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China and Mitt Romney: Tale of the Mandarin and the Yankee Plutocrat (Folha, Brazil)

"The story involves the devil, an ambitious man and a powerful mandarin - a senior government official in ancient China. ... One day in a secondhand book shop, Teodoro, a low-ranking civil servant and a greedy individual prone to social climbing, discovers a book containing a certain fable. The book says that the mere ringing of a bell, at a specific hour, will kill the mandarin and that he, the assassin, will inherit his millions. ... Romney wants to ring the bell: he wants to formally declare China a currency manipulator, triggering a cascade of events that could be extremely detrimental to the global economic recovery."

By Monica Baumgarten De Bolle

Translated By Brandi Miller

October 25, 2012

Brazil - Folha - Original Article (Portuguese)

In 1880, Eça de Queiroz wrote a short story [called The Mandarin] that completely clashes with the realist style that marked the body of his work. The story involves the devil, an ambitious man and a powerful mandarin - a senior government official in ancient China.

One day in a secondhand book shop, Teodoro, a low-ranking civil servant and a greedy individual prone to social climbing, discovers a book containing a certain fable. The book says that the mere ringing of a bell, at a specific hour, will kill the mandarin and that he, the assassin, will inherit his millions.

After this discovery, Teodoro has a vision. In it, the devil visits and tempts him to ring the bell. The protagonist doesn't resist. The tinkling of the bell sets in motion a series of events that will forever change Teodoro's life. Teodoro becomes rich but goes on to lead a life of betrayal and guilt.

Things don't end well. Teodoro pleads with the devil to take back his fortune and make everything go back to the way it was.

****************

The Republican candidate for U.S. president, Mitt Romney, isn't a "civil servant" - yet - nor does he have a middle-class salary like Eça's. However, according to his most recent statements, he is a restless man.

He wants to ring the bell: he wants to formally declare China a currency manipulator, triggering a cascade of events that could be extremely detrimental to the global economic recovery.

During campaign debates, Romney has said that if elected, this would be his first act as president. His timing couldn't be worse.

China is today going an extremely important process of political liberalization and economic transformation, both internally and in the context of the global economy. In recognition of this, the Nobel Prize in Literature, which traditionally implies a strong geopolitical element, was awarded to a Chinese writer who forms a part of China's domestic cultural milieu.

The unprecedentedly transparent Communist Party leadership transition to take place in November and the change from investment and export-led growth to increased domestic consumption are essential for China to elevate its geopolitical status and consolidate its position as an economic power, and reducing the risk of macroeconomic imbalance that come from maintaining excessively high growth rates.

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