World News and Trends: China's obscure Middle Eastern activities
China receives little news coverage concerning its activities in the Middle East. As the late Deng Xiaoping once expressed it, "China must hide brightness and nourish obscurity . . . to bide our time and build up our capabilities."
China receives little news coverage concerning its activities in the Middle East. As the late Deng Xiaoping once expressed it, "China must hide brightness and nourish obscurity . . . to bide our time and build up our capabilities."
Today Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia all have significant links to China, which are viewed as a counterbalancing factor to American power and influence in the Middle East. For instance, Saudi and Iranian oil exports to China have risen sharply in the last 10 years.
Of much greater concern is a recent report in The Times that "China has sold Iran tanks, planes, artillery. . . and anti-aircraft missiles." It is also Iran's main supplier of unconventional arms and is thought by almost all monitors to be illicitly involved in supplying key elements in Iran's chemical and nuclear weapons programme . . . China has sold nuclear reactors to Algeria, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia" (Aug. 8).
Yet Chinese trade with America is growing by leaps and bounds. Take the case of BNSF, a major railway with outlets to three major seaports. Trains magazine reported that "sixty percent of the railroad's international container traffic involves China . . . Over the past three years business with China has grown 10 percent to 14 percent annually" (Aug. 2006). There seems to be some kind of a contradiction here that we find hard to comprehend.
The West has many enemies, and not all of them are in the Middle East. (Sources: The Times [London], Trains (USA).)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: September - October 2006
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Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
