The Coming War on China

Don't be fooled by the title. There's no light shed on what might play out between a rising China and US military conflict. This is a walk down memory lane with material from the post war US nuclear testing in the Pacific followed by some current affairs about the South China Sea Chinese installations. There wasn't enough content left so a major portion of the program focused on the objections of some local Okinawan groups concerning US airbases on the island. Most of the material worthy of any merit is from incidents in the early 60s. We get to hear about Pine Gap in Australia which was note worthy in the 80s. Overall the documentary seeks to portray the USA in as negative a light as possible. While this may have worked in the 80s this style detracts from the credibility of the film. Unfortunately no mention is made of North Korea which is the elephant in the room given the current state of affairs which would have made for good television...but alas I can't see the producers heading there to get a scoop on the facts.

I'll leave to others to point out the many good parts in this which are not often heard about.

On Mao though, although the great famine was briefly mentioned, it conveniently missed out that his regime was also directly responsible for 55 MILLION deaths and was, by quite some margin, the largest mass murderer in history. Let that sink in. God forbid we ever let history repeat itself, by the actions of either side. Bad stuff has happened in the past, acknowledge it, learn from it and most of all support open discussion without bias.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Seasoned journalist John Pilger casts a light on the amount of US Naval Bases situated around China and the amount of warships pointing in their direction, and the globally catastrophic consequences this hostility could create. He charts the shameful, untold history of the US army's activities on the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific, where they were lied to about chemical testing and the terrible consequences it's had years later, as well as revealing how General Mao may not have been the monster the imperialist west made him out to be.

China is certainly the main contender looking to take it's shot at being top boy on the world stage, from trade to military might, but it seems the almighty US of A doesn't want to go down without a fight, and, knowing its enemy, is aggressively trying to keep it in its place. At least that's the picture that director John Pilger is trying to portray, and although he offers alternative viewpoints to speak their mind, it's clear throughout which country he thinks is most to blame for this feud. At any rate, he's certainly produced something that is a contrary assault on the western media's presentation of Chinese life under a 'communist' regime.

Pilger highlights what could only be described as one of the US's dirty little secrets, questionable testing on minuscule little islands tucked out of sight off the coast of China, where untold damage was inflicted in pursuit of a rich, powerful countries aggressive expansion. Not being familiar with any of his work before, it's hard to know if any political affiliation is swaying his views, but he's certainly created a well researched and eye opening documentary that just about manages to excuse the just under two hour running time.

An absorbing and, ultimately, chilling account of what may be to come. ****

I've really enjoyed Pilger's other documentaries but this one disappointed me. It's mostly technically competent (some inconsistent sound with Pilger's narration occasionally), and I'll give it props for its good intentions.

It covers issues that aren't talked about much, the same as many of Pilger's works, but the issue is the execution rather than the content. Things don't build and progress in a satisfying way, and the different subjects weren't linked together as coherently as I feel different (but related) subjects were in his other documentaries that I've watched.

So overall it's definitely not terrible, especially because of what it's trying to do- it's just disappointing when judged by how engaging it is.

As a current 'victim' of the US-UK-backed proxy war in Hong Kong, I found solace in Pilger's documentation of the foul and sinister intents of the US government. Something I always knew was coming from the early years of China's development in the early 1990s. It presents a simple truth - that the US is the modern world's school yard bully. This is a must-watch.