China should be watching the South Korean missionary hostage crisis in Afghanistan

South Korea is the world's great exporter today of Christian missionaries and God bless 'em for their passion and willingness to work so hard.

But you take that step and you necessarily spend some time walking through various valleys of death inside the Gap, where religion is life or death because it's a survival code.

For now, China hides behind its "charm offensive" and it's Joe Friday-like approach on raw materials ("Just the reserves, Ma'am."), but that inevitably exposes them to all sorts of competing survival codes inside the Gap, and even when they deftly navigate them, what remains is the opprobrium of the Core regarding its nasty associations (so damned if you do, and damned if you don't).

My point: China better get used to what it feels like having their workers killed or taken hostage, because when it happens, everyone turns to the local cops they can trust, and throughout most of the Gap, that remains the U.S. military--like it or not.

Comments

[Baltimoron]

It seems General Musharraf was remarkably effective retaliating against extremists in the Red Mosque in support of slain Chinese citizens.

There doesn't seem to be the same sort of popular nationalistic protests in China as are occurring in South Korea. Also, Beijing has a firm hold on its Christian community, while Seoul lets hostage families go on national TV. Finally, Seoul just plain erred by not banning travel to Aghanistan earlier, and by not paying attention to the Bundang Presbyterian Church's itinerary.

Finally, how can anyone support Seoul's support for negotiations and the rumor that money was exchanged between Seoul and the extremists.