兩性專家分析男女大腦的不同，精闢演說讓網友直呼「超中肯」(中文字幕)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlulunyzS9U
accessed September 13, 2017
●Man's brain is typified by linear sequential logic, or the left-hemisphere thinking. Whereas woman's brain tends be holistic or the right-hemisphere thinking.
Chong-Pin Lin September 13, 2017
●一個般說來，男人大腦傾向線性邏輯的思維，主要是左半腦發達。女人大腦傾向"事事相關"的思維，主要是右半腦發達。
淺見如上，敬請賜教。
林中斌 2017.9.13
Stephen Bannon, Outspoken Critic of China, Has Subtler Message in Hong Kong Visit
Alexandra Stevenson September 12, 2017
accessed September 13, 2017
●Another example of Beijing's skillful foreign policy characterized by indirect approach with instruments other than force, be it verbal criticism or physical attack.
Chong-Pin Lin September 13, 2017
●這是北京技巧外交的另一實例。特點是"間接路線"。所用的工具不是語言的批評，更不是實體的攻擊，而是另類的方法，如金錢、媒體能見度、尊重。
林中斌 2017.9.13
Walk with Me 正念的奇蹟
accessed September 7, 2017
●"Walk with Me" a poetically spiritual documentary is truly "cooling to the mind and soothing to the spirit" in this chaotic time of human history. Highly recommended.
Chong-Pin Lin September 7, 2017
●"正念的奇蹟" 也許不適合習慣欣賞熱鬧動作片的觀眾。對於習慣內心探索的靈魂，這是炎熱天最好的清涼劑。高度讚賞，強力推薦。
林中斌 2017.9.7
林中斌：台只論軍事將重蹈國共內戰失利覆轍
梁雅雯 中評社 2017年8月23日
http://hk.crntt.com/doc/1047/8/8/5/104788513.html?coluid=7&kindid=0&docid=104788513&mdate=0825164054
accessed August 23, 2017
● 這篇可能是2017.8.23新書發表會最全面，較準確的報導。
林中斌 2017.8.25
中評社台北8月23日電（記者 梁雅雯）
前“國防部”軍政副部長、前陸委會首席副主委林中斌23日下午在新書《撥雲見日：破解台美中三方困局》發表會上表示，大陸一向以超軍事手段和軍事手段並用，現階段對台政策就是超軍事手段，不得以才會攻打，因為買台灣比打台灣便宜。
林中斌強調，大陸一向以超軍事手段和軍事手段並用，“國軍”內戰失利部分原因就是忽略大陸超軍事手段和軍事手段合併運用，今天台灣如果再度就軍事論軍事，來處理對岸的威脅，勢必會重蹈覆轍。
林中斌和資深媒體人、“國防部”《國防報告書》諮詢委員會亓樂義合著新書《撥雲見日：破解台美中三方困局》今天發表。發表會在孫立人將軍官邸（陸軍聯誼社）舉行。
林中斌表示，世界局勢變化快速，美中台三方未來可望出現多贏局面，鬥而不破將成為主要國家處理矛盾的方式。大陸買台灣比打台灣便宜，不會武統台灣。
林中斌臚列大陸各種統戰台灣方式，主要分為“文統”和“武統”兩類，在這兩類裡又各分為四策，分別是上上策“心靈契合”、上策“不戰統台”、下策“點穴戰”或“癱瘓戰”，下下策是“傳統戰”或“殲滅戰”。
林中斌提到，大陸現階段使用的，就是上策“不戰統台”的超軍事手端，不得以才會攻打，現況處於超軍事手段階段，祭出優厚待遇吸收台灣青年，再搭配窮台政策。買臺灣比打台灣便宜。
林中斌表示，現在的戰爭都是小國的內戰，以及大國打小國的戰爭，大國之間的戰爭已不可能爆發，中美間不可能兵戎相見。而目前台、美、中三方可望創造多贏可能，1914年8月歐戰爆發的一次大戰不可能會重演有4個理由如下：
第一，大家都有核子武器，雙方即使擦槍走火可能升高為核武大戰，沒有贏家。第二，全球化、網路化經濟高度互相依存。第三，衝突現場視訊掌控，可隨時叫停。第四，曾出現於小國的瘋狂領袖，不可能在大國長期高居上位。
此外，林中斌也提到，美國總統特朗普當選的意涵，包括美國政治模範落漆、美國社會嚴重分裂、特朗普對美國盟友態度惡劣，讓他們紛紛傾向北京、美國自省再生，不再超強霸世、美國與中國在東亞合作將超過對抗、美國亂象非特朗普一人一時造成等。
該書提到“蔡習會”探索篇章中提到，日本記者觀察到習近平批“台獨”時，未點名蔡英文，在兩岸官方互動冷的時刻，態度耐人尋味。由2017年春向前展望，雖然表面看起來機會渺茫，但不能排除的是“蔡習會”苗頭已萌芽。
今天會中有記者追問“蔡習會”章節，林中斌未直接回答，僅表示，他對“國內”問題沒有深入研究，要大家參照書上內文。
林中斌，居留北美29年，未入外國籍、未加入任何政黨。曾任“國防部”軍政副部長、陸委會首席副主委、美國華府智庫“美國企業研究院”（AEI）專任學者兼亞洲研究部副主任、美國華府喬治城大學外交學院講座教授、高雄中山大學政治研究所教授兼所長、淡江大學國際事務與戰略研究所教授。
● 2017年8月23日《撥雲見日》新書發表會簡報敬請賜教。
林中斌 2017.8.22
買台灣，比打台灣便宜得多
藍孝威 中國時報 2017年8月24日
http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20170824000418-260108
accessed August 24, 2017
自去年520後，大陸鷹派常發出以武力統一台灣論調。不過，前國防部副部長林中斌認為，現在大陸不會發起戰爭，但會以強大軍事力量為後盾，綜合經濟、宗教、社會等各種「超軍事手段」對付台灣。
由林中斌和軍事評論員亓樂義合著的《撥雲見日：破解台美中三方困局》昨舉行新書發表會。對錯綜複雜的台、美、中三邊關係，大陸方面時而發出武統威脅聲浪，林中斌指出，大陸統一台灣的方式，戰爭是最下策，要付出的成本最大，「買台灣，比打台灣便宜得多。」
書中舉例，大陸經濟崛起後，手中能打的牌變多，「一帶一路」就是強大武器。今年5月14日，大陸國家主席習近平在北京舉行「一帶一路國際合作高峰論壇」開幕式上大撒銀彈，指亞投行已為「一帶一路」建設參與國的9個專案，提供17億美元貸款，「絲路基金」投資達40億美元，今後大陸還將向「絲路基金」新增資金1000億元人民幣，同時，鼓勵金融機構開展人民幣海外基金業務，規模約3000億人民幣。
林中斌說，大陸對菲律賓打的就是經濟牌。當初兩國為南海主權爭執不下，菲律賓甚至把大陸告上國際法庭，判決結果也對大陸不利，但大陸趁菲國大選，對朝野兩組候選人均承諾經濟援助，結果成功改變菲律賓對南海的強硬立場，轉而向大陸靠攏。
亓樂義認為，大陸是全球第二大經濟體，中產階級變多，「三億人信仰宗教，有錢人不想打仗」。他也斷言大陸不會發動戰爭，但小型衝突、緊張、對峙不可避免；他也提醒，結合經濟、文化、宗教等「超軍事手段」能做到「巧戰而屈人之兵」，各界須有所警惕。
面對共軍斬首戰 速做萬全準備
黃天麟 自由時報 2017年8月23日
http://talk.ltn.com.tw/article/paper/1129334
accessed August 23, 2017
中國軍機繞台已成慣例，目的是實戰化演練，在朱日和的兵推亦常以台灣總統府為攻克目標。顯然共軍認為，以斬首戰二天三日解放台灣，是解決統一問題的最佳選擇。共軍的斬首戰會不會成功？很不幸，以當今情況推斷，答案是傾向肯定的。理由如下：
1. 斬首戰之籌劃、動員比較隱密，不易被衛星、美軍發覺。大規模的海上登陸作戰會給台灣迎戰的準備時間，成功的機會反不如斬首計畫。
2. 共軍在飛彈及空軍已佔優勢，可立即取得制空權，有利於空降傘兵坦克直攻總統府。
3. 中國軍最近新增兩「空降師」，強化對台斬首能力。
4. 偏偏台北留有幾處空曠平地，可供傘兵空降。關渡平原是其一，松山機場及基隆河岸空地是其二，共軍傘兵落地至總統府時間都無須半個小時。
5. 馬英九八年及老藍男執政一年半期間，面對中國統戰，連一部「反統戰法」都尚付闕如，致三中一青、一代一線、入島入戶，有如白蟻蛀空，退將爭相親中友中、村里長自我矮化自稱中華台北、一個韓國小賊竟能把台灣當成自家客廳潛入民進黨總部、一個沉迷中國的死士竟能闖進總統府揮大刀砍傷憲兵，無不透露出整個國安已發生嚴重系統性問題。台灣內部極可能在共軍入侵時土崩瓦解。
斬首計畫與台灣挑釁不挑釁扯不上關係，只要共軍準備就緒，就會隨機執行，這絕非危言聳聽，亦非杞人之憂。事關國家存亡、人民安危，我們提醒蔡政府，幾天兵推、進駐圓山指揮所是不夠的，時猶未晚，立刻著手迎戰的準備，包括：
1. 速強化台北盆地防空網，在觀音山、關渡山區、大屯山區密集佈置可移動飛彈，數目越多越好。
2. 松山機場及其狹長空地因近國防要地，易於防備，宜常駐足夠兵力。關渡平原宜即挖掘壕溝或速開發，不宜再留空地，防阻傘兵坦克降落集結。
3. 速制定有效的「反統戰法」，加強國人信心與凝聚力。
4. 至於長程的國安計畫則應包括：
ａ﹑發展中長程飛彈。
ｂ﹑發展反飛彈系統。
ｃ﹑拚經濟。保持台灣在科技產業的矽盾（Silicon shield）地位。
「有備」是最佳兵法，有備必使敵人不敢輕舉妄動。時不我與，事在人為，決心而已。
（作者為國策顧問，曾任國家安全會議諮詢委員）
兩岸關係的「潛流」
accessed Augsut 7, 2017
● 8月 兩岸關係露曙光？
September 3, 2017
https://udn.com/news/story/7331/2679395?from=udn-catelistnews_ch2
自蔡政府去年五月執政以來，陸委會與大陸國台辦八月各自有迄今最高層級的官員互訪，我官員認為兩岸關係露出一線曙光。
國台辦交流局長黃文濤八月十九日以大陸世大運代表團「團長顧問」身分來台；黨政高層透露，陸委會經濟處專門委員石美瑜在八月十四日也隨經濟部參訪團登陸，是蔡總統就任以來，陸委會登陸層級最高的官員。
據悉，自去年五二○以來，陸委會登陸層級最高的官員僅及於科長，這次石美瑜赴大陸之前，陸委會曾知會國台辦，在未被拒絕的情況下，石美瑜隨經濟部官員赴成都、廣州探訪貿協駐當地辦事處及台商，於八月十八日返台。
黨政高層表示，陸委會專門委員登陸、國台辦局長來台，儘管官員層級不是很高，但已創蔡政府執政紀錄，而且石美瑜才剛返台，黃文濤隔天就來台，時間點相當巧。
陸方對海基會人員的管制更為嚴格，海基會科長層級自去年五二○後，已無法赴大陸。
不過海基會秘書長柯承亨日前在一場陸配團體負責人座談會上表示，兩岸關係目前雖然較為低迷，但樂觀看待中共十九大後，兩岸之間應該有機會改善。
至於原本傳出今年十月在昆明舉辦的二○一七中國國際旅遊交易會，我方恐被拒於門外的消息，黨政高層表示，陸方已經回覆歡迎我方組團參加。
對於陸方今年確定不來台參加台北國際旅展，高層坦言相當扼腕，原因除了大陸海旅會「考量太多」之外，台灣觀光協會在與陸方洽商的過程中遇到困難，太慢通報陸委會，當陸委會獲知欲協處時，已經來不及了，希望大家以後「不要再悶著頭做事」。
這位高層表示，去年七月發生遼寧陸客團在高速公路火燒車的不幸事件後，陸方仍有組團參加台北國際旅展，雖然今年陸方不克參加，但歡迎明年再來，兩岸應該相向而行。
至於日前來台遭阻的陸生，近日也陸續獲大陸官方批准來台唸書，顯示此事在峰迴路轉之下出現轉機，對此，高層也樂見陸方的態度有所改變。
● 陸涉台學者悄訪台 餐敘綠智庫
August 23, 2017
http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20170823000679-260301
中共今秋召開19大，兩岸關係面臨拐點，大陸除罕見邀請綠營學者赴陸交流，大陸涉台學者、北京清華大學台灣研究院副院長巫永平、副教授鄭振清本月8日也來台考察10天，期間更與主責兩岸領域的國安外圍智庫亞太和平基金會董事長許信良、副董事長陳忠信等綠營學者餐敘，顯示民共智庫在檯面下以「私交」為名的接觸並沒有太大阻礙，且都有意在19大前增進了解、降低誤判機率。
據了解，巫永平此行除與藍綠營人士接觸外，也透過關係找了一群在各領域台灣青年進行「焦點會談」，對於綠營如何經營校園與政黨的關係以及課綱問題有較高興趣。此外，也赴台南與地方人士交流，聚焦南台灣基層民眾如何看待目前兩岸發展。
據悉，巫永平與綠營人士交流時表示，民進黨對於改善兩岸關係「可作為」地方在哪？而「不可作為」之處（如去中化）能否改變。他也表示，蔡政府基於政治現實目前無法作出妥協，但大陸出於自身壓力，也更是如此。
事實上，兩岸新情勢下民共如何交流，已有一套因地制宜的做法。就對象而言，大陸涉台人士表示，大陸對於與綠營智庫學者的交流原則有清楚的底線，其一大陸不會接待以遠景與亞太基金會等任何身分的學者，但若掛職其他學術機關的研究人員，則可放行；其二，綠營色彩太過鮮明的民進黨智庫，如由蔡總統兼任董事長的新境界文教基金會、小英基金會等，已被大陸完全打入拒絕往來的黑名單。
就形式來說，另位兩岸事務人士指出，目前大陸學者或官員來台，若不按照向我方陸委會當初申請時的規畫走，對雙方來說都是困擾；但若以「私下餐敘」為由，不但陸方人員可以接受，我方陸委會或政府智庫也可藉此製造與陸學者進行私人交流的機會。亞太基金會從董事長到顧問的全體高層11日與巫永平、鄭振清餐敘，即是鮮明的例子。
據悉，當天出席者除許信良、陳忠信之外，去年傳出赴北京被技術性阻檔的亞太基金會執行長林文程、基金會首席顧問趙春山和兩岸學者張五岳也在座。
● 滬台論壇 陸邀綠學者對話
August 23, 2017
http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20170823000371-260108
由上海台灣研究所主辦的「滬台青年論壇」本月16日至19日在上海舉行，較受矚目的是此行台灣方面有多位出席學者具綠營背景，包括被外界視為親民進黨的台灣世代智庫執行長洪耀南、前遠景基金會副執行長林廷輝，以及兩岸政策協會研究員張宇韶。
去年520以來，大陸全面切斷與民進黨的官方交流與智庫1.5軌對話，但此次滬台論壇，大陸罕見邀請綠營學者登陸，透露大陸正嘗試從智庫管道著手探討與民進黨開啟對話的可行性。
主導者上海市台辦
據了解，該論壇主導者為上海市台辦，上海國際問題研究院、上海交通大學、上海公共政策研究院等涉台年輕學者也出席，主要針對中共今年19大以前兩岸情勢變化交換意見。由於綠營屬性敏感，陸方特別要求與會綠營人士回台保持低調。出席的綠營學者說，討論內容包括九二共識、川普上任後對兩岸影響等議題。
論壇出席者之一為民進黨秘書長洪耀福的胞弟洪耀南，與綠營關係密切不在話下；另以台灣國際法學會副秘書長身份出席的林廷輝，今年3月中旬已卸下國安外圍智庫遠景基金會副執行長一職，4月也曾赴南京參與涉台研討會，等於退下國安智庫職務後即密集赴陸交流。
促防兩岸網民爆衝
上海涉台人士表示，大陸學者在會議上總體仍對兩岸未來發展抱持負面態度，而台灣與會學者建議陸方不需過度悲觀，陸方應多講好話、減少負面表列用語，最重要的是防止兩岸網民爆衝的事件發生。
據了解，台灣學者主動談及四川九寨溝地震後，台灣府院黨第一時間表達關心，當時國台辦也有正面回應；但隔天，國台辦旗下「中國台灣網」卻刊出羅列13項蔡政府「去中國化」例證的文章，台學者認為「這會讓彼此心裡不是很開心」。
綠學者籲正視台灣
與會台灣人士也向陸方涉台學者說明大陸目前作法其實是把蔡政府愈推愈遠。有學者以「一帶一路」為例，認為大陸的戰略藍圖並沒有定位台灣，「傾國家之力所擘畫的中國夢，不也應該牢牢地將台灣納入整體的大戰略中」。該綠營學者認為，大陸應該對自己有信心，正視台灣存在的優勢，「不要小家子氣」。
Chastised Greece Turns to China
International New York Times, August 28, 2017
http://iht.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
accessed August 28, 2017
● Some say that China’s “Belt Road Initiative is only notional”. Really?
有人說北京的「一帶一路」只是紙上談兵。真的嗎？
● Beijing abhors to be perceived as a threat and has actively promoted the idea that the “Belt Road Initiative” is no more than just an “initiative” or a proposal, and definitely is not a strategy.
北京極不願激起國際上的「中國威脅論」。北京「發改會」努力在國際上說明「一帶一路」只不過是個「倡議」，決不是個「戰略」。
Chong-Pin Lin Sept 4, 2017
林中斌 2017.9.4
After years of struggling under austerity imposed by European partners and a chilly shoulder from the United States, Greece has embraced the advances of China, its most ardent and geopolitically ambitious suitor.
While Europe was busy squeezing Greece, the Chinese swooped in with bucket-loads of investments that have begun to pay off, not only economically but also by apparently giving China a political foothold in Greece, and by extension, in Europe.
Last summer, Greece helped stop the European Union from issuing a unified statement against Chinese aggression in the South China Sea. This June, Athens prevented the bloc from condemning China’s human rights record. Days later it opposed tougher screening of Chinese investments in Europe.
Greece’s diplomatic stance hardly went unnoticed by its European partners or by the United States, all of which had previously worried that the country’s economic vulnerability might make it a ripe target for Russia, always eager to divide the bloc.
Instead, it is the Chinese who have become an increasingly powerful foreign player in Greece after years of courtship and checkbook diplomacy.
Among those initiatives, China plans to make the Greek port of Piraeus the “dragon head” of its vast “One Belt, One Road” project, a new Silk Road into Europe.
When Germany treated Greece as the eurozone’s delinquent, China designated a recovery-hungry Greece its “most reliable friend” in Europe.
“While the Europeans are acting towards Greece like medieval leeches, the Chinese keep bringing money,” said Costas Douzinas, the head of the Greek Parliament’s foreign affairs and defense committee and a member of the governing party, Syriza.
China has already used its economic muscle to stamp a major geopolitical footprint in Africa and South America as it scours the globe for natural resources to fuel its economy. If China was initially welcomed as a deep-pocketed investor — and an alternative to the United States — it has faced growing criticism that it is less an economic partner than a 21st-century incarnation of a colonialist power.
If not looking for natural resources in Europe, China has for years invested heavily across the bloc, its largest trading partner. Yet concerns are rising that Beijing is using its economic clout for political leverage. Mr. Douzinas said China had never explicitly asked Greece for support on the human rights vote or on other sensitive issues, though he and other Greek officials acknowledge that explicit requests are not necessary.
“If you’re down, and someone slaps you, and someone else gives you an alm,” Mr. Douzinas said, “when you can do something in return, who will you help, the one who helped you or the one who slapped you?”
The Trump administration, recognizing it has a geopolitical and economic challenger, recently intervened to help lift an American deal over a Chinese competitor — and the Greeks seemed happy to play one power off the other.
European Union officials are concerned that China is buying silence on human rights issues and undermining the bloc’s ability to speak with one voice. Analysts say China targets smaller countries in need of cash, among them Spain, Portugal and others that suffered in the financial crisis. Hungary, where China is pledging to spend billions on a railway, also blocked the European Union statement on the South China Sea.
Many analysts have noted that Greece’s human rights veto came as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras returned from a summit meeting in Beijing in May, where he signed billions of euros’ worth of new investment memorandums with Chinese companies.
Greek officials insisted that, despite all the Chinese investments, the country identified with, and was loyal to, the European Union and did not do China’s bidding. Some European officials are not so sure.
“The Greek government needs to choose where its alliances lie and realize the E.U. is not only a market, but first and foremost a community of values,” said Marietje Schaake, a prominent member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands.
Over the summer, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany tightened rules to limit takeovers of German strategic assets, a move aimed at Chinese statebacked firms. As Ms. Merkel put it to a German newspaper after Greece’s vote blocking the condemnation of Chinese human rights violations, Europe “has to speak with China in one voice.”
She added that China’s economic might allowed it to pressure weaker European nations. “Seen from Beijing,” she added, “Europe is an Asian peninsula.”
A GATEWAY TO EUROPE
In January 2015, Greek voters shook Europe by electing the radical leftist party Syriza and its leader, Mr. Tsipras. He had campaigned to end the austerity measures of the European Union and halt privatizations like the port of Piraeus. Boisterous protesters spilled into Athens, waving Syriza flags and denouncing the European power centers, Brussels and Berlin.
But it was Beijing that became quietly nervous. China’s years of laborious and expensive spadework in Greece suddenly seemed imperiled, especially its investments in Piraeus.
Immediately after Mr. Tsipras took office, the Chinese ambassador, Zou Xiaoli, became the first foreign official to pay him a visit. Mr. Zou pressed Mr. Tsipras to honor the previous Greek government’s commitments to privatize Piraeus, according to several people with knowledge of the meeting.
Back in Beijing, Chinese officials expressed displeasure, and the state-run news media ran articles questioning Greece’s friendship with China. Less than a week later, the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, telephoned Mr. Tsipras to make sure there were no more misunderstandings.
In response, Mr. Tsipras and his deputies announced an “upgrading of relations between Greece and China.” Within weeks, three Chinese frigates arrived in Piraeus. At a ceremony, Mr. Tsipras affirmed Greece’s intent to “serve as China’s gateway into Europe.”
Even as Berlin and Brussels grow wary of Chinese investment, Greece may not care, after suffering under German-enforced austerity attached to the international bailouts that have kept the country afloat since the 2010 debt crisis.
In 2010, as creditors demanded the gutting of pensions and sharp tax increases, the Chinese offered to buy toxic Greek government bonds. In 2013, as Greece became increasingly subject to creditor budget restrictions, the Chinese spent freely on Greek assets.
In turn, Greece has sometimes been a voice in the room at the European Union for China on sensitive issues — although government officials insist Greece remains loyal to the bloc and to NATO, and is only seeking to strike a balance in a shifting world.
As for scuttling the European Union statement on China’s human rights violations — the first time in a decade the bloc was silenced — government officials said Greece viewed the Union’s approach as “unproductive.” After the vote, China’s Foreign Ministry applauded “the relevant E.U. country for sticking to the right position.”
‘A KIND OF NEOCOLONIALISM’
Along more than 20 miles of coastline outside Athens, a forest of cranes at the Piraeus port load and unload thousands of containers from China and around the world. An ultramodern floating dock is scheduled for arrival in November from China. A planned Chinese-financed passenger hub is also in the works.
China has transformed Piraeus into the Mediterranean’s busiest port, investing nearly half a billion euros through the state-backed shipping conglomerate Cosco.
Under the One Belt, One Road project, Chinese goods would travel along a new network of railways and roads radiating up through Central European nations, with the prized destination being Germany, where China invested $12 billion last year alone.
In the middle of the port, Chinese, Greek and European Union flags flutter in front of the headquarters of Cosco, which now controls the entire waterfront through its 67 percent stake in the port.
“It’s a kind of neocolonialism without the gunboats,” Mr. Douzinas said with a chuckle.
Cosco has brought around 1,000 jobs to the area, but it has outfitted cargo docks with cranes made in China, not in Greece, and expanded the docks with building materials from China. And as Greece struggles through record joblessness, the company has used subcontractors to hire around 1,500 workers mostly on short-term contracts at wages far below what unionized Greek dockworkers are paid.
Yet Greece needs any jobs, and leaders are counting on more Chinese investment. Fosun International Holdings, a Chinese conglomerate run by Guo Guangchang, often referred to as China’s Warren Buffett, is spending billions of euros through a consortium with Greek and Arab investors to convert an abandoned airport on the seaside outside Athens into a posh playground three times the size of Monaco for moneyed tourists.
The project, Hellenikon, is part of a bigger plan to bring over 1.5 million Chinese tourists to Greece during the next five years.
Mr. Tsipras has swept aside regulatory hurdles, clearing two large refugee camps installed in the former airport and quashing attempts by members of his own party to delay construction because of concerns the project might pave over ancient archaeological sites.
“That also has been unstuck,” said Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, the Greek economy minister.
CHINA VS. AMERICA
After World War II, the benefactor showering millions on Greece was the United States, courtesy of the Marshall Plan. America’s role in Greece wasn’t always popular — especially its support for the country’s military dictatorship during the Cold War — but the United States was regarded as the gold standard for economic opportunity. Not so much anymore.
When former President Obama visited Greece last November on his final foreign trip, some Syriza officials, bitter that his administration had not intervened more forcefully during the financial crisis, mocked his speech as a funeral oration for his own legacy, worthy of Pericles.
Privately, Mr. Obama’s advisers said the trip also served to demonstrate, somewhat belatedly, American engagement in Greece in the face of Russian meddling in the region.
But it was China that was most deeply entrenched. Eliot Engel, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, described a “free-for-all for rogue countries” in Greece.
“We see it with Russia, and we see it with China,” he said as he attended an Independence Day party on July 4 at the United States ambassador’s residence in Athens.
Mr. Tsipras is trying to play both sides. Having traveled twice in a year to Beijing to meet the Chinese president and attend One Belt, One Road forums to draw investment, he has recently welcomed American businessmen and promoted Greece’s recovery to American lawmakers.
In May, when Fosun and two other Chinese companies bid to take over a major Greek insurer, the United States commerce secretary, Wilbur L. Ross, intervened to help push the deal into the hands of Calamos Investments, a GreekAmerican consortium whose chief executive is a backer of President Trump. The Exin Group, a Dutch partnership with Calamos, eventually won the bid.
“He sent us a letter asking us to look at Calamos,” said Mr. Papadimitriou, the economy minister. Any deal, Mr. Ross implied in the letter, “could be the beginning of more investments in Greece,” Mr. Papadimitriou recalled.
Some Greek government officials cited Fosun’s defeat as evidence that Athens was not under China’s sway.
“We are sensitive to being viewed as someone else’s colony,” said Panagiotis Kouroumblis, Greece’s maritime minister. “Nothing can move forward without the agreement of the Greek state.”
“Columbus Statue in New York City May Be Removed”
International New York Times, August 28, 2017
accessed August 28, 2017
● 紐約市長考慮拆除紐約市哥倫布廣場上哥倫布雕像，因為他可能是"仇恨的象徵"。(國際紐約時報 2017年8月28日，頁6)
● Facetiously speaking, Taiwan may pride itself on being ahead of the current statute-removal fashion in the U.S. not long after year 2000. Chiang Kai Shek may pride himself on leading General Robert D. Lee as the focus of such campaigns.
林中斌 2017.8.31
出版書籍/books published (8) 論文與評論/papers & opeds (4) 講演與受訪/speeches & interviews (2) 全球磁變/Global shift (1) 休閒/leisure (9) 授課資料/teaching (4) 心靈探索/Spiritual Exploration (2)
