This is clear from many perspectives. From his cabinet members who are always been severe critics of China, such as Secretary of State Mario Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Although he advocates the Monroe Doctrine that other countries should not have any significant involvement in North America, or even Central America or South America, he is intimately involved in forming alliances in Asia, far from the U.S.’s home base in North America. This includes forming military alliances such as with Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Australia. One also cannot just take his words for granted. One must see what he is doing with his actions. Even though on the surface he seems to be friends to Putin of Russia, but that may be part of his strategy to create more differences between Russia and China, to split Russia and China, to avoid having to face both Russia and China when conflicts arise.

Trump has been creating all kinds of tariffs, with many of them creating higher prices on products sold by American companies, and ultimately hurting Americans in the pocket books, thus adversely affecting the American economy in an adverse way in multiple steps of the economic ladder. Trump needs to understand the ultimate consequences of his tariffs. One also needs to understand the impacts on a country as it tries to improve the overall economic and political impacts on the country. While trying to improve its economic conditions, it must also try to make sure that it did not become a subordinate of another country for the forseeable future.

The largest advanced chip manufacufacturing plant is the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) which is located in Taiwan. U.S. is also trying to move more of its chip manufacturing capabilities from Taiwan to its new and expanding manufacturing plant in Arizona. Besides the fact that these chips may be owned by China since Taiwan is a province under China, there is also the question whether the people who staffed TSMC in Taiwan can be transpended quickly to Arizona, as the expansion to the Arizona facility was part of the Biden administration’s CHIPS Incentives Program’s Funding Opportunity for Commercial Fabrication Facilities which was announced on April 8, 2024. But numerous set backs, including key differences between Taiwan and the U.S.’s workplace culture, have delayed the beginning of this chips production until 2025 or beyond.

Just like everything else, Trump is doing many things, shaking the foundations from well established positions, eliminating numerous jobs, creating uncertainties in the lives of numerous people, without providing a clear theoretical framework guiding these changes. But we will survive and we will live on beyond the Trump years.

This book describes the hardships, challenges, and tragedies faced by the dragons and the eagles as they experience their lives having lived in both China and the U.S.  It is based on the real-life experiences of the Tow family intertwining the cultures of China and the U.S., sometimes exhibiting more of one type than the other, and sometimes spontaneously transforming from one type to another, like yin and yang in Taiji.

The book recollects the unrelenting political chaos and turmoil through two decades of war (the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II, and China’s Civil War), their family tragedy, and their personal experiences of living the lives of dragons and eagles.  The book begins with my father’s first experience as a not-yet 15-year-old coming to the U.S. as a merchant’s son to attend high school in Providence, Rhode Island,  and then college, first at Brown University in Providence, as a freshman and then the next three years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston.

It then describes my father’s experience after graduating in 1930 at MIT with a Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering. He then returned to China, and worked in the County Road Department in Guangzhou (also known as Canton), and started his family. All this happened during the turbulent years of the 1930s, including the Second Sino-Japanese War (1931-1945), WWII (1939-1945), and China’s civil war (1927-1949). 

It describes the family tragedy that occurred in our family. During those turbulent years of the 1930s, 1940s, and the first half of the 1950s, it describes their family needing to pull up roots multiple times, often losing everything and needing to start from scratch.  It describes “no man’s land” which was what Hong Kong was called on Christmas 1941. It describes the friendship between my father and Mr. Harold S. Prescott, (his college freshman dormitory roommate at Brown University) that lasted over half a century, across countries and across oceans.

The Tow family then migrated to the U.S. in October 1955. After moving to the U.S., it describes members of the Tow family on their college education, including the author (Don Tow) living through the Free Speech Movement of 1963 at the University of California at Berkeley, the civil rights movement, the Third World Movement, and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement starting in the decade of the 1960s. This decade resulted in many changes in the psyche of Americans, especially among students on American college campuses, as well as in the American society, as well as in other societies world wide. It expanded their horizon and focus, paying much more attention to the social and economic conditions of their society, as well as the world as a whole. This seismic change also affected our contemporaries. For example, a friend from the University of California at Berkeley after finishing his master degree in engineering in 1970 returned to Hong Kong and initiated a project to start teaching high school courses in a remote part of Hong Kong which at that time did not offer high schools in that remote part of Hong Kong.  His effort resulted in several other students joining that effort. This project lasted several years until a public high school was established in that part of Hong Kong. More information on that initiative, as well as what happened after that initiative can be found in Ref. 1.

Starting in the fall of 1970, a global Diao Yu Tai (DYT) Student Movement erupted around the world.  Information on this global DYT Student Movement can be found in Ref. 2. This global student movement originated over the territorial dispute on the Diao Yu Islands (or Diao Yu Tai in Chinese and Senkaku Islands in Japanese) that made front page news in newspapers around the globe.  This dispute dates back to many years, and about 50 years ago this dispute led to a very widespread global Chinese student movement, known as the Diao Yu Tai or DYT Student Movement.  From the very beginning of that global Student Movement, it was recognized that this is not just a minor territorial dispute between two countries, but it had much larger significance involving (1) the revival of Japanese militarism, and (2) American imperialism and collusion with Japan, with the intention to weaken China. This Student Movement started in the fall of 1970 and quickly gained momentum in 1971 and spread around the world in in the following decade.  This Movement also resulted in a major shift in the study focus of oversea Chinese students from mostly science and engineering to a much broader focus covering all disciplines with their eyes on the whole world.

The worldwide Diaoyutai Student Movement resulted in a major impact on the minds and thoughts of Chinese college students across the world in the sense that they are much more focused on the problems of the world, not just on engineering and scientific problems limited to their local neighborhoods. As the years pass by, the Movement affected and drastically changed the lives and the livelihood of numerous Chinese students and as well as the adults as these students become adults.  One could say that the 1970s resulted in a change in the minds of overseas Chinese, and its impacts are reflected in some the things that will be discussed in the rest of this book. 

The book is more than one family’s memoir; it is about the dynamic transformation process of assimilation which all immigrants undergo to one degree or another.  In that sense, this book has more general validity and applicability.

We plan to publish this book in both English and Chinese later this year, including self publishing.

References

Ref. 1: The Shaping of the Life of a Young Student at the University of California at Berkeley, in the August 2011 issue of www.dontow.com.

Ref. 2: Diao Yu Tai Student Movement: Recollection 40 Years Later, and 50 years later, in the October 2010 and the September 2020 issues of the website www.dontow.com.

During the last year and a half, I have made progress on my recovery, including going through many rounds of physical therapy (PT) and acupuncture treatments (AT) in the sense that I can walk without needing a cane, and basically I can manage my life, although needing to do things carefully and slowly.

Based on my understanding of acupuncture and recovering from strokes, there are two main components. One is that the nerves carrying the neural networks have to be open and those neural networks are able to transport the neural messages back and forth. For example, if we are talking about the lower part of my left legs, the neural networks for controlling that part of my lower left leg have to be open and the neural networks have to be able to transport the messages back and forth. Initially after my stroke, some of the neural networks for that part of my lower left leg might have been damaged and the neural signals might not have been transmitted back and forth. One of the things that my acupuncturist in San Francisco tried to do last December was trying to get those neural networks working again. He told me last December that he was successful in trying to get those neural networks working again. So that was successful.

However, there is also a second component. Besides getting the neural networks to communicate, the muscles controlling that part of my legs have to function properly. And this is more than a yes and no. That is, it takes time and numerous practices for those muscles to get back into shape and function properly. That was why even though my acupuncturist was able to reestablish those neural networks, I couldn’t walk consistently and properly right away, and for an extended period. It took me weeks of practice to build that back. I think I am making progress during the last month, and that progress is going to take more time. I hope that in the next few months, I can continue to make progress.

This is just my understanding of acupuncture and recovery from strokes, and I hope my acupuncture friends and experts can correct or elaborate on my understanding.

However, there are also tariffs that the Trump administration will impose on China (and tariffs during his previous term as the U.S. President). As the matter of fact, the Biden administration already has imposed many tariffs (including those from the first President Trump) on China. China has also purchased large amounts of certain agricultural products from countries like Brazil. (See, e.g., Ref. 1) China has also taken certain counter measures, such as forbidding or restricting trade of certain rare earth elements to the U.S. (see, e.g, Ref. 2). Some of these rare earth elements have military and technology applications.

Recently I also just read an article in the Foreign Times (Ref. 3) that “by tying subsidies to technology transfers and local production requirements, Brussels ensures that Chinese companies contribute to the EU’s industrial base rather than merely exporting batteries. This approach mirrors other global trade practices, The US Inflation Reduction Act, for example, ties clean energy subsidies to domestic content. Tariffs, by contrast, have done little to achieve their intended goals. Whether the U. S. will do something similar to Belgium, we will have to wait and see.

As to the U.S.’s heavy tariffs on Chinese made automobiles, especially on those automobiles which plan to meet modern emission restrictions, I don’t see how the U.S. without a change on its current position is going to solve the problem, because it is essentially China who is producing such vehicles. Either the U.S. is not going to meet these emission standards or the U.S. is going to drop such tariffs. We will just have to see how the future will evolve in front of our eyes.

References

1. A. “Brazil becomes China’s largest agricultural produce trader, followed by US, Thailand, Australia,” Global Times, Jan. 31,2024. B. “Brazil, China Sign Wide-Ranging Deals, Including Agricultural Products”, Ag/Web.com (Brazil and China signed 37 deals covering agriculture, tech cooperation, trade and investments, infrastructure, industry, energy and mining, among other areas), Pro Farmer Editors, Nov. 20, 2024. C. “China’s Top Crop Trader Blunts Impact of US Trade War With Brazil Bet,” Alfred Cang, Hallie Gu and Dayanne Sousa, Yahoo/Finance, Dec 19, 2024.
2. A. “China Bans Rare Mineral Exports to the U.S.,” by David Pierson, Keith Bradsher, and Ana Swanson, Dec, 3, 2024, New York Times. B. “China banned exports of a few rare minerals to the US. Things could get messier,” by Casey Crownhart, MIT Technology Review, Dec. 12, 2024. C. “China Has Banned Exports of Some Rare Minerals to the United States,” Commentary by Institute for Energy Research, Dec. 12, 2024. D. “China bans export of key minerals to U.S. as trade row deepens even before Trump’s second term,” by Haley Ott, CBS News, Dec. 4, 2024. China announced on Tuesday a ban on the export of a number of minerals with military and technology applications to the U.S., one day after the Biden administration further curbed its own exports as part of its crackdown on China’s semiconductor industry.
3. Europe’s demand for Chinese tech transfers beats tariffs,” by Lizzi lee, Financial Times, December 17, 2024 (https://www.ft.com/content/4b1b7270-4725-4c88-814a-6fa85045f558). The article states that linking subsidies to intellectual property is the sort of stratigic inclusion that fosters mutual benefits.

This assessment is based on our recent 2-week trip (10/13/2024 – 10/26/2024) to Xinjiang.  It was our second visit to Xinjiang.  Our first visit was in 2010, also for 2 weeks.

Xinjiang is very big.  It can be divided into 5 areas:

The Northern Highlands (the major mountain range in this area is the Altai Mountains, with average heights of approximately 4,500 feet (1,400 meters) above sea level)

The Jungge (Dzungarian) Basin (is bordered by the Altai Mountains on the northeast, the Tien Shan Mountain on the south, and the Zhongghar (Dzungarian) Alatau (Alataw) Mountains (principally of Kazakhstan) on the northwest).

The Tian Shan Mountain (occupies nearly one-fourth of the area of Xinjiang. These mountains stretch into the region from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan and run eastward from the border for about 1,000 miles (1,600 km).  The highest mountains rise to an elevation of approximately 24,500 feet (or 7,500 meters).

The Tian Shan Basin (sometimes also called the Tarim Basin-named after the Tarim River – an endorheic river, meaning a river that does not lead to an ocean or sea), a region of central Asia between the Tian Shan and Kunlun Mountains).

The Kunlun Mountains (one of the longest mountain chains and one of the most remote places on earth, and it is considered one of the toughest places in the world for humans to live).

Our trip in Xinjiang runs mostly in the regions 4 and 5, that is, in the Tian Shan Basin (with the Tian Shan Mountain in the background to the north) and in the region north of the Kunlun Mountains.

I want to report on the following places that we visited:

• Xinjiang’s ancient irrigation method in Turpan region
• Anjihai Sea Grand Canyon
• Sayram Lake (赛里木湖) – the largest and also the highest alpine lake in Xinjiang
• An unexpected roadside lunch
• Large Man-Made Lake Built on top of a Natural Lake (Baisha White Sand Mountain/Lake)
• Lin Zexu (林则徐) Memorial Hall in Yili
• View on China’s Economic and Financial Resources
• Comment on foreign reports on Xinjiang
• Three Additional comments
  • Comments on China’s Hotels
  • Comment on our Tour Guide
  • Xinjiang’s website

A. Xinjiang’s Ancient Irrigation Method

Xinjiang is high in elevation and in general does not have a lot of rain.  So the little rain that falls on the ground can quickly evaporate back into the air, which makes normal irrigation methods non-workable.  For many centuries, the people in Xinjiang used an ingenious method to irrigate their land to produce various vegetables and fruits.  This irrigation method is called the “karez system”, commonly found in the Turpan region.

It refers to an ancient underground irrigation system making use of the many high mountains (which can be found in various parts of Xinjiang), where a network of interconnected wells and underground canals collect water from the mountains and channel it to the surface for agricultural use.  Because the interconnected wells and underground canals are underground, the system can keep the water from being evaporated.  It is considered a remarkable feat of engineering that allows for cultivation in the arid desert environment of Xinjiang. 

Photos of the “karez system” can be found in the web under Xinjiang’s ancient irrigation method, e.g. at

https://www.farwestchina.com/travel/turpan/uyghur-karez-wells/

B. Anjihai Grand Canyon

This should be a fantastic site when it opens (probably in 2025).  We saw it in mid- October 2024 before it officially opens.  So what we saw is not the whole thing. 

The Anjihai Grand Canyon is located in the west of Anjihai Town, Shawan County. It originates from the Tianshan Mountains. Its special geological landforms have been featured in National Geographic magazine. The canyon here is breathtaking, the cliffs stand, and the bottom of the valley is up to 100 meters deep. Standing on the edge of the cliff, the cold wind surges straight up from the bottom of the ravine, making people tremble in the bottom of the ditch, and the legs are soft and numb.

It is worth tourists from all over the world. The Grand Canyon has landscapes such as Hongshan, Daiya, Qingfeng, Green Island, and clear water. It has different scenery throughout the year, becoming the most colorful Grand Canyon in the canyon group in China.  Known as “China’s Grand Canyon of Colorado”.

The landforms on both sides of the river in the Anjihai Grand Canyon are different. The west bank is the Gobi, which is relatively flat, and the east bank is the rolling hills, which form a sharp contrast and give people a unique feeling.

Anjihai Grand Canyon is about a 3-hour drive west of Urumqi.  You can find many photos of the magnificent Anjihai Grand Canyon on the web, e.g. at

The landforms on both sides of the river are different. The west bank is the Gobi, which is relatively flat, and the east bank is the rolling hills, which form a sharp contrast and give people a unique feeling.

C. Sayram Lake (赛里木湖)

Sayram Lake is located 120 km north of Yining and 90 km west of Bole, near the border to Kasakhstan.  It is an excellent spot to get a taste of the Tian Shan Mountain.  It is the largest and the highest alpine lake in Xinjiang.  It is known by many names, like Nation Scenic Spot, National Historical Site, A Pearl of the Ancient Silk Road, etc. It is most attractive with its breathtaking scenery, including dazzling sapphire-like lake, verdant forests, snow-capped peaks, thriving grassland, and most charming wild flowers in late spring to early autumn. The lake is especially colorful in June and July, when the alpine flowers are in full bloom.

Spectacular photos of the Sayram Lake can be found at: 

D, An Unexpected Roadside Lunch

Today because of some unexpected delay in trying to reach our next destination, we missed trying to reach our intended place for lunch.  So we had to find a roadside place for lunch.  We saw some roadside workers/people; so we askedthem.  One of themtold us his family has a nearby place that offers lunch.  Since that place is very nearby, he led us to his family’s nearby lunch site. And we had a quick lunch there, with him helping his family to serve us.  This was unplanned and everything just happened unexpectedly.  This is contrary to often reports by western media coverage for people being monitored and watched which was completely unfounded during our two-week trip in Xinjiang.

Unexpected roadside lunch.

On 10/21, a subgroup of us ended their tour of Xinjiang and in the morning flew from Yining to Urumqi and then flew from Urumqi to Shenzhen to Hong Kong, while the rest of the group flew in the afternoon from Yining to Sache and continue our exploration of Xinjiang.

E. Large Man-made Lake Built on Top of a Natural Lake (Baisha White Sand Mountain/Lake)

Baisha White Sand Mountain/Lake is located about 200 kilometers from the urban area of Kashgar. The Mountain and the Baisha White Sand Lake are located in the Karakoram Mountains at an altitude of about 3,300 meters.  Due to the long-term weathering here, the rocks on the top is sanded into powder, pouring down from the top, covering the mountain, so it is called White Sand Mountain.

Here is a short description of the Baisha White Sand Lake:

https://chinaexploration.com/TopAttractions/xinjiang-attractions/Baisha-White-Sand-Lake.html

The 3,300 meter lake is a man-made lake sitting on top of a smaller natural lake.  This lake can freeze during the winter.

F. Lin Zexu (林则徐) Memorial Hall in Yili

It is great that we visited a museum in Yili (or Yining) with information on Lin Zexu (林则徐), who was a pioneer Chinese political leader who was one of the earliest Chinese political leaders who pointed out and protested against the Opium War.  The British would sell opium to the Chinese people and got so many Chinese people addicted and became dis-functional.  When he burned the opium in a British ship in a southern Chinese harbor, the British protested and demanded compensation.  As a result, the weak Ching government removed Viceroy Lin Zexu from his post. Later he was sent to a much lower post in Xinjiang, where he continued to serve the Chinese people.

I am glad that the Chinese government later would recognize and honor him for his foresight and courage; so that Chinese people and the world would appreciate his contributions.

Photos and description of the Lin Zexu (林则徐) Memorial Hall in Yili can be found at:

G. View on Xinjiang’s Economic and Financial Resources

Xinjiang is rich in natural resources. 

Xinjiang has a lot of solar energy.  You can see major solar panels on the fields next to the highways.  We often saw large solar panels being driven in trucks driving next to our bus while we were on the highways.  We also saw large cotton fields next to the highways.

Solar panels.

Cotton fields.

Xinjiang is the leading producer of cotton in China, accounting for about 20% of the world’s cotton production and 80% of China’s domestic cotton production.

Xinjiang also grows a lot of fruits and vegetables.  We saw a lot of grapes, vegetables and fruits on various fields next to the highways or on the sides of highways after they have been cut and waiting to be picked up on the sides of roads and highways.

Carton balls. Veg in bags. Veg on roadside.

Tarim Basin, a major natural gas source in northwest China’s Xinjiang, has seen vigorous development with 12 new gas wells being put into operation in Tarim Oilfield since the beginning of 2024, elevating the gas supply capability in southern Xinjiang. With the establishment of Bozi natural gas processing plant in the southern parts of the Tian Shan mountains, the gas-bearing area is able to process over 30 million cubic meters of natural gas.  The area has proven oil and gas reserves reaching 3.5 billion tons of oil equivalent and has a total gas output of over 400 billion cubic meters.  Oil and gas exploration and production have driven high-quality socio-economic development in Xinjiang and have also helped ensure China’s energy security.

Although it has only about one-third of the world’s rare earth reserves, China now accounts for 60% of global rare earth mined production, 85% of rare earth processing capacity, and over 90% of high-strength rare earth permanent magnets manufactured. 

Rare earth elements form an integral part of the modern global economy. Rare earth elements play a critical role in developing new industries such as wind power generation, fuel cells, hydrogen storage and rechargeable batteries, as well as the permanent magnets used in electric and hybrid-electric vehicles. 

They are also used as phosphors in many consumer displays and lighting systems and are vital for many defense technologies, including precision-guided munitions, targeting lasers, communications systems, airframes and aerospace engines, radar systems, optical equipment, sonar, and electronic counter measures. 

Of the 17 rare earth elements, neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium are especially in demand, given their use in permanent magnets for electric vehicles and wind turbines. 

Demand for rare earth elements has been increasing rapidly in recent years. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the global output of rare earth elements in 2021 was about 280,000 metric tons, more than doubling the global output five years ago in 2016, and was five times the amount produced thirty years ago. From 1994 to 2008, China’s share of the global output rose from 47% to 97%.

See Ref. 7 for a summary of Xinjiang or China’s rare earth element consolidation and power.

H. Comment on Foreign Reports on Xinjiang

There are many foreign reports on Xinjiang.  Unfortunately, most of them are false and purposely fabricated by foreign countries (including the U.S.) who are purposedly trying to be critical of China.

In my September 2024 issue of my website (dontow.com), I mentioned the UN’s Special Rapporteur Professor Alena Douhan recently just finished a 12-day visit to Xinjiang and concluded that numerous reports on the unilateral sanctions’ adverse impact and the consequent socio-economic implications affecting people’ lives. 

As a matter of fact, the UN rapporteur just declared on 9/13/2024 that all US, EU, British and Canadian sanctions on China over its human rights abuses constitute illegal “unilateral coercive measures” under international law.

I. Three Additional comments

I like to offer 3 smaller comments:

1. Comment on China’s Hotels:  Many of China’s hotels have many light switches controlling various lights.  I find them difficult to figure out their purposes.  I believe that they can be better defined and can simplify the cost of implementation and operation.  I often find it difficult to determine the light switch that can be left on at night to help me find the visible path to the bathroom.  As a matter of fact, I believe a small night light can easily serve that purpose, and it could save a lot of money in designing, installing, and operation.  I think an interior designer can make a better and less expensive design of many of these hotels.
2. Comment on our Main Tour Guide:  Our main tour guide does a wonderful job in providing us information on the places that we will be visiting.  One comment I have for him is that he will often give us the description in Chinese, but then would not provide the English translation for the several non-Chinese members of our group.  He thinks that his Chinese is not very good. In my opinion, his English is good enough, and he can give it a try.  If necessary. the local guide‘s English is pretty good and the local guide or Al Kwok (our main trip organizer) can provide the English translation.
3. Xinjiang’s website does not provide easy to find information on the location and description of the places we visited.  Providing such information on the locality and description of the local sites of visit would save us a lot of time trying to figure out where did we just visited.

References

[1]  Ancient China Greatest Water System Karez:  https://www.chinaexploration.com/TopAttractions/xinjiang-attractions/karez-kan-er-well.html.html.

[2] Anjihai Grand Canyon:  https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=anijiu+Sea+Canyon#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:70bb4ada,vid:ktKBWLtsiio,st:0

[3] Sayram Lake (赛里木湖):  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayram_Lake.

[4] White Sand Mountain Lake:  https://www.chinaexploration.com/TopAttractions/xinjiang-attractions/Baisha-White-Sand-Lake.html

5] Lin Zexu (林则徐) Memorial Hall in Yil (or Yining): https://www.xinjiangtravel.org/yili/attraction/the-lin-zexu-museum.html

[6] World’s Biggest Solar Farm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrNTu1tIjGI

[7] China’s Rare Earth Metals Consolidation and Power:  https://www.fpri.org/article/2022/03/chinas-rare-earth-metals-consolidation-and-market-power/

[8] UN expert says unilateral sanctions must not be used as foreign policy tool and means of economic coercion:  https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/05/china-un-expert-says-unilateral-sanctions-must-not-be-used-foreign-policy

As mentioned in my previous article (in September 2024) “Update on Recovering from My Stroke,” I want to provide an update on my progress from recovering from my stroke, I want to report on the progress that I have made in just the last two weeks (since 12/8/2024). On 12/4/2024 , at the suggestion of my sister Mei (Tow) Lam of San Francisco, who has a close friend who mentioned to her about Dr. Qiong Zhang Shen (his Chinese name is Dr. Shen), a licensed acupuncturist and an Oriental Medicine doctor in San Francicco who treated her friend’s stroke. I immediately flew from New Jersey to San Francisco on 12/8/2024, and have seen Dr. Shen everyday for acupuncture treatment and Chinese herbal medicine treatment since arriving San Francisco on 12/8/2024 and continued to 12/19/2024.

Although normally the probability of success by acupuncture/Chinese herbal medicine (especially for Acupuncture treatment) should commenced immediately and before the 20th day after the stroke (in the case of my sister’s friend, Dr. Shen’s treatment began shortly after her stroke; in my case it didn’t occur until almost 15 months after my stroke (my stroke occurred on 9/23/2023). So, I did not have high expectation for me of Dr. Shen’s treatment.

Each time after my acupuncture treatment (normally lasting at least an hour, but usually lasting for two hours) by Dr. Shen, Dr. Shen also spends a lot of time massaging the patting all over my body, and then he also observes my walking back ane forth. Also he gives me Chinese herbal medicine almost every day; he said the Chinese herbal medicine complements the acupuncture treatment he gives me. And after a week of treatment, Dr. Shen on 12/14/2024 told me that I have made good progress, including establishing new neural nearby connections in my body to bypass the dead neural connections in that part of my body. I myself cannot come to that conclusion yet, because I would like to walk on a treatmill to see if I still drag my feet, and do slightly longer walking to determine how my feet behave. I won’t be able to do those things until I return to my New Jersey home on Dec. 20th.

I did return to NJ on Dec. 20. After settling down, I did at 1:00 AM (on 12/21) walked on my threadmill for 10 minutes and later in the evening of 12/21 at around 7:30 PM I did walk around for about 30 minutes on the inside of Bell Works (very near our house) for about 3/8 mile (the distance for the inside walk of Bell Works is about 1/4 or 2/8 mile). This was what I found. I did find some small improvements in my walking, including on my left foot. But I still find some dragging on my left foot, espececailly when I got a little tired, like in the last 2-3 minutes of that 10-minute on the threadmill. Normally I do the threadmill for bout 20-25 minutes. So the dragging should occur more often when I get tired during the last part of a 20-25 minute walk. During the evening walk on the inside of Bell Works, I also found that I often dragged my left foot, and still don’t walk quite naturally. So my conclusion is the following: The acupuncture and the oral herbal medicine have helped, but they have not helped me to recover completely yet. I think it will take more time and continued exercises for my recovery to continue to get back to my previous self. I will provide more updates in the future.

Major Issue and Need Change of Mindset

In the last issue [Ref.1], I mentioned that I always thought for a long time that the best approach to U.S.-China Relationship is for the U.S. and China as the world’s most important countries to work collaboratively to address the many critical problems facing the world, problems like poverty, diseases, unemployment, lack of education, disarmament, climate change, and nuclear arms race. Unfortunately, instead of living together to try to improve the world, the U.S. is creating confrontations and adopting a foreign policy toward China that is so antagonistic that can easily escalate into wars.

Let’s look at some of the key issues in the U.S.-China relationship, such as South China Sea, Taiwan, and Xinjiang.

South China Sea Issue

We will first consider the South China Sea issue. A major partner/ally of the U.S. in the South China Sea is the Philippines government. A brief history of the Philippines can be found in Ref. 2. Phillipines was a Spanish colony and takes its name from Philip II, who was king of Spain during the Spanish colonization of the islands in the 16th century, and was under Spanish rule for 333 years and then became a colony of the U.S. for another 48 years from 1899 to 1946 [Ref. 3].  The Philippines government actually has no legal jurisdiction on any of the contested areas in the South China Sea.

On the other hand, China claims sovereignty over the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands (the two major islands in the South China Sea) dating back at least several hundred years, and Chinese fishermen have also been fishing around these islands for also hundreds of years. See, e.g., Ref. 4 for Chinese exploration of the South China Sea areas, as well as many other areas of the world. These islands have been marked as part of China in various maps.  For example, even textbooks approved by the Indonesian government in the 1940s and 1950s recognized these islands as belonging to China.  In 1946 after WWII ended and Japan returned Taiwan to China, China sent four military ships, accompanied by an American naval ship, to Taiping Island (the largest island of the Spratly Islands, also known as Itu Aba Island) and several other islands in the South China Sea to take back the control of these islands from Japan.  The Philippines has also deliberately grounded (since 1999) a Philippine naval ship (actually a former U.S. naval vessel) called the Sierra Madre (on a “disputed” island between the Philappines and China in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. This tries to add credence to Philippine’s claim to these South China Sea islands.

The U.S. is also conducting joint military operation practices with countries such as Philippines, Japan, and Australia, all while openly criticizing the legal actions of land reclamation of islands under China’s sovereignty. Similar land reclamation activities have also been done by Vietnam.  The U.S. has also complained about China setting up an oil exploration rig near one of her islands, but the U.S. has never said anything negative about similar, earlier, and larger-scale actions by Vietnam who has been extracting oil from various oil rigs and making millions of dollars every year.  Furthermore, in 1956, North Vietnam had also declared that the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands are historically Chinese territory.

It is clear that the U.S. is not playing fairly in the so-called South China Sea dispute. Although the U.S. has no role to play in this area, it has for no good reason at all obviously thrown its support to so-called allies like the Philippines, Vietnam, and even Japan who caused so much pain and suffering to the people all over the world during WWII, especially including launching the unwarranted aerial attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Taiwan Issue

Now we discuss the issue of Taiwan. In a sense, this issue is really trivial if you follow the history of China and the U.S.-relationship with respect to Taiwan, but in reality, because the U.S. is not acknowledging history and wants to rewrite history, this issue could trigger the next world war and another nuclear war.

Historically, Taiwan has been a part of China for many centuries and universally so recognized by the world. The island of Taiwan was ceded to Japan after Japan won the first Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. After WWII ended, Japan was supposed to relinquish all territories in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the first World War in 1914, and that all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa (another name for Taiwan), and the Pescadores (a group of small islands just off the western coast ot Taiwan), shall be restored to the Republic of China. This agreement was clearly stated in several major international declarations.

The 1943 Cairo Declaration [5]:

In particular, it was so stated in the November 26, 1943 Cairo Declaration by President Franklin Roosevelt of the U.S., Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China. The declaration developed ideas from the 1941 Atlantic Charter, which was issued by the Allies of WWII to set goals for the post-war order. The Cairo Declaration also stated that following the war, Manchuria, Taiwan, and the Pescadores Islands would be returned to China.

The 1945 Potsdam Declaration [6]:

On July 26, 1945, the Allied Powers represented by President Franklin Roosevelt of the U.S., Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China issued the Potsdam Declaration that offered an unconditional surrender of Japan to WWII and reiterated the 1943 Cairo Declaration that all territories that Japan seized or occupied from the Chinese, including the island of Taiwan, should be returned to China.

The 1945 Japanese Instrument of Surrender [7]:

On September 2, 1945, representatives from the Japanese government and Allied forces aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, which ended World War II and also reiterated the Potsdam Declaration that the island of Taiwan should be returned to China.

Xinjiang Issue

Now we discuss the issue of Xinjiang. For several years, the U.S. has made many negative remarks on Xinjiang with respect to China’s treatment of the Uyghurs minority and imposed many sanctions on Chinese products from Xinjiang. Recently the UN has released a report by the UN Special Rapporteur Professor Alena Douhan on 5/17/2024 [Ref. 9] that “states should lift sanctions against China and also take strong action to curb sanction over-compliance by businesses and other actors under their jurisdistion. She also emphasized that “decline in business activities and the significant loss of global markets either due to unilateral sanctions per se or due to over-compliance with such measures by foreign businesses and entities have led to job losses with consequent disruptions in social protection schemes, by disproportionatly affecting the most vulnerable, particularly in labour-intensive sectors, including women, older persons, and all those in informal employment.” The U.N. Special Rapporteur is warning that such unitateral sanctions can do irreparable harms to many people and companies.

There have been numerous commentaries by very knowledgeable foreigners [Refs 11-13] who have lived and worked in China for many years criticizing the U.S. sanctions against Xinjiang and who have voiced opinions similar to the comments of the UN Special Rapporteur Professor Alena Douhan. The UN Special Rappoteur Dunhan will present her Xinjiang report to the Human Rights Council of the UN in September 2024.

Conclusion and New Perspective on U.S.-China Relationship

The issues that we have discussed in this artilce, whether it is the South China Sea issue, the Taiwan issue, or the Xinjiang issue are also so much intertwined with the internal politics of the U.S. because both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party have adopted in the past 5-10 years such discrminatory practices against China. It is time for them to see the world in a new light that such policies are wrong, and do great harms to the econimic and political benefits of the U.S. government and the American people.

If the U.S. government and the American people can acknowledge and make this major mental change, i.e., the U.S. does not always have to be the single dominant player in a unipolar world, but one of the major players in a multipolar world, then the U.S. can become a major player economically and politically. It can still become a major player in many markets, including the electric vehicle market. At the same time, it is also contributing to what the world needs from a global environmental perspective.

These issues are also so much intertwined with the internal politics of the U.S. because both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party have adopted in the last few years such discrminatory practices against China. It is time for them to see the world in a new light that such policies are wrong, and do great harms to the econimic and political benefits of the U.S. government and the American people. It is urgent that the American government and people can change this perspective on China, because the trajectory of the U.S.-China relationship leads directly to conflicts, wars, and more and more instabilities in all parts of the world, while the world needs to work together to address these problems. At the same time, the world is also facing more and more enviromental problems that without a concerted effort by the world working together to solve these problems, it may be too late to save the world from this sinking ship and save humanity.

If the U.S. government and the American people can acknowledge and make this major mental change, it can regain its important role as a vital player economically and politically. It can still become a major player in many markets, including the electric vehicle market. At the same time, it is also contributing to what the world needs from an environmental perspective.

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References

[1] D. M. Tow, “A New Post on U.S.- China Relationship (June 2024): https://www.dontow.com/2024/06/a-new-post-on-u-s-china-relationship/

[2] See, e.g., “History of the Philippines,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Philippines.

[3] See, e.g., “The Philippines: Facts and History,” https://www.thoughtco.com/the-philippines-facts-and-history-195655, including the Philiappino-American war that ended when Spain ceded the archipelago islands of the Philippines to the U.S. in the 1898 Treaty of Paris.

[4] The famous Chinese navigator Zheng He and his large fleet of ships sailed all over Asia and many other parts of the world between 1405 and 1433 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), sailing through the South China Sea many times on their way to India, Africa, and other places. See, e.g., Louise Levathes, When China Ruled the Seas, Open Road Distribution, 2014.

[5] See, e.g., “The 1943 Cairo Declaration“: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_Cairo_Declaration.

[6] See, e.g., “The Potsdam Declaration”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potsdam_Declaration.

[7] See, e.g., “September 2, 1945 Japanese Instrument of Surrender”: https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/surrender-of-japan

[8] See, e.g., National Archives, Surrender of Japan (1945): https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/surrender-of-japan

[9] “China: UN expert says unilateral sanctions must not be used as foreign policy tool and means of economic coercion,” UN Special Rapporteur Professor Alena Douhan, May 17, 2024: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/05/china-un-expert-says-unilateral-sanctions-must-not-be-used-foreign-policy. The Special Rapporteur will present her Xinjiang visit report to the Human Rights Council of the UN in September 2024.

[10] Numerous commentaries by very knowledgeable foreigners who have lived and worked in China for many years have criticized the U.S. sanctions against Xinjiang and who have voiced opinions similar to the comments of the UN Special Rapporteur Professor Alena Douhan. See, e.g., Refs 11-13.

[11] Jerry Grey and his wife Ann, who have lived and worked in China during the last 20 years, including visiting Xinjiang several times and who have cycled across China including Xinjiang: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jlUy2DR8TQ.

[12] An interview by Cyrus Janssen with Fernando Munoz Bernal and Noel Lee who visited Xinjiang in 2021 in “What It’s Really Like to Travel to Xinjiang, China?”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8qnr8DXZOc. Cyrus Janssen is an American businessman who has lived and worked in China for about 10 years, and has gone back and visited China several times. Fernando Munez Bernal from Columbia (sometimes under the heading “Alex from Reporterly Media & Travel” has also other video broadcasts of his travels in many parts of China.

[13] Daniel Dumbrill, a Canadian businessman who has lived in China for many years and visited Xinjiang in 2021 in “Xinjiang Genocide: An Except from the ‘Genocide’ Panel”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH-0l_zToN4. He has also many video broadcasts of his visits to China, which you can find in the web.

Recently we learned of a recently approved strategy named Nuclear Employment Guidance [1] that focuses on using nuclear weapons on China, as well as Russia and North Korea. The proposed strategy is supposed to prepare a hightened sense of security against a potential nuclear attack by the three countries of China, Russia, and North Korea.. China has been brought to the table of nuclear threats to the U.S.

One cannot criticize China for building up its military capability, including developing its nuclear arsenal so that if neessary, it can defend itself against potential enemies. If you look at the actions of China with respect to its military deployment, it has been extremely fair. Independent of the critical comments of the U.S., China is not using its military strength to bully other countries. It is really stretching the point, although completely consistent with what the U.S. governmwnt has been doing in the last 5-10 years, in adopting an extremely hostile attitude targeting and criticizing China, adopting all kinds of economic sanctions against China, and always demonizing China. The image publicized by the U.S. government and populated in the U.S. and world media on China is unwarranted and mostly fabricated. It is so contrary to the experience of the thousands of foreigners who have lived and worked in China for many years [Ref. 2]. As a matter of fact, one wonders why China is not doing more to counter the hostility and attitude toward China.

It is time for the U.S. government and the American people to reorient its attitude and image of China. The Chinese government and people have made great improvements in China, basically eliminating adverse poverty in China, and at the same time it has also helped many other countries to improve their standards of living, e.g, via the Belt and Road Initiative. It is time for the U.S. government to recognize the multipolar world, instead of focusing on the unipoloar world. It is time for the U.S. to remove all economic sanctions against China. Not only that these sanctions do not work, they do not hold back China, they also keep the U.S. from getting its fare share of economic benefits. These sanctions are counter protective,, they hurt China, they hurt the U.S., and they also hurt the rest of the world.

It is time not only to abandon the Nuclear Employment Guidance strategy putting China as the main nuclear threat. It is time for the U.S. and the world to focus their energy to work on the many important problems facing the world. It is time to see in what ways China can work collaborately with the U.S. to solve the many complex problems facing the world.

Let’s focus our attention on another important problem facing the U.S. This is related to two American astronauts who are currently stranded in the International Space Station (ISS).

Important U.S. Space Program

The U.S. has a very important space program called Starliner with two astronaults (Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams) who are temporarily stranded in space. The 15-foot-wide Boeing-made space capsule Starliner was launched, atop an Atlas V rocket, on June 6, 2024. But the spaceship has encountered some problems, including three helium leaks, including one leak that was known before flight, and two new ones after the spaceship was launched. Besides these leaks, the crew also had to troubleshoot failed control thrusters, though the crew was able to successfully dock the Starliner spaceship with the International Space Station (ISS). Being a Boeing-made spaceship, the Starliner was thought to provide a new way to get crews to and from the ISS. Witmore and Williams’ mission was supposed to last a mere eight days when they would test out aspects of Starliner and see how it operates with a human crew in space. However, due to complications experienced with Starliner, the two astronaults have to stay in the ISS much longer (Ref. 3).

With the technical problems facing the Starliner, NASA has been thinking of finding another method to bring the two stranded astronaults home to earth. So one method is to use the SpaceX, which is a private spaceflight company founded by Elon Musk. But SpaceX also has experienced failures and problems. A Falcon 9 rocket to launch SpaceX exploded on the launch pad in 2016, and in July a Falcon 9 rocket experienced a liquid oxygen leak and deployed its satellites in the wrong orbit. However, SpaceX also has more than 300 successful Falcon 9 flights to its credit.

NASA says that there is no rush to bring Wilmore and Williams home. The current plan is to launch another SpaceX to the ISS and bring Witmore and Williams home to earth. This is currrently scheduled for February 2025.

A Potential U.S.-China Collaborated Space Venture

Just for contingency planning, if the above plan to bring home Wilmore and Williams runs into more problems in the future, since China also has a space program (Tiangong space station) which is planning a national record 100 orbital launches in 2024. (Refs. 4 and 5). It would be a great collaborative effort for the U.S. and China to jointly launch a spaceship to the ISS to bring home the two U.S. astronauts Butch Whilmore and Suni Williams. Although China has many tasks for its space program (that is why it is planning about a 100 space launches in the next year or so), it should be a great effort for the U.S. and China to collaborrate on this highly valuable humanitarian effort. Who knows what could follow, and the icy relationship between the U.S. and China could thaw and give rise to more fruitful joint ventures to improve the world.

References

[1] David E. Sanger, “Biden Approved Secret Nuclear Strategy Refocusing on Chinese Threat,” the New York Times, 8/20/2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/20/us/politics/biden-nuclear-china-russia.html.

[2] See, video broadcasts by various foreigners who have lived and worked in China for many years, e.g., from American Cyrus Jannsen, Australian/British Jerry Grey, Columbian Fernando Munez Bernal, and many others. Their video broadcasts on China can easily be found in the web.

[3] See, e.g., Marcia Dunn, “Who are the two NASA astronauts stranded at the Intenational Space Station?”, https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/national-international/who-are-the-two-nasa-astronauts-stranded-at-the-international-space-station/3370766/?os=..&ref=app#:~:text=The%20two%20astronauts%20who%20will%20spend%20extra%20time,and%20when%20%E2%80%94%20they%20would%20return%20to%20Earth.

[4] Astronauts Stranded in Space: How They’ll Be Rescued in 2025″, CNET, Sept. 5, 2024: https://www.cnet.com/science/astronauts-stranded-in-space-how-theyll-be-rescued-in-2025/.

[5] Andrew Jones, Space News, “China’s 2024 space plans include 100 launches and moon sample return mission,” February 26, 2024: https://spacenews.com/chinas-2024-space-plans-include-100-launches-and-moon-sample-return-mission/.

Almost a year ago on September 16, 2023, I suffered a stroke affecting my left leg and left arm. Although it was not from a major stroke, it did affect my mobility and my stability, affecting the distance I could walk, the amount of time I could spend doing Taiji, and the time to take a break before I can continue. I want to give an update on the progress in the recovering process, especailly during the last 3 months. Let me summarize the results so far.

Current Situation

• After about 6 months of physical therapy (from Sept 2023 to beginning of March 2024) at the Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, it was decided to take a break from the physical therapy treatment to see how my body would perform
• I also had acupuncture treatment by a local acupuncturist for about two months in this 6 month period.  Usually the acupuncture treatment should commence within 20 days of the stroke.  Since my acupunctural treatment didn’t begin until more than a month after my stroke, we were not expecting a lot of progress from this treatment.
• After the physical therapy (PT) ended in March 2024, I did continue to do some of the  PT exercises at home, but not extensively until around June/July 2024.
• Because I have Sleep Apnea, which occasinally causes me to stop breathing temporarily during my sleep. To solve this problem I have to use a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine with a mask to push air into my lungs during my sleep. About 10 years ago, doctors invented a method to replace the CPAP machine to automatically move air into a patient’s lungs. Inspire Surgery inserts a small battery in the patient’s chest to provide power to operate automatically a very tiny hook inserted in the patient’s throat area to make the patient’s tongue to open up to allow air to go down the passage way into the lungs. On 6/27/2024, I had this Inspire Surgery done by the pulmonologist Dr. Vishaal Patel.
• To allow time for my body to recover from this Inspire Surgery, the results of my Inspire Surgery was activated on 8/7/2024 by my regular pulmonologist Dr. Adrian Pristas. So now this automatic device has been implemented and activated in my body.  I will wait till the next couple of months to see whether the Inspire device in my body will operate efficiently and as designed.  I plan to update this information in my next update in Dec. 2024.

In the meantime, I want to give an update on an assessment of the results of my Physical Therapy (PT) exercises (such as walking on threadmills, various stretching exercises) I have been doing at home in the last couple of months.

Status Update

1. The PT exercises on the threadmill have definitely increased my stamina so that I can maintain the threadmill exercises for up to 30 minutes at a time.  However, I still drag my left foot on the ground, especially after I get a little tired.  I have to constantly remind me to raise my left foot (especially the front part of my left foot) to be above the ground. I should keep this in mind even if I need to slow down the exercise.
2. To increase my bending and stretching, I need to do more stretching of raising my left or right foot while lying on the floor on my tummy and raising the left foot or right foot backward and up toward the front.
3. I need to do more of all kinds of stretching to make me more flexible.
4. I need to do more pushups to restore some of the strengths that I have lost.
5. I need to do more of the Taiji exercises to restore my flexibility, my stability, and my stamina.

I don’t know how much of my previous flexibility, stability, strengths, and stamina I can restore in the next 6-12 months, but I am looking forward to making progress.

In the last several months I have also been doing Sleep Therapy (ST) exercises once a week to increase my memory. ST provides exercises that try to associate various other entities (e.g., activities, names of projects or people that may be related to the current names). Sometimes, I have the tendency of temporarily forgetting the names of people I see and whose names I used to know. Such loss of memory may be just due to age. We will take a pause from my ST after I return from the Asia trip.

It also ended my career as a Taiji teacher, since it was not fair to my students not being able to do the techniques I was teaching. However, I also know that the best ways to recover from this fallback is to make use of Taiji to gradually built back my stamina and to recover the Taiji techniques I have forgotten or unable to perform.

I am also to undergo Inspire surgery on 6/27/2024 to replace the CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine I use when I go to bed to help me breathe and to minimize the possibility of short durations of stop breathing. The Inspire surgery also places a placemaker in my chest, and it does minor surgery in the throat to allow the lifting of my tongue to allow air to pass down the throat down to the lungs.  The placemaker has a small battery that needs to be replaced every 10 years, requiring a minor surgery.

This article marks the beginning of this come back. I do not know how well I can recover. I should have a better idea of this reovery process about a year from now.

In the meantime, let me jog down my current limitations. They will serve as metrics to help me guage my recovery:

• When I walk, my left leg has a tendancy to scrape the floor.  I need to lift that left leg higher so that my left leg is completely off the floor when I walk.
• Similarly, I need to bring my right leg up higher to take a step forward.  So that in each step I am bringing my body upward and forward so that each step involves an upward and forward motion.
• I need to do this on every step until I want to end this process.

I am sure that I will be adding more steps in this table as I proceed with the recovery process.