquishing the big as in the David-Goliath and Lee-Schwarzenegger cases. Rather, the small is becoming the big – and the big, the small. David is growing to a size bigger than Goliath. A weak Lee is becoming the powerful Schwarzenegger.But our sights are on California, one state in USA, even if the richest. One state, however, which is larger than our tiny Rwanda, in land and budget size. While in Rwanda we can boast a paltry budget of $1.391 billion, California shames us with a huge $19 billion budget, but also pales in the face of a behemoth $1.137 trillion budget for China. China, on whose rail-construction we are training our sights, to be exact. China has borrowed technologies from Germany, Canada, France, Japan and Sweden to fashion the most advanced high-speed rail and train-construction technology in the world. And that technology has enabled her to push rail speeds beyond the 431-km-per-hour mark, its own record, and still counting. “Still counting”, because she is going for higher speeds. Yet, the fastest of the trains in the other countries has hardly gone beyond 300 km/hour. USA going window-shopping for high-speed rail technologies in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan? That should tickle us to bits! It means that we too should follow the Americans and window-shop, because that points to a light at the end of the tunnel of our isolation as a land-locked country. And while we are at it (window-shopping), we should remember to throw into the welcoming ear of a Chinese the diverse attractions we can offer to a willing and wealthy investor. The land, the minerals, the rivers, the lakes, the forests, the animals, the lot. And, of course, the Rwandans. Rwandans who have come out of internecine conflict and want to do work, real work. How centrally-located, in the heart of Africa, and how unexploited our potential. No more carrot-and-stick treatment of the West, where carrots are in scarcity and sticks in abundance! “Open up space for genocide-ideologues or it’s the lock on the aid taps!” they said. “Go ahead and lock miserable taps,” we’ll say, “We’ll trade with China, South Korea, Taiwan!” A network of high-speed rail lines on the African continent and it’s ‘Bingo!’ and ‘Goodbye!’ to being land-locked. The huờechē criss-crossing the African continent in a matter of hours. Weaning ourselves off aid has never been easier!To you, West: our aid crumbs, election observers, human rights activists, investigative judges, the litany. Beware, France, UN – The Hague! China, give us the huờechē – and pronto, pal! ingina2@yahoo.co.uk