News-Record.com

Every few years we're treated to scares of the "Chinese menace." Ed Pring's and Robert Quesenbury's letters (July 28) are the latest.

Pring reminds us that their army numbers in the millions, conjuring past images of a "yellow horde" swarming our shores. Quesenbury reports that a Chinese major general threatens us with nuclear attack, certainly an alarming note if lowly major generals had such authority in anybody's army, let alone the Chinese one, to initiate war.

China's rise has been predicted for years. For example, the Economist ran a story about China's economy eventually matching the United States' about 10 years ago. Unfortunately, pundits and politicians prefer to react in a sensationalist manner rather than doing the hard work of implementing wise policies here at home or working with our friends abroad to push China to enforce intellectual property laws.

America has had many historical opportunities to influence China and squandered most of them. This is a pity because America has long been tied to China by its immigrants, one of whom was my great uncle who helped overthrow the empire and served as an ambassador in Sun Yat Sen's government — a government largely modeled on American democratic ideals.

Andrew Young
Greensboro