Book review: China bares its claws, exposing several misguided myths

Claws of the Panda
By Jonathan Manthorpe
Cormorant Books / $24.95 / 290 pp.One of Canada’s misconceptions about China, clung to with missionary zeal by many “China hands” for decades, is the myth there is a burning desire within The Middle Kingdom’s 1.4 billion citizens to become a democracy.
The narrative goes something like this: The West’s democratic and human rights values will eventually prevail over the one-party tyranny of China’s Communist Party, and C