According to the online Power and Interest News Report, the vast majority of the cables that connect the United States and Asia run through the Luzon Strait between Taiwan and the Philippines. Several of those cables were ruptured in the earthquake.
There's no quick way to make repairs. The cables have to be fished up from the depths of the Bashi Channel. Once aboard the repair vessels, they can be spliced.
The nature of the Web is supposed to make it possible for traffic to be rerouted over alternate routes. But what we learned after the earthquake is that the Luzon Strait is a choke point of sorts. Tim Johnson, who blogs for McClatchy Newspapers from Beijing, was on vacation in Australia when the quake hit. When he returned, he reported on "China Rises: Notes from the Middle Kingdom" that the Web was so slow that he thought his computer had been infected by a virus.
For those of us who have had to access news sites within China, the earthquake aftermath has meant painfully slow connection times. A few connections simply aren't possible. Countless backshops have been offshored. How longcould U.S. business and consumers stand to be disconnected?
So why all the hand wringing here at ViaMei, a print product, over Internet woes? There are a couple of answers to that.
One is: We use the Internet to turn this tumble of words and pictures into a product. Yes, there are workarounds. But they're clunky and inefficient.
More important are the strategic vulnerabilities that the quake exposed.
It's easy to conjure up other scenarios that highlight the sometimes fragile nature of our international ties with nations across Asia. Indeed, we're reminded of one issue on a monthly basis: the seemingly intractable trade deficit being run by the U.S. in its dealings with China. It's a big political target on this side of the Pacific.
All of which brings us back to why ViaMei was launched in the first place.
It has to do with cooperation and understanding - and that means communicating.
Foreign policy may be formulated in Beijing and Washington, but the practical applications of that policy occur in places like Kansas City, Missouri. At the Edgar Snow Symposium late last year, attendees were able to spend two days discussing biotechnology, art, business, music and food with scores of visitors who had made the long trip to the U.S. heartland.
Among the highlights was a panel discussion moderated by former CBS news anchor Dan Rather, featuring Jian Chengzong, secretary general of the China National Committee for the Pacific Economic Corp.; William Reid, vice president of Visa International; J. Stapleton Roy, former ambassador to China; and Tong Zhiguang, chairman of the China Import and Export Bank.
It was a splendid event, but not just because the Snow Foundation and the University of Missouri-Kansas City rounded up such a remarkable collection of experts. It was a notable because of the small break-throughs. Bread was broken. Bottles of wine were shared. Thoughs were exchanged, though sometimes haltingly in broken Chinese and English.
Friendships were kindled.
To meet the challenges that lay ahead, we will have to strengthen such friendships and make them endure.
Because those are the kinds of alliances that earthquakes can't shake.
|
