Sta Hungry Stay Foolish

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

A blog by Leon Oudejans

Chinese monism: Power versus Knowledge

Recently, I noticed two interesting articles that seemingly contradict each other: (1) China tells schoolteachers to hand in their passports (FT, 6 Oct 2024), and (2) Scale of Chinese Spying Overwhelms Western Governments (WSJ, 14 Oct 2024). The contradiction is about gathering knowledge.

Does China trust its spies more than public information from the Financial Times (FT), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), or Jane’s Defence Weekly (JDW) ?? In my view, it’s easier finding (political) bias in public articles than in spies.

I suppose my question above is inherent to monism, a (political) structure in which everything, including Knowledge and Love, is subject to Power. Within Power, nobody can be trusted. That notion should – and probably will – include knowledge from spies.

In autocracies like China and Russia, spies must please their masters. Why would spies present two sides of a story?? Hence, the likelihood that information is biased will thus be high. However, information is seldom absolute and nearly every piece of information will contain (at least) two sides of a story.

In Western countries, the (political) structure is usually about dualism, also known as the ancient adagium that Knowledge equals Power (eg, Imam Ali, Francis Bacon, Michel Foucault, Thomas Jefferson). Companies express such roles through CEO (power) and CFO (knowledge).

In this Western structure, Power is dependent on Knowledge. Therefore, Knowledge flourishes because it increases Power. In my view, the ancient book The Art of War by the Chinese military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer Sun Tzu is a perfect example.

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

A quote from The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The Power (1990) by SNAP!
band, lyrics, video, Wiki-band, Wiki-song

Note: all markings (bolditalicunderlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.

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