Dennis Wilder on US-China ties, Taiwan, internal reforms in the US, the Quad, India, technological prowess and economic might

SCMP Exclusive | Dennis Wilder, national security specialist and former CIA official, on US-China ties
Sylvie Zhuangin, Beijing. Apr 7, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3305386/they-will-never-use-signal-anything-again-dennis-wilder

Before becoming a senior fellow with Georgetown University’s Initiative for US-China Dialogue on Global Issues, Dennis Wilder served in the George Bush Jnr and Barack Obama administrations in a number of national security positions, including as the CIA’s deputy assistant director for East Asia and the Pacific from 2015 to 2016.

In the latest instalment of the Open Questions series, Wilder shares his views on President Donald Trump’s cuts to the US federal government’s bureaucracy as well as the most sensitive issues determining China-US relations.


Excerpts

How do you view the current state of the Ukraine war and would you say that transatlantic relations are undergoing a significant shift? Will the post-World War II international order be fundamentally reshaped in the coming four years?

The Ukraine war is a stalemate and neither side can win on the battlefield, so President Donald Trump’s attempt to get both sides to see the futility of continued combat is very appropriate and, frankly, long overdue. America should have taken this stand a while ago.

I can’t tell you what I think a peace agreement should look like but certainly, whatever the peace agreement is, Russian President Vladimir Putin has got to make sincere promises that he will never again aggress against another country and its sovereignty.

The attack on Ukraine was outrageous and illegal. It ran against all the principles established by China and the Bandung Conference of 1955. Sovereignty is a critical point in international relations and Putin violated it.

In terms of transatlantic relations, ever since the end of World War II the US has carried a very heavy burden financially in protecting Europe and these democracies came to rely on this, instead of spending on their own defence. So yes there is a fundamental shift – again, that is long overdue.

The change, and we see it happening already, is that Europeans are responding appropriately. They are talking about doing what they need to do for their own defence. This will be good for the alliance.

Nato will have spent more on its own defence. We will have reduced our burden so we can become stronger in other ways and as long as the Nato agreement continues, from my point of view, what is happening now is a good change to the international order, not a bad change.

Some say that a rift has opened between European countries and the US since Trump’s return to the White House. What is your view and, if there is division, could Beijing benefit from it and in what way?

I think the rift is highly exaggerated. Changes in a relationship that are positive for the relationship are not a rift. I think this is exaggerated by those who would like to have the opportunity to take advantage, but will be disappointed.

Beijing has a big problem with Europe that doesn’t even involve the United States. First of all, China has been illegally supporting Russia’s war and the Europeans are very upset about that, and they’ve talked to the Chinese about this.

Secondly, the Chinese overcapacity in things like electric vehicles is a big problem, so China’s problems with Europe are separate from America’s changes in its relationship with Europe. These problems don’t go away. So again, the opportunities for China are overblown.

What do you think about Trump’s moves to cut the bureaucracy, which seem to have caused some public discontent. What might be the implications?

The 1.9 per cent of Americans – about 3 million people – who work for the US federal government make up a very small percentage of the population. Getting rid of some poor government employees will have very little effect on the American economy.

Now of course, if you are one of those government workers to be let go, no question about it you will be unhappy. But if you look across the United States and talk to the people, they want this to happen.

Americans in general have been asking for decades for someone to deal with the bloated and inefficient government bureaucracy.

The last time an American president reduced the size of the US government was under Bill Clinton when we had a “peace dividend”. But ever since, the US government keeps growing and it is inefficient. Everybody knows there is waste and fraud.

So again, we will be stronger after we cut the fat out of the government. This is not negative, but positive. As a US government employee for 36 years, I can assure you there is waste, fraud and abuse in the US government.

What would you say is the end game behind these cuts in the long run? Is it just to make the US stronger?

Yes. My Chinese friends say “we wish we could do this in China”. Do you think there’s waste and inefficiency? So maybe we are the model.

At a London School of Economics and Political Science forum in March, you said people only see Trump’s America first slogan, ignoring that it does not mean “America only”. Could you elaborate on that?

During Trump’s first term in office, he did not have a strong appreciation for our alliances and our partners. But what I am seeing now in his second term is much more understanding of the national security position of the US government.

We need our allies in Asia and elsewhere. We need them, as I said about Nato, and we will be stronger if we can get our allies to do more.

So what you will see is the Trump administration talking with our allies in Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Australia, and Taiwan. We’ve already talked to Taiwan about the fact that they need to do more for their own defence and that they don’t spend enough. These discussions will continue.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t value alliances. After all, President Trump has already had a meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) here in Washington and the value of the alliances is unquestioned. So when people say that America first means America only, they don’t understand it.

The Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te recently described mainland China as a “foreign hostile force”. Does this suggest that he was given tacit support by the US? What role do you think Lai may play in the US-China dynamic?

The United States is very lucky that we have an excellent representative in Taipei and his name is Raymond Greene. He speaks beautiful Chinese. He understands the Democratic Progressive Party very well, and he has had excellent conversations with Lai.

The United States is very clear with him that the status quo must be maintained by both Taipei and Beijing. Period. Full stop. No question.

Given Lai’s increasingly confrontational style, how might this affect Beijing’s stance on the overall cross-strait relationship?

I would not say that Beijing has been particularly nice to Lai. I don’t see that Beijing’s rhetoric towards him is conciliatory. Obviously Beijing expects him to kowtow. We don’t want him to kowtow.

So what is Washington’s Taiwan policy at this stage?

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it very directly the other day in a discussion with Hugh Hewitt on his podcast. I don’t need to elaborate. The American policy is consistent. It has been consistent from the Joe Biden administration, consistent to now that I see nothing that says we are changing policy on Taiwan.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest chip manufacturer, announced in March that it would invest US$100 billion in the US over the next four years.

What will be the impact on Taiwan’s economy? Will it hollow out the island’s chip industry?

The US$100 billion deal is the largest single investment ever by a foreign company in the United States. It is very significant and very helpful to rebuilding American manufacturing.

But the leader of TSMC has also said that he will retain the most sophisticated, advanced computer chip capability in Taiwan, not in the United States, so there is no danger of hollowing out the TSMC plants in Taiwan, as long as he is committed to building the highest level of computer chip in Taiwan, the people on Taiwan should not worry.

What is the likelihood of a meeting between Trump and President Xi Jinping and if it does take place, what deal should we expect?

We are far away from a Xi-Trump meeting right now. I don’t think it will happen any time soon, and the reason is that China has not responded appropriately to President Trump, who has made clear that before negotiations can begin, China needs to take positive steps on the fentanyl problem.

What has China done? China has told Trump that he should thank China for what they have done on fentanyl. They have issued a white paper suggesting that they’ve done all they can. But fentanyl from China continues to be caught at the American border in large numbers.

So how is it that all of this fentanyl is still coming to the United States if Beijing is doing such a good job?

Beijing needs to unilaterally take steps, such as imprisoning the people involved in the fentanyl trade, sentencing them, and punishing the companies involved. Until it takes those steps, I don’t think Trump is very interested in negotiations.

Look at what Mexico did when Trump said you need to do more: they put 10,000 troops on the border, they sent back dozens of gang members to the United States, they allowed the CIA to put drones over Mexico. The Mexicans didn’t say, “oh, we need to negotiate”.

My problem is, China has used this fentanyl issue as a political card. When relations were good, China did a little more on fentanyl, but when relations were bad, China did nothing.

China needs to stop using this card, because a huge number of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45 die every year. It is the largest killer of people in that age group. This should not be a political negotiation. China could do the right thing.

If those issues were addressed, do you think Xi and Trump would be more likely to meet?

The next step would be negotiations, not a meeting. The economic trade negotiations will begin, and Trump will appoint a negotiator, and President Xi will appoint a negotiator, like he did with Liu He.

There are many good steps that each side could take. China could invest in the United States and create jobs here, like TSMC is doing. Beijing could go back to the phase-one trade agreement and agree to buy US$200 billion of goods a year from the US.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration could promise that controls on hi-tech exports to China will be targeted and limited, not very wide in their scope. The Trump administration could take some companies off sanction lists, or stop some sanctions against Chinese officials.

There are many areas where we can come to agreements. After the negotiators have come to something, then the two leaders can sit down and meet.

Some have argued that the differences in economic models between China and the US are not just about policy choices but are determined by long-standing debates on the role of government in the economy, which stem from deep historical and ideological roots.

For example, the United States’ free-market philosophy is rooted in thinkers like John Locke and Milton Friedman, while China’s state-centric approach has been influenced by Legalism traditions dating back over 2,000 years. What do you think?

There is Chinese exceptionalism and American exceptionalism. American exceptionalism is based on the idea that we are the city on the hill. We have created the ideal society through a combination of democracy and capitalism.

Our system is very much based on individual freedoms, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, so we think we have the ideal model.

But Beijing also thinks it has the ideal model. And their model is based on a combination of communism and Confucianism, and it is very much based less on the individual than on collective harmony.

And so in the socialist system that China practices, its economy is collectively based. For example, it is not a consumer-led economy which is about consumer sovereignty. Xi Jinping is much more interested in the collective and therefore in the state-led economy.

So we have two very fundamentally different political and economic systems and we both believe we have the best system in the world.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty will expire in 2026. China has said repeatedly that its nuclear capabilities are not on the same level as the US or Russia and refused to engage in nuclear arms talks.

Do you think China may engage more in future negotiations? Europe is also working on developing its own nuclear deterrence strategy. How might that affect global security?

I’ve been trying to get the Chinese to have strategic security talks ever since I was in the White House in 2004, and it’s been very frustrating. We were only successful once in getting a senior general from the PLA’s strategic rocket force to come to Washington when George W. Bush was president.

I went to that meeting and the Chinese officer shouted at us in his speech. He didn’t want to be there nor talk to us. It was quite clear that the only reason he was there was because former president Hu Jintao told him that he had to be there.

But he had no interest in discussing his nuclear forces. Because China’s nuclear force was small, and they believed that by hiding the force, it gave them an advantage.

What I hope today is that with China building 360 new ICBM sites and increasing its nuclear weapons stockpile dramatically, the Chinese may be more comfortable now with coming to strategic stability talks.

In terms of other countries, I am much less worried about Europe than I am about Asia. The constant building by the North Koreans of nuclear capabilities, and the inability of China to stop them, will lead to pressure in South Korea and Japan to think about building their own nuclear capabilities.

Both countries have plenty of capability to do this, and it will become harder and harder for the United States to argue with these countries that they should not build their own nuclear weapons as the North Korean threat grows.

What are your thoughts on the idea that is being expressed as “East rising, West declining”? If the US does decline, would it create an opportunity for China? If so, how realistic is it for China to move towards the centre of the global stage?

I am very tired of this line of analysis. After the Vietnam war, Mao Zedong said we were finished. After the 9/11 terrorist attack, and after the 2008 financial crisis, Chinese scholars said the US was finished. China’s ability to predict this is not very strong today.

The Magnificent Seven – Microsoft, Google, Tesla, Apple, Nvidia, Meta and Amazon – are the most dynamic companies in the world. DeepSeek was only a derivative of ChatGPT.

China has not invented anything like ChatGPT, and I will predict that the Magnificent Seven are going to lead the way in frontier technologies for the next two decades at least, and China will just be following behind, so where is this East rising?

We were also told the Chinese economy would be bigger than the American economy and it’s not going to happen for a long time.

Given the current situation, especially with Trump’s influence, how do you see middle powers such as Britain and Australia navigating their positions? Will they face greater pressure in choosing a side when balancing respective ties with China and the US?

People don’t understand our allies very well if they think that they just follow our policies. There is a new Labour government in Britain, which I spoke to when I was in London. It has its own China policy that is very different from our policy today. We can be comfortable with that. Britain has its own national needs. It has its own economic needs.

Australia is the same. Australia is much more dependent on trade with China than we are. Of course they’re going to take a different stance in their relationship with Beijing, but that doesn’t undercut the strategic alliance, which remains strong.

The Australian military has been with us in every conflict we have fought since World War II. They will be there with us.

How would India benefit from the tension between the US and China?

Indians will always go their own way. They will never be part of the American strategic alliance – nor part of a strategic alliance with anybody. The Indians cherish their independence. They are the leaders of what’s called the non-aligned movement and will always remain that way.

So will they play the United States off against China and play the United States off against Russia? Yes, of course they will. That is where the Indians like to be, and we have to accept that’s the Indian position in the world.

How do you envision the Quad – the US alliance with Australia, India and Japan – and the Aukus agreement on nuclear-powered submarines between the US, Britain and Australia, under Trump 2.0?

There is a review going on right now on Aukus, as there are some problems with the nuclear submarine programme. I’m not sure what the conclusion will be.

There are some in the Trump administration, such as Elbridge Colby, who think the submarine programme is not a good idea. I think this is an open question. I don’t know the answer to what the future of Aukus will look like, but I think it will be rethought a bit.

One of the things people don’t understand about the Quad is that it is much less about strategic military matters and much more about cooperation on health and economic issues.

People misread the Quad. If you look at the Quad website, you will see that they do a lot of things that have nothing to do with strategic military issues. The Quad is successful in that regard but again, the Indians are not going to become part of a strategic alliance.

Will ideological confrontation be less of a priority in US competition with China during Trump’s second term? For example, could the issue of Tibet and the choice of the next Dalai Lama become another thorny issue?

The United States has not had a president who was a real businessman since Harry Truman, who owned a hat store in Missouri.

Now, Trump is a businessman. He thinks geo-economically, not geo- strategically. He wants reciprocal trade agreements with everybody around the world that benefit the American worker. That is his focus.

Look at what he has proposed in Ukraine – to buy rare earths from the Ukrainians. His argument is that it would be a better security guarantee than putting American forces in there, because it would be an economic stake for the US, which forms protection for Ukraine.

It’s a different ideology. It’s the ideology of a capitalist, of a businessman. And he is very different from past American presidents who were part of the national security elite of the United States. He never was part of that elite, and he doesn’t think in those terms.

On the Dalai Lama, the selection of the next Dalai Lama will be upon us in the next 10 years. The way that Beijing handled the Panchen Lama was atrocious from the American point of view. It was a rights violation.

The fact that the Tibetans chose a Panchen Lama, then Beijing made the boy disappear and chose its own young man has created a big flag between Americans who believe in religious freedom and Beijing.

If Beijing once again decides that it will choose the next Dalai Lama, there is going to be a big problem.

The Dalai Lama is now 89 years old and is unlikely to live beyond 100. Thus the issue of his reincarnation will be upon us all. China will want to control the process as it did with the Panchen Lama. The US will want to support the autonomous decision making of the international leadership of Tibetan Buddhism.

What areas do you see that could provide opportunities for substantive cooperation between China and the US?

There are certainly areas for American and Chinese cooperation. As I said on the drugs trade, this could be a win-win if China would stop the gangs from doing what they are doing.

In the trade area, we can have a win-win result. Trump has said China can invest in the US.

The Japanese were in trouble with the US in the 1980s until they started building car factories there and then the relationship became much smoother. China ought to look at that model.

There are areas on disease control and on food security for the Global South. For Africa and other areas, we should be working together.

The African population in the next few decades will explode in size. This will cause problems in food security and stability. The two great economic powers need to work together on Africa but right now, we are not.

Also on the issue of North Korea, neither side is interested in a conflict on the Korean peninsula. It would be very helpful of the Chinese to get the North Koreans back to the negotiating table.

We will be competing in the Global South. There’s no question. And that is one of the many areas of US-China competition. This is a good thing. The Global South countries have options and can leverage us against each other.

If I were sitting in a Global South country, I would be figuring out how I can get the most benefits out of Beijing and out of Washington.

How the establishment thinks in the UK about energy and the citizen's quality of life

How the establishment thinks in the UK about energy and the citizen's quality of life

Co-authored by the Royal Academy of Engineering, this past month they presented 'Critical materials: demand-side resource efficiency measures for sustainability and resilience' https://nepc.raeng.org.uk/media/qutgamxj/nepc-critical-materials-report.pdf. Oct 2024.

Among the many pearls, just to print one:

As an alternative policy focus, a significant reduction in vehicle numbers can be made through ‘modal shift’ – policies and infrastructure that enable a change from one mode of transport to another. Moving passengers from low-capacity vehicles such as cars into buses or trains allows more people to be transported per journey. This relates directly to a reduction in critical materials – a study of transport in California, US, modelled a 71% decrease in system-wide lithium demand from shifting policies away from a focus on replacing existing vehicles with EVs to e-bikes or e-buses.

As the report says, no one expects such gains of 71pct in the UK because there is much less car use, but still...

Let's remember also the thing about eating worms, our not having the right to travel via jets but slow rail, the rationing of construction and homes,our having to live with less clothes, the change from trade via ships to trains, etc. A member of Volkswagen board since Nov 2022, Julia Willie Hamburg, says (https://x.com/terran_liberty/status/1850972755916636178), translated from German:

Talking about rationing: it’s clear that if we shrink economically, we won’t have to be as poor as the British were in 1939; rather, we’d have to be as rich as the West Germans were in 1978. That is a huge difference, because we can take advantage of all the growth of the post-war period and the entire economic miracle.

The central elements of the economy would have to be rationed. First of all, living space, because cement emits endless amounts of CO2. Actually, new construction would have to be banned outright and living space rationed to 50 square metres per capita. That should actually be enough for everyone. Then meat would have to be rationed, because meat production emits enormous amounts of CO2. You don’t have to become a vegetarian, but you’ll have to eat a lot less meat.

Then train travel has to be rationed. So this idea, which many people also have – “so okay then I don’t have a car but then I always travel on the Intercity Express trains” – that won’t work either, because of course air resistance increases with speed. Yes, it’s all totally insane. Trains won’t be allowed to travel faster than 100 kilometres per hour, but you can still travel around locally quite a lot. This is all in my book, okay? But I didn’t expand on it there because I didn’t want to scare all the readers.

Dockworkers strike: Only about half of the union’s members are obliged to show up to work each day; the rest sit at home collecting “container royalties” negotiated in previous ILA contracts

On the Waterfront, the Sequel. By The WSJ Editorial Board

The dockworkers strike is an education in monopoly union power.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/longshoremen-union-strike-ports-waterfront-commission-new-york-harbor-harold-daggett-debd179a

Updated Oct. 3, 2024 8:30 pm ET

Extracts:

One myth exposed by the strike is that unions need more economic and political power because they help the working man. The union behind this strike, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), helps some workers at the expense of countless others.

Start with the astounding fact that there were 50,000 or so ILA strikers but only 25,000 or so port jobs. That’s right, only about half of the union’s members are obliged to show up to work each day. The rest sit at home collecting “container royalties” negotiated in previous ILA contracts intended to protect against job losses that result from innovation.

And what a deal for those favored few who do show up to work. The 2019-2020 report of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor laid out the reality: “The absolute control of the International Longshoremen’s Association, AFL-CIO (ILA) over hiring in the Port for over 60 years has not only led to a lack of diversity and inclusion in waterfront employment, but also to the perpetuation of criminality and corruption.”

Residents near the ports can’t get hired because of this union control. “Meanwhile, those who are connected to union leadership or organized crime figures are rewarded with high paying, low-show or no-work special compensation packages,” the report said.

More than “590 individuals continue to receive over $147 million in outsized salaries not required by the industry’s collective bargaining agreement and for hours they do not even have to be at the Port,” the report continued. “Such positions were overwhelmingly given to white males connected to organized crime figures or union leadership.”

This is how ILA boss Harold Daggett earns $900,000 a year, drives a Bentley and owns a 76-foot yacht. And this is the union that President Biden, Kamala Harris and “national conservative” intellectuals extol as tribunes of the working class. Why hasn’t Mr. Biden rung up these guys for “systemic racism”?

This is what happens when unions are granted monopoly negotiating power that lets them extort outsized rents. The ILA is the sole union bargainer for East and Gulf Coast ports, and there is little non-union port competition. The union has a chokehold on commerce that gives it extortionary leverage.

The ILA is like the coal miners and railroad unions that shut down the British economy in the 1970s, or the unions that paralyze transportation in France today. When ILA members strike, they stop trade in goods and hurt literally millions of workers who earn far less than the members of the ILA. Mr. Daggett was happy to put countless truck drivers, warehouse employees, retail clerks and auto workers out of work so he and his “connected” members can buy another yacht.

This is why Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act over the veto of Harry Truman in 1947. The 1935 National Labor Relations Act had handed vast new power to unions that resulted in waves of strikes, including secondary boycotts and forced union membership. Taft-Hartley rebalanced the rules for collective bargaining that continue today.

Taft-Hartley also gives the President the authority to seek a court order for an 80-day cooling-off period so companies and unions can negotiate without a strike. The provision was intended for labor disputes like the one at U.S. ports that do great economic harm. George W. Bush invoked it in 2002 to stop an 11-day labor action at West Coast ports.

Yet Mr. Biden refused to invoke the law, and Ms. Harris agreed. “I don’t believe in Taft-Hartley,” Mr. Biden said.

Time ago it was desertification, 'turning the Earth barren,' and 'leaving entire countries facing famine'; now the worry is that in the receding drylands 'vegetation may soak up scarce water supplies'

Although by then it was well-known that it was a better theory that the deserts were receding and the earth was greening, than the opposite one (the deserts were extending), since at least 2016*, and that there was a continental-scale greening (not specifically of dry areas) since 1997**, The Guardian, as late as 2021, had the nerve to say (my emphasis):

"Desertification is turning the Earth barren – but a solution is still within reach. The expansion of drylands is leaving entire countries facing famine. It’s time to change the way we think about agriculture" — David R Montgomery. The Guardian, Jun 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/02/desertification-barren-solution-famine-agriculture

The guy is not a journo... It is (& was at the moment) professor of geomorphology at the University of Washington.

When I thought the revenge finally came, a top notch university saying the drylands were going green, as was known for a decade:

With CO2 Levels Rising, World’s Drylands Are Turning Green. Fred Pearce. Yale Environment 360, Jul 16 2024. https://e360.yale.edu/features/greening-drylands-carbon-dioxide-climate-change

, I had to experience a deep disappointment... Unfortunately, even admitting to this stuff of a greening earth, of course they found that something bad and very worrying is happening, despite this positive "news": "But scientists warn this added vegetation may soak up scarce water supplies." :-)

* Zhu, Z., Piao, S., Myneni, R. et al. Greening of the Earth and its drivers. Nature Clim Change 6, 791–795 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3004

** Myneni, R. B., Keeling, C. D., Tucker, C. J., Asrar, G. & Nemani, R. R. Increased plant growth in the northern high latitudes from 1981 to 1991. Nature 386, 698–702 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/386698a0

It is reassuring to read these sycophants explaining that shooting down Nancy Pelosi was discarded as an idea; it also certifies that the tyrant won't go to war over Taiwan

China ramps ups military education for younger ages to help sow ‘seeds’ of patriotism. Amber Wang in Beijing. Southern China Morning Post, Jul 16 2024.

More primary and secondary schoolchildren are participating in pilot programmes to improve their military awareness and skills

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3270546/china-ramps-ups-military-education-younger-ages-help-sow-seeds-patriotism

My emphasis:

Days after former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022, hundreds of students at a school in mainland China gathered for a lecture in which they were told how the trip represented US moves to “contain” Beijing’s rise.

“Why did Pelosi risk being condemned by the world for visiting Taiwan? Why didn’t we shoot it down?” asked a teacher at the No 10 Middle School in Liuyang, Hunan province, according to an online post by the school.

The question prompted heated discussion among the students – all clad in combat uniforms – before the teacher wrapped up the lecture.

Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, which prompted Beijing to launch unprecedented military exercises around the self-ruled island, happened “against the backdrop of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict” and represented “the latest manifestation of great power competition”, the teacher reasoned.

“The intention of the US elite is to use the Taiwan issue to disrupt our development rhythm and curb our rise,” the teacher concluded.

The “national defence education class”, which according to the school was intended to “train student minds to resist the erosion of foreign ideology”, was one of many similar sessions being held around the country as Beijing ramps up efforts to raise awareness among young people about national security.

They come as patriotic fervour is on the rise – driven by Beijing – in response to geopolitical rivalries, notably with countries like the US, and as analysts express concerns about declining military recruitment levels due to factors such as falling birth rates.

Meanwhile, in recent years, drones and rocket launchers have been introduced into combat training at some universities, while groups of children as young as kindergarten age have been sent to tour military camps so that the “seeds” of a “strong military” can be planted, as military commanders have described it.

China is also making changes to a law in a bid to boost national defence education, including exploring ways to enhance the combat skills of teenagers to prepare for potential risks in a “complex and ever-changing security and development environment”.

The trends, according to experts, underline growing concerns in Beijing over what are seen as geopolitical risks, and challenges to attract young people to join the military, all while experts attempt to extract military lessons from key battlegrounds like Ukraine.

“The world is not peaceful, the education on patriotism and national defence should be cultivated from an early age,” Chinese military analyst Fu Qianshao said.

“In the future, when war breaks out, all citizens must be mobilised, which can be seen in the Ukraine war.”

Reaching younger kids

For decades, in addition to its mostly voluntary conscription system, China has deployed a system of public military education that includes compulsory training in high schools and universities. The approach, while not common, has also been used in Russia and North Korea.

Russia revived compulsory military training for high school students in 2023, a year after it invaded Ukraine, and decades since the practice was dropped following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Most countries offer some form of national defence education for their young people through optional courses or specialised military academies, or organisations that teach values and skills.

[A large screen shows a promotion for China’s military on a street in Beijing in August 2022. Photo: AFP]

Military training in Chinese high schools has shades of the Scouts of America, founded in 1910, which also weaves in messages of patriotism across a range of activities and educational programmes. The key difference is the Chinese version is mandatory.

But as geopolitical headwinds intensify, Beijing now believes that more must be done to rally China’s youth to support its military.

Under new amendments to China’s National Defence Education Law, the first changes since 2018, a key focus will be on military education among the country’s teenagers.

For the first time since the law was introduced more than two decades ago, primary school pupils from about age six are now required to have military “awareness” through compulsory classes, according to a draft submitted in April for first reading to the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC).

Meanwhile, according to the draft, junior high schools may, for the first time, organise military training for students ages 12-15 to master combat skills, following the implementation of the mandatory programme in universities and high schools in the past.

The amendments, which have to pass a second or possibly third reading, were part of an array of many similar policy readouts in recent years.

For example, according to rules issued in 2022 by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, national defence education should be incorporated into school curriculums and examination processes, and primary schools are urged to conduct seven-day combat training sessions.

As of January this year, 2,431 primary and secondary schools had been selected for pilot programmes to improve military awareness and skills among children.

Lu Li-shih, a former instructor at the Taiwanese naval academy in Kaohsiung, said the most important component of national defence education is learning patriotism.

“If you receive national defence education as early as possible, whether it is physical fitness, national identity, or the construction of patriotic thinking, you will have a correct view on how to protect the country,” Lu said.

“Now that the US is joining forces with allies to launch all-round containment on China, including in science and technology, strengthening defence education is very important for uniting national consciousness,” he added.

Combat training and drones

When they were first adopted in the 1980s, these short-term military training sessions for Chinese students were little more than military marching, formation drills and physical exercise.

But recently, the exercises have become much more immersive, as some training features the use of combat equipment such as drones, and the simulation of real battlefield environments, according to publicly available information.

In China’s southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, which borders Vietnam, students at Guilin University of Electronic Technology underwent combat training with rocket launchers and simulated drone bombings, according to a report by The Beijing News last September.

That same month, students at Peking University in Beijing conducted target practice with guns, while 5,000 students at Shanghai Jiao Tong University marched at night while learning how to avoid air attacks, according to a report by The Paper.

China’s unique short-term military training programmes are unlike those of many other countries, which operate some form of conscription that requires longer stints of military service, with 32 of them requiring more than 18 months of service for men.

However, military education in China is systematically conducted across different levels of schools through courses and lectures beginning in primary schools, as well as activities such as visits to military memorial sites and military training camps.

In April, a group of kindergarten children was sent to observe the training of frontline soldiers in the Eastern Theatre Command Air Force, according to an official military post on Weibo.

“The zero distance” engagement between the kids and soldiers allowed the “seeds” of a “strong military” and patriotism to be planted in the hearts of the children, the post on Weibo said.

National defence education in primary and secondary schools is the “foundation” of the national security strategy, Ma Dan, a researcher with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Academy of Military Sciences wrote in an article in Guangming Daily last year.

“Exposing the enemy’s lies by explaining the truth has become an urgent issue that national defence education in primary and secondary schools must face in a new era,” said Ma, who is part of the team responsible for the country’s defence education system.

Military awareness and basic combat skills should be cultivated gradually from childhood so that they can “spontaneously and proactively” react with national defence behaviours to help prevent threats like separatism and defend territorial integrity, Ma wrote in the article.

Recruitment problems

The trend to ramp up military indoctrination among Chinese youth comes as concerns grow in Beijing over having enough recruits to sustain the country’s military, as conflicts like Moscow’s war in Ukraine cast a spotlight on military preparedness.

In several addresses, Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed Taiwan’s “reunification” with the mainland as “inevitable”, preferably through peaceful means, but never renouncing the use of force to accomplish the task.

[Mainland China launches PLA blockade around Taiwan, 3 days after William Lai speech]

The NPC argues that the amendments to the national defence education law are necessary to cope with what has been described as a complex security environment and various growing risks, according to an explanation presented alongside the amendments in April.

Other government papers have linked military education to the overall strength of the PLA, as it becomes increasingly challenging to recruit members among China’s youth.

According to those papers, the tasks of national defence education are difficult but greatly important in safeguarding national sovereignty, and achieving the army centenary goal in 2027.

Many of China’s challenges in attracting people to enlist in military service can be traced to demographics, as the country’s population ages and the proportion of young people declines.

However, a “weak sense” of national defence is also a factor, according to a paper published in Contemporary Youth Research in 2014. Because they have grown up in an extended era of peacetime, younger generations are increasingly influenced by “hedonistic” trends in social media that steer them away from military service, according to a proposal by a Chinese local advisory body.

Fu Qianshao, the military analyst, said young people are part of the country’s reserve forces that could play roles in wartime, so it is necessary to cultivate their awareness and skills from an early age, though the enhancement of education was not “directly” related to the recruitment considerations.

But some have expressed doubts about how effective such initiatives will be in addressing Beijing’s concerns.

“The programmes aim to bolster patriotic enthusiasm and perhaps expand the ranks of potential recruits for the PLA,” said Timothy Heath, a senior international and defence analyst at the RAND Corporation, who expressed doubts that coordinated indoctrination could effectively address those challenges.

“Nor will the measures fundamentally improve the PLA’s recruitment situation, because young people do not like to experience hardship and life in the barracks in China, or anywhere else in the developed world.”

---

My comments on several of the sad sentences by these emaciated running dogs (like why "did Pelosi risk being condemned by the world"!?!?!?!?!?):

1  Their words are revolting, I'm throwing up reading the bootlickers.

2  Those who promote educating the young for war and the military are, for the most part, just extracting rent from the taxpayer. This education program won't work, and they know it is not effective, but they make a living of this. Nauseating.

3  As I said above, reading these kowtowing minions contemplating shooting down Nancy Pelosi means there will be no war over Taiwan. Tyrant Chin-p'ing Hsi has said to von der Leyen, and to his lackeys*, that "the US was trying to trick China into invading Taiwan, but that he would not take the bait," and the greasy slaves supra confirm this.

4  To finish the comments, let me express my hope that we may, at the end, see the tyrant's fall and harmony on the Strait.

* [Chin-p'ing] claimed US wants China to attack Taiwan https://www.ft.com/content/7d6ca06c-d098-4a48-818e-112b97a9497a

Gen. Wei, a senior party and PLA leader, had “a collapse of faith and a loss of loyalty” and “seriously polluted the political ecosystem of the PLA”; Gen. Li had “abandoned the original mission and lost the principles of the party” & seriously contaminated the PLA’s military equipment industry

China’s military commits to full ‘rectification’ in corruption investigations’ wake. Xinlu Liang in Beijing. South China Morning Post, Jul 11 2024

The Central Military Commission says political education is crucial to advancing the PLA and war preparations

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3270001/chinas-military-commits-full-rectification-corruption-investigations-wake

China’s military will double down on political education following the downfall of two former defence ministers accused of “polluting” the armed forces.

The Central Military Commission (CMC), the country’s top military decision-making body, said on Wednesday that the People’s Liberation Army would undergo complete “rectification” as part of its combat-readiness mission.

“Deepening the military’s political education and training is crucial for advancing the military’s development and achieving its strategic goals,” the CMC said.

“It is a serious and significant political task that requires unwavering determination and practical actions.

“We must integrate our efforts into the struggle, preparation for war, and construction of the military ... We must also continuously consolidate the Communist Party’s leadership in the new era and achieve the great goal of building a strong military.”

This process, it said using a rarely used phrase, would include “rectification of the mind, personnel appointments, organisation, working style and discipline”.

It would also involve a thorough review of the military’s policies and practices, as well as the promotion of a sense of discipline and responsibility among its personnel, state news agency Xinhua reported.

            video: China sacks defence minister Li Shangfu with no explanation after nearly two-month absence 

The wide-ranging pledge comes two weeks after authorities announced that former defence ministers Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe were under investigation for alleged corruption.

In unusually harsh language about the two former generals, the official reports said, Wei, a senior party and PLA leader, had “a collapse of faith and a loss of loyalty” and “seriously polluted the political ecosystem of the PLA”. Meanwhile, Li had “abandoned the original mission and lost the principles of the party” and seriously contaminated the PLA’s military equipment industry.

Their actions “betrayed the trust of the party’s central leadership and the CMC … and caused great damage to the party’s cause, national defence and the construction of the PLA, as well as to the image of the senior leading cadres”, official reports said.

The investigations uncovered evidence of other possible “serious disciplinary and criminal offences” by the two men, according to the CMC, and both will face criminal prosecution.

China has emphasised the importance of maintaining a clean and efficient military, and has vowed to take decisive action against any officials found to be tainted by corruption. The campaign is seen as a key part of President Xi Jinping’s efforts to strengthen party control over the military and instil a culture of integrity within its ranks.

In June, Xi told the top brass that the PLA must show absolute loyalty to the party and there could be no room for corruption in the military.

“We must make it clear that the barrels of guns must always be in the hands of those who are loyal and dependable to the party … And we must make it clear that there is no place for any corrupt elements in the military,” Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.

He warned that the world was undergoing complex and profound changes, and the military must adapt to these changes by promoting politics in its development and ensuring that the nature and principles of the people’s army remain unchanged.

“[PLA] cadres at all levels, the senior ones in particular, must step forward, dare to lose face and face their own shortcomings and flaws … make earnest rectifications, and resolve problems that are deeply rooted in their thinking,” Xi said.

China has seen a number of high-profile corruption cases involving senior military officers in recent years.

Nine senior generals – including past and serving top commanders of the PLA Rocket Force, a former air force commander and a series of CMC officials with the Equipment Development Department – were removed from their positions in December.

The disasters of excessive patriotic zeal, or of dotardness, I can't tell... Corrupt running dog, bootlicker, (p)sycophant and mafioso Shih-ts'un Wu urges to construct narratives defending Chinese maritime claims raiding Western archives/libraries

South China Sea: Chinese academics urged to ‘construct narratives’ to defend maritime claims. Laura Zhou. South China Morning Post, Jun 30 2024.

China faces ‘an increasingly arduous battle’ to win over public opinion in the disputed waters, speakers tell an academic seminar in Hainan

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3268562/south-china-sea-chinese-academics-urged-construct-narratives-defend-maritime-claims

Preserving a copy for posterity, they may very well end up removing this filth. My emphasis:

Chinese academics have called for more studies of the country’s claims to the disputed South China Sea.

“Narrative construction and discourse building are essential if we are to effectively defend our rights and interests in the South China Sea – both in the present and in future,” Wu Shicun, founder of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told a seminar held in Hainan province last week.

Beijing lays claim to much of the South China Sea, citing historic activities and records in support.

Its claims were rejected by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in 2016 in a case filed by the Philippines.

Recently the two countries have been involved in a series of clashes near disputed reefs – including collisions, China using water cannons and a recent incident in which a Philippine sailor lost a thumb. These have raised fears that the situation may escalate into a more serious conflict.

Without naming any country, Wu said China faced “an increasingly arduous battle over public perception and opinion”, adding that “rival claimants” were “stepping up cooperation with extraterritorial forces in the study of historical and legal issues” concerning the South China Sea.

Beijing has dismissed the Hague ruling as “null and void” and continued to build up its infrastructure and troop presence in the South China Sea.

But the Philippines and other claimants – which include Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei – along with the United States and its allies have repeatedly urged China to abide by international law.

The Philippines has signalled that it may turn to the Hague for another ruling, fuelling worries in Beijing that it would put the country in a bind and harm its reputation as a peacemaker and friendly neighbour in the region.

Yi Xianliang, a former ambassador to Norway who previously served as deputy director of the foreign ministry’s boundary and ocean affairs department, also spoke at Tuesday’s seminar and dismissed the 2016 ruling as a “bad joke”.

But he warned “we have to ask why the ruling is flawed” and ask if it “will happen again and how we can prevent it from happening again”.

Wu, who now chairs the Huayang Institute for Research on Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance, denied China had violated international law in its disputes with the Philippines, and accused the US and its allies for “taking sides … by supporting whoever confronts China and violates China’s rights in the South China Sea”.

“Some strange theories which deliberately distort the history of the South China Sea and maliciously smear China’s rights and claims in the South China Sea have begun to circulate in the international academic community,” Wu said.

He urged the 100 or so historians and legal scholars present to help “restore the rightful background on South China Sea issues from historical and legal perspectives”.

Wu also said the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea – which governs maritime rights and the freedom of navigation – could not take precedence over countries’ historical titles and rights, citing a previous case involving Eritrea and Yemen in the 1990s.

He said scholars could make their case by tapping into foreign manuscript collections, maritime histories and Western naval literature to support China’s claims.

This would allow them to “give a forceful response to the false narratives that China is changing the status quo in the South China Sea, that China has failed to comply with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea”, Wu said.

This, he said, would help rebut accusations that Beijing was making “excessive maritime claims”.

---

My comment (and my emphasis): Shih-ts'un Wu, founder of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies (中国南海研究院 (nanhai.org.cn)), now (it seems) the capo at the Huayang Institute for Research on Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance (can't get website of that snake pit, and its name varies wildly, sometimes is Center on Maritime, or Research Center on Maritime), told seminar assistants in Hainan province last week to construct narratives defending Chinese maritime claims with any means necessary, including raiding Western archives/libraries: "scholars could make their case by tapping into foreign manuscript collections, maritime histories and Western naval literature to support China’s claims, which would allow them to 'give a forceful response to the false narratives that China is changing the status quo in the South China Sea, that China has failed to comply with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.'"

My assessment is that the lackeys will not only covertly, clandestinely infiltrate libraries and research institues, but that they, in their demented patriotic cowardice, will plunder and scavenge the archives, like the vulptures they are, destroying documents that support the Philippines' claims.

This is the implicit command of these savages of the Party.

---

Board of Governors (中国南海研究院 (nanhai.org.cn)), page now lost:

Wu Shicun has a PhD in history and is president and senior research fellow of China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies, chairman of board of directors of China-Southeast Asia Research Center on the South China Sea, vice president of China Institute for Free Trade Ports Studies, deputy director of the Collaborative Innovation Center of South China Sea Studies, Nanjing University.

Dr Wu’s research interests cover the history and geography of the South China Sea, maritime delimitation, maritime economy, international relations and regional security strategy. His main single-authored books include What One Needs to Know about the South China Sea (Current Affairs Press, 2016), What One Needs to Know about the Disputes between China and the Philippines (Current Affairs Press,2014), Solving Disputes for Regional Cooperation and Development in the South China Sea: A Chinese perspective (Chandos Publishing, 2013). His main edited books include: The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road: Challenges and Opportunities for Asia and Europe (Routledge, 2019), South China Sea Law fare: Post-Arbitration Policy Options and Future Prospects (South China Sea Think Tank / Taiwan Center for Security Studies, 2017), Arbitration Concerning the South China Sea: Philippines versus China (Ashgate, 2016), UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the South China Sea (Ashgate, 2015),  Non-Traditional Security Issues and the South China Sea-Shaping a New Framework for Cooperation (Ashgate, 2014), Recent Developments in the South China Sea Dispute: The Prospect of a Joint Development Regime (Routledge, 2014), Securing the Safety of Navigation in East Asia—Legal and Political Dimensions (Chandos Publishing, 2013). Dr Wu has published widely in academic journals and been the subject of frequent media interviews as a senior commentator on South China Sea, regional security issues, the Belt & Road Initiative and the development of Hainan Province.

--------------

Update Jul 10 2024. The reprobate imperious colonizer, highly dishonorable, recidivist offender, and intemperate, libelous, impious, defiling, noxious, pretentious, harmful, poisonous, virulent,  vitiating, "malignant" (he writes ' "tumor" ' infra), pestilential, indecent, injurious, contaminative, pernicious, sinful, ignoble, polluting, maleficent, venomous, sinister, debasing, demoralizing, corrupting, venenose, lachrymose, environmentally unfriendly Shih-ts'un Wu, the psychotic, sacrilegious mafioso, one of the most loyal lieutenant desecrators, the most indecorous, immodest one, with no regrets ever, a hooligan, a refurbished, recalcitrant lackey, in a joint effort with the Global Times published the article below.

The viperous, provincial, felonious, demonic, depraved, truth eclipser, disreputable, impish, septic Global Times, who shamelessly, almost with voluptuousness, delights in schadenfreude, let this hatchet job of Shih-ts'un see the light and in doing so detracted from the sum of human knowledge once again.

The GT editorial board and many of the gossipers there seems to experience extreme pleasure with their soiled words, it is a study case of lack of benevolence from the Heights of Power. The butlers despise the dissident, the free-thinker, and the hoi polloi, and have no qualms about crushing others' rights.

The revolting piece, calling to reject not only what the arbitral court (Permanent Court of Arbitration) said more than a lustrum ago, but also what it may decide in the future, shows how low we can sink when we are enemies of Reason. A sure way to go that path is to become slaves of sentimentality, blindly follow a political party, and revoltingly gush about the Fatherland, seeing the other peoples as inferior.

It is the old, repulsive imperial view that for so many centuries we had to endure of these brutes, who, like proverbial capital-city dwellers, behave as bullies but see themselves as refined, polite professionals, good lads that have to suffer the obnoxious, illiterate, unsophisticated peasants who deserve no voice. Why the rough, ungraceful country cousins think still of having the right to avoid taxation when there is no representation? The mandarinate knows better. Always knew.

Urgent call to clear toxicity of [the] SCS arbitration award. Shih-ts'un Wu.

https://en.nanhai.org.cn/index/research/paper_c/id/598.html

My emphasis:

With the approach of the 8th anniversary of the illegal award on the South China Sea arbitration, some troubling developments have recently emerged in the region. A number of extraterritorial countries have increased their military activities in the South China Sea, and the Philippines has ratcheted up legal motions and maritime actions aimed at solidifying this arbitration award. Certain countries have intensified unilateral actions to consolidate and expand their vested interests. 

In less than two years, the current Philippine government has nearly dismantled the good practices established over recent years for managing maritime differences and properly handling the South China Sea issue between China and the Philippines. The bilateral relationship, which had gradually emerged from the shadow of the illegal South China Sea arbitration case, now appears to have reset and is even regressing.

The international community is widely aware of China's position of not accepting or recognizing the award. However, some countries have not fully grasped the significant damage and harm that the award has caused to the handling of the South China Sea dispute, the rule-building in the region, the fairness and authority of international dispute settlement mechanisms, and the international order based on international law. Some even harbor unrealistic fantasies about the award. 

Judging from the current provocative actions of the Philippines against China's rights and claims in the South China Sea, the current Philippine government has intensified its use of the award to change the status quo, consolidate illegal gains and expand the scope of infringement. Since taking office, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has frequently cited the award as a so-called "basis" to attack and smear China's actions of safeguarding legitimate rights at the Ren'ai Jiao and Huangyan Dao. In fact, the arbitration award contains significant errors and flaws in legal interpretation and application, fact-finding and evidence acceptance. China's stance is precisely an act of maintaining its legitimate rights and interests, maintaining maritime peace and stability and upholding the rule of law.

Looking back at the volatile situation in the South China Sea since the award was issued eight years ago, it can be asserted that the award has not brought, and indeed cannot bring, peace and tranquility to the South China Sea. The arbitration award has become a "troublemaker" for peace and stability in the South China Sea, a "spoiler" for bilateral relations between China and relevant parties, and a "roadblock" for the comprehensive and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and the orderly advancement of consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.

We must recognize that the arbitration award has had an extremely negative impact on political mutual trust at all levels between China and the Philippines. Outside the Philippines, some other disputant sides also occasionally refer to or cite the arbitration award as the basis for their respective claims. Additionally, some extraterritorial countries hold the arbitration award as a standard, pressuring the Chinese government to "respect" or "implement" the award. Therefore, it is crucial to make relevant countries within and outside the region clearly understand the essence and dangers of the award, and to promote the relevant parties to return to the correct track of resolving disputes through negotiation and consultation, mitigating differences through maritime cooperation and managing crises through rule-building.

As for the Philippines' threat to initiate new arbitration against China, it is, in a sense, a manifestation of the lingering toxicity of this arbitration award. No matter how the Philippine government packages the so-called "second arbitration," its content will definitely be related to some errors in the previous arbitration award. China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and the adjacent waters. It needs to repeatedly and continuously clarify the toxicity of the arbitration award from a legal standpoint to thoroughly eradicate this "tumor" that has long undermined the rule of law and order at sea.

Rebutting the arbitration award and countering the erroneous statements of countries within and outside the region are not intended to provoke a new round of legal battles, but to make a rightful response to actions and forces that disrupt peace and stability in the South China Sea, interfere with China-Philippine relations and profit from the award. This will further reveal to the international community the political background of the arbitral tribunal's composition and the historical errors of the arbitration award, and lay bare the irreversible severe harm the award has caused to the rule of law and maritime order.

Wu Shicun is the chairman of the Huayang Research Center for Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance and founding president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies.

Link: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202407/1315786.shtml

Check Rolf Degen's Twitter page to get great summaries of Psychology papers

 Check Rolf Degen's takes! @DegenRolf

Today’s suggested packing lists for 7-week camps can include, inter alia, 2 sets of sheets, 6 towels, 3 pairs of sneakers, 25 pairs of underwear, 25 pairs of socks, sports equipment, toiletries, more than 20 tops and shorts, and 10 pairs of pajamas—split between lightweight and heavy

These Parents Are Shelling Out to Have Someone Else Pack Their Kids for Camp. By Tara Weiss

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/elite-summer-camp-packing-experts-85ed70ee

At elite sleep-away camps, some costing upward of $15,000, the pressure is on for parents to send junior off with all the right gear

June 6, 2024 8:00 am ET

Hayley Mooney recoiled as she opened her son’s trunk after it returned from seven weeks at overnight camp. She was hit with an odor so foul she figured an animal had crawled inside and croaked.  

Nope, just a moldy wet bathing suit. 

So when she learned First Class Laundry Services in West Palm Beach, Fla., offers post-camp trunk pickup and drop-off, she eagerly ponied up $450 — $225 per trunk—to have everything washed, folded and returned to her front door. Mooney could catch up with her kids instead of sorting through muddy socks and grass-stained shirts. 

Popular sleep-away camps, which can run upward of $15,000, are significantly more intense than when today’s parents attended in the ’80s and ’90s. Social media showcases an array of perceived must-haves. (Are monogrammed gel seat cushions for bleacher-sitting a necessity or extravagance? Discuss.) 

The 100+ item packing list provided by some camps is driving some parents to outsource the buying, labeling, packing to experts—and of course all that dirty laundry.

“If you have disposable income and you don’t want to touch it, you’re sending it out,” says First Class Laundry owner Natalie Matus, who launched post-camp service last summer. “A lot of my clients won’t even let their housekeepers touch them.” 

Today’s suggested packing lists for seven-week camps can include a light blanket and warm comforter, two sets of sheets, six towels, three pairs of sneakers, 25 pairs of underwear, 25 pairs of socks, sports equipment and toiletries. Then, there are clothes for most every weather scenario, including a raincoat and boots, fleece jacket, more than 20 tops and shorts, and 10 pairs of pajamas—split between lightweight and heavy.

Miscellaneous items include foldable Crazy Creek chairs, a kaboodle to hold hair ties, makeup and nail polish, flashlights, decorative pillows for optimal bunk coziness, family photos to fend off homesickness, games and personalized lockboxes for, say, smuggled-in candy. 

“Color War” is its own sartorial challenge. At this epic end-of-summer tournament, campers sport their team’s color and compete in events. But since the kids don’t know what color they’ll be assigned, parents often pack for four possibilities.

For the buying, many families make a “camp appointment” with a personal shopper at Denny’s, a children’s boutique in New York, New Jersey and South Florida. Associates greet them with their camp’s packing list printed out. Spencer Klein, whose family has owned Denny’s since 1978, says the average spend for a new camper appointment is $1,500 to $2,000. (A coveted perk: the store labels everything for free.)

Beth Leffel, of Boca Raton, Fla., spent about $2,000 at Denny’s three years ago preparing for her daughter’s first summer of camp and $250 at Party City, buying each potential color spiritwear her daughter could be assigned for color war. She said sending a child to camp well-equipped is a way parents can show love from afar.

“I wanted her to have everything everyone has,” says Leffel, an interior designer. “I didn’t want her to be without, especially since I’m not there. I didn’t want her to feel different because other kids have this or that. That first summer I went above and beyond.”

The next summer, Leffel started researching deals and dupes of name-brand wares, snagging attire on Amazon that looks like the Lululemon brand for a fraction of the price. Now, she shares her finds with fellow camp parents via her Instagram handle, The Savvy Camp Mom.

This year, for the first time, Dara Grandis, a Manhattan mom of three, hired professional organizer Meryl Bash to pack for her three children, who head off in late June for seven weeks at camp.

“This is the first week I haven’t traveled for work in a few months and I’d rather spend time with my kids versus stressing out over what is going into the trunk,” says Grandis, an executive. “Right now my living room is a dumping zone,” she adds. “It looks like an organized tornado.”

Bash will swoop into the family’s home to assess the packing situation and figure out what’s missing from the list. (For an additional charge, she will come before the packing day and have campers try on last season’s clothes to see what still fits.)

On packing day, Bash and her team arrive armed with tape and an assortment of storage cubes and bags. They meticulously pack each with a designated category: shirts and shorts; bedding and towels, bathing suits, socks and bras; toiletries; bunk junk like games, Mad Libs and books. 

Anything not already marked gets labeled along the way. For prep and packing days, Bash charges $125 per hour, and $100 per hour for an additional packer. It takes three to six hours, depending on the number of campers per household.

Her team even addresses envelopes—which are then neatly stored in a Ziploc with stationery—to make writing home easier. “If the space feels organized, it gives them a leg up,” says Bash, of campers and their bunks.

Nicole Fisch of Larchmont, N.Y., breathed a sigh of relief when her neighbor launched Camp Kits, a camp toiletry company, this year. Fisch recalls the summer she was “so crazed” about properly wrapping them that she accidentally sent all of her son’s toiletries in her daughter’s trunk.

Camp Kits’ bundles of toiletries, costing from $98-$185, magically appear on bunks before camp starts -without the parents lifting a finger.

“A lot of our clients believe the best thing you can spend your money on is your time,” says Diana Cooper, co-owner of The Concierge Crew, a Boca Raton-based personal-assistant company offering camp shopping, packing and labeling. “Let the crew take the stress out of camp prep,” says its website.

Yamada Kurumi, a client, works at a brothel to earn enough money to visit the clubs, which she does about once a week. She had boyfriends in the past but finds hosts more exciting. She is unsure whether to seek an office job after graduating from college or to carry on with sex work, which pays better.

The controversial cult of the host club in Japan. The Economist. May 21st 2024

https://www.economist.com/culture/2024/05/21/the-controversial-cult-of-the-host-club-in-japan

Why women pay men in make-up to flatter them

In kabukicho, a red-light district in Tokyo, four young men surround your female correspondent. Hiragi Saren, a 25-year-old with bleached hair, a black tank top and a silver necklace, sits closest. He chatters warmly and glances seductively, his pink eyeshadow glimmering under the chandeliers. His three assistants keep filling your correspondent’s shochu glass and shower her with compliments about her appearance. She doubts their sincerity, but is strangely pleased. After an hour and a half, the bill is ¥30,000 ($200).

Host clubs are booming in Japan. Some 21,000 hosts—well-dressed young men, often wearing make-up like k-pop stars—work at 900 such establishments. They pamper and flatter their female clients. Sex is not part of the bargain but could happen, somewhere else. Clients usually seek psychological rather than physical intimacy and a break from reality. Hosts refer to them as hime (princess), and never ask how old they are or what they do for a living.

To understand the cult of the host, start with two statistics. More than 60% of Japanese women in their late 20s are unmarried, double the rate in the mid-1980s. A recent survey found that more than a third of unmarried adults aged 20-49 had never dated. Many single women visit host clubs because they are lonely. They get a thrill from meeting “the kind of men they don’t meet in everyday life”, Mr Hiragi says.

The first host club opened in the mid-1960s, mostly serving as a dance hall for rich matrons and widows. Early hosts described themselves as “male geishas”, says Hojo Yuichi, who runs Ai Honten, the oldest active host club. At first, the clubs were seen as a fringe, sleazy business. But that stigma has faded.

Successful hosts are now celebrities. In the 2000s they started appearing on tv shows. Today many have a big social-media following. Billboards and trucks display pictures of the highest earners. Hosts feature as characters in manga and anime, too. They have become “an archetype within Japanese popular culture”, says Thomas Baudinette, an anthropologist at Macquarie University. Mr Hiragi moved to Tokyo from a rural area with dreams of becoming a famous host. “I wanted to be part of a world that’s glamorous,” he says.

Glamorous, yet controversial. Feminist groups accuse host clubs of exploitation: overcharging for drinks and manipulating clients into racking up huge tabs. Hosts praise those who spend the most, calling them “ace”. Some customers end up in debt after paying millions of yen for a single visit. Takahashi Ichika, a client, recalls that her favourite host would ignore her and fiddle with his phone when she refused to order champagne. “I would spend more money because I didn’t want him to dislike me. I wanted his attention,” she says.

Some women go to extraordinary lengths to feed their host habit. A survey last year showed that among women arrested for selling sex around Okubo Park, a popular pickup spot, over 40% were trying to earn enough money to go to host clubs. Politicians have started discussing ways to regulate the industry, for example by cracking down on opaque pricing. Host-club owners hope to pre-empt this with better self-regulation.

Some see a link between the cult of the host and obsessive fan culture. In a survey in 2023, 72% of Japanese women in their 20s said they indulged in oshikatsu (avidly supporting a celebrity, for example by buying several copies of each new hit). The objects of their adoration were often pop idols. But some are switching their allegiance to hosts, to whom they can get much closer. Ms Takahashi says she used to spend a lot on boy bands, but when concerts stopped during covid, she started to splurge on hosts instead.

Many other Japanese businesses, such as cuddle cafés, offer intimate services, usually to men. Mr Baudinette worries, though, that for many Japanese people, “Intimacy can only be accessed through commoditised forms.”

Yamada Kurumi, a client, works at a brothel to earn enough money to visit the clubs, which she does about once a week. She had boyfriends in the past but finds hosts more exciting. She is unsure whether to seek an office job after graduating from college or to carry on with sex work, which pays better. “A lot of people start losing touch with friends once they get addicted to host clubs,” says Ms Yamada. “My host is already part of my everyday life…If I get a normal job, I probably won’t be able to see him any more. That scares me.”

I have one partner now with three kids. He is transmasc, and he’s radical about the way he raises them. They’re radically home-schooled. They’re 17 and nonbinary, 6 and 5. They know everything in age-appropriate ways. They’ve seen their mommy undergo the transmasc experience

Lessons From a 20-Person Polycule. Interviews by Daniel Bergner, photographs by Anne Vetter. The New York Times, Apr 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/04/15/magazine/polycule-polyamory-boston.html

Ann: I have one partner now with three kids. He is transmasc, and he’s radical about the way he raises them. They’re radically home-schooled. They’re 17 and nonbinary, 6 and 5. They know everything in age-appropriate ways. They’ve seen their mommy undergo the transmasc experience, seen their mom become who they really are.

I was up late last night with him in a hotel room, and the 17-year-old was in the room snoozing, so we just sat on the bathroom floor chatting about our relationship all night, and while that was happening my husband was texting to say, Oh, I got a last-minute match, so I’m going to meet this girl for a date. And then I get a text while we were still on the bathroom floor vibing, it was 4 in the morning, and he said, We had a great date, a great connection, she’s looking for friends with benefits, we had sex. And I was smiling. You know you’re really poly when you’re with one of your partners talking about how much you love each other and you’re so happy your husband had this awesome night. Of course, I experience pangs of jealousy, but there are these moments, these gems, of being so happy for someone else’s happiness.