The blessings of free trade

It’s interesting to see that the West is suddenly discovering the intrinsic dangers of free trade when it is China providing services to other nations:

China could shut off the Philippines’ power grid at will, a report has warned – highlighting fears about Beijing’s role in infrastructure around the world. A report for Philippine lawmakers found that the country’s national security ‘is completely compromised’ by China’s access to the power grid.

Chinese engineers have exclusive access to parts of the system and could shut it down remotely, the report seen by CNN reveals. The findings will spark alarm in the West where China is helping to build a new nuclear power station in the UK and has already faced sanctions from the US.

But why would this cause any problems? Surely the New Filipinos who happen to be of Chinese descent love their new country and are just as Filipino as those whose great-great-grandparents were born in Manila are!

Paper nationalism is, and has always been, a shameless lie told by immigrants to advantage themselves vis-a-vis the native populations. 

And who cares if China can shut off the Philippines’ power grid anyhow. The important thing is that the arrangement is more economically efficient, right? And nothing is more important than economic efficiency!