THE GREAT 21ST CENTURY HARMONY WEIQI GAME BETWEEN CHINA AND AMERICA WILL HERALD WORLD HARMONY

THE GREAT 21ST CENTURY HARMONY WEIQI GAME BETWEEN CHINA AND AMERICA WILL HERALD WORLD HARMONY By Francis C W Fung, Ph.D. Weiqi is a great ancient Chinese mental exercise board game play by Asians with two opposing group of black and white stones. The game is played on a 19 by 19 squares board with two very simple rules. Despite its simplicity but with a large board and 391 pieces that allow infinite variations, it is a game that requires high degree of concentration of basic mental processes such as flexibility, connectivity and inclusivity. The objective is to reach territory dynamic balance (harmony) through a series of encirclement and counter encirclement moves. The player declared to have the upper hand between equal players sometimes is only ahead by one or two squares. It is called the “Harmony Game” of sharing by the most famous Chinese weiqi “Saint” Wu Chingyuan, because the end game is for both players to accept the dynamic balanced state with only one or two occupied differences in squares. Because of its infinite variations, no two weiqi games are the same. The fact that computer can beat the top notch chess player but cannot beat a top notch weiqi player is due mostly to the infinite variations of the game. Compared to weiqi the European chess game is played on an 8 by 8 squares board. There are only 16 chess pieces from each side, with each piece has its own distinct power, ranking and way to move. The end game is to subdue your opponent by capturing his king. Sometimes in the process to capture your opponent’s king you will not hesitate to eliminate all his pieces. So chess is a very aggressive game of merciless killing, unlike the harmony weiqi game of dynamic balance and sharing. As current international events revealed, the peaceful strategical and tactical thinking used by China is more in accordance with weiqi thoughts. They are flexibility (no ideology), mutual economic win-win development (inclusivity) and infrastructure connectivity building. In a previous paper I announced “The Coming of 21st Century New Silk Road Globalization” as following: America initiated the 20th Century world trade globalization. But the 2008 world financial crisis caused by the U.S. toxic asset collapse and its worldwide devastating spread signaled the end of the good days of world trade globalization of the 20th Century. Seven years later world major economies in the world still mired in great recession with the exception of China. The whole world is looking for new economic or technology breakthrough to bail the world economy out of its quagmire. The coming 21st Century New Silk Road Globalization in short is the Great Infrastructure Revolution bring on by China’s “Belt and Road” initiative in2013, the second Globalization as a result of world connectivity of the infrastructure revolution and the 21st Century Transportation Revolution brought about also by world connectivity. All these economic and technology breakthroughs will be described in more detail below. As if God send, Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, in 2013 got the inspiration to announce the modernization of the ancient Silk Road. This is the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Ocean Silk Road Initiative or the “Belt and Road” initiative in short. The initiative is to launch modern transportation and communication infrastructure to connect Asia through Central Asia to Europe and from South East Asia through ocean to Middle East and finally Africa. More details of the “Belt and Road” initiative will be revealed in more detail in the following “Belt and Road Action Plan” This vast “Belt and Road” initiative will thus greatly advance Commerce, communication, cultural and technology exchange, people and people contact all over the world to benefit human progress in the brave 21st century era. The resulting world connectivity will bring trade globalization to another height far exceeding the 20th century because this time the connectivity expands to a far greater world. This time we may experience true worldwide harmony of a multipolar world, mutual development and prosperity like no other time in history before. In another previous paper under the heading “New 'Silk Road' Globalization could alter global economics” I sated as follows: March 31, 2015 is an historic moment. China successfully launched the Asian Infrastructure Bank to fund the New Silk Road Initiative to provide connectivity for the world. By now all U.S. allies have all broke from their military alliance with America and join the peaceful mutual development initiative. The only redeeming grace for America is to join as observer country at a later day. It is natural for China to launch the New Silk Road Initiative for all historical, technological, financial capable and infrastructure building experience reasons. China in the last 39 years has built 20 trillion dollars of infrastructure in her own country. This super scale of construction in such a short time has no historical precedence! All silk roads completed will eventually all connect to China like ancient days. In rejuvenation, she will be truly, the Middle Kingdom like her name implies! This time China will lead the Second Commercial Globalization, which will grow to be much larger than the first globalization led by the U.S. in the 20th century. America will remain the dominant military power but not the largest economic power in 21st century. Which means America can no longer behave in her hegemony way dominating the world as in the 20th century. India will replace China as the world factory with her biggest population and technology capability. With her middle class growing to the biggest of the world because of Silk Road connectivity prosperity China will be the market of the world and lead the world globalization. With all developing countries rise, the mutual development will benefit all humankind with the resulting people connectivity, prosperity and cultural equal exchange the world may reach true equality and harmony. This world harmony world with mutual respect and equality will be a great improvement compared to the 20th century world dominated by American hegemony. In contrast to China’s weiqi moves as described above, the military strategic and tactical thinking used by America is more in accordance of chess game of aggression and war. These moves are typically in contrast to weiqi moves such as America’s rule making and ideology promotion (infexibility), America’s economic sanctions (exclusivity) instead of China’s win-win mutual economic development, America’s military alliance and base building (intrusive interference) in contrast to China’s inclusive infrastructure connectivity building as the New Silk Road initiative. There is no lack of actual example of above moves launched by America around the world in the essential 21st century weiqi game as it plays out. They are the current America’s economic sanction of Russia on top of the half a century of senseless Cuban sanction. Obama’s “pivot to Asia Initiative” is proven to be nothing more than reaffirming America’s military alliance and bases in Asia. Obama’s signature Transpacific Partnership (TPP) trade bill that he tries to steamroll is all about rule making by America to contain China. Judging by China’s phenomenal economic rise from an under developed country to world’s second economic power in the short span of three decades it is not hard to see that all the previous rulemaking such as World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund and World Bank by America failed to stop China’s rise. China managed to work through all the American rules and obstacles simply by being flexible as a good weiqi player. One cannot help now but ask how is another set of TPP rules going to stop China from continuing to develop. In promoting his TPP trade bill Obama has made two speeches that in order for America to win it must write the rules to prevent China from writing the rules. This is totally pointless argument to support his TPP (IN Chinese TPP happens to sound like kick ass, and TIPP sounds like kick my own ass). As China development of the last three decades shown America made rules cannot contain China because of her flexibility we cannot stop China from writing their own rules. This is amply demonstrated by China’s successful launching of the New Silk Road Initiative and the Asian Infrastructure Bank (AIIB) despite America obstruction as described above. The obvious outcome of this great weiqi game of dynamic balance belongs to China who plays by the weiqi instead of chess thought process. China will outlast America’s military expansion because mutual development will have more sustaining power. This will validate Laotze”s ancient philosophy that the soft will eventually overcome the hard like water will erode the rock in time. The day of “World Harmony” by multipolar dynamic balance away from American hegemony will surely come. From 5000 years of continuous wisdom, China is confident that hegemons do not last indefinitely. Sooner or later the world will rise up against it when challenged by another world power of more legitimacy. As stated in the opening of this essay and I importantly repeat: “The objective of weiqi game is to reach territory dynamic balance (harmony) between the two players through a series of encirclement and counter encirclement moves. The player declared to have the upper hand between equal players sometimes is only ahead by one or two squares. It is called the “Harmony Game” of sharing by the most famous Chinese weiqi “Saint” Wu Chingyuan, because the end game is for both players to accept the dynamic balanced state with only one or two occupied differences in squares.” I proclaim humbly despite all the American aggressive moves, the ultimate end game of the 21st century weiqi game between China and America is for both great nations to accept a dynamic balance of sharing the world stage. That will finally bring in the true multipolar world of “World Harmony” without American hegemony as I predicted earlier in this and many of my previous “World Harmony” essays! May the best of harmony to all! Francis C W Fung, Ph.D. Director General World Harmony Organization, San Francisco, CA