Beware an angry China

International Herald Tribune ^ | Tuesday, April 8, 2008 | Philip Bowring

[indcons]

Tibetans have a strong case against Beijing. But mixing it in with the Olympics and Darfur is a red rag to a wounded young bull.

Nationalism is more often aroused by setbacks than success, so the Tibet problems and the possible threats to a triumphal Olympics are stirring it in China.

On the horizon is the possibility that these will combine with high inflation, stagnating exports and trade tensions with the United States to create a perfect nationalistic storm.

The Chinese leadership faces a difficult balancing act.

As its legitimacy is now based on national achievement, not communist ideology, it must appear in step with popular feeling. Yet stability at home and good relations abroad require keeping nationalist emotions in check. The paranoia about evil foreign designs that thrived under Mao and was discarded by Deng Xiaoping is still close to the surface.

Almost all of China is offended that foreigners are so keen to lecture them and to encourage the petty boycotts that could spoil the Olympic party. It genuinely infuriates the Chinese that they are blamed for Darfur while their Western critics occupy Iraq. Beijing is happy to let such nationalist resentments vent in the sometimes violent language of Internet blogs and chat rooms.

[indcons]

Boycott the Peiping 2008 Genocide Olympics.

Hit China where it hurts by minimizing trade with the ChiComs and by avoiding PLA-manufactured Chinese products.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I'm going to do my part to completely ignore the Olympics.

Just like I usually do.

[clamper1797]

Almost all of China is offended that foreigners are so keen to lecture them and to encourage the petty boycotts that could spoil the Olympic party.

Hey China .... tough

[indcons]

Ping

[Redbob]

"Almost all of China is offended that foreigners are so keen to lecture them and to encourage the petty boycotts that could spoil the Olympic party. It genuinely infuriates the Chinese that they are blamed for Darfur..."

P!ss on 'em!

[Larebil]

“I’m going to do my part to completely ignore the Olympics.
Just like I usually do.”

I haven’t watched the olympukes since the Roy Jones Jr
fiasco.

[Snickering Hound]

[mgist]

Since when does “all of China” have a vote or voice? I think this little piece of propaganda was bought and paid for by by the only Chinese that are able to opine.

[colorado tanker]

This conflict is going to go on for a long time, until it explodes IMHO. One of the historical trends of the 20th Century that is continuing into the 21st is the breaking down of empires and polyglot states into smaller states, e.g., the breakup of the Austrian Empire, Russian/Soviet Empire, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, etc. Places are being given autonomy nearly equal to independence, like Catalonia and Scotland.

China is swimming against this tide in trying to piece back together the Chinese Empire and it will continue to cause unrest.

[hosepipe]

No doubt about it.. China is looking at the world thru squinty eyes..

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I don't even know who Roy Jones Jr is.

[17th Miss Regt]

Almost all of China is offended that foreigners are so keen to lecture them and to encourage the petty boycotts that could spoil the Olympic party.

The other part of China, the 100,000,000 Chinese murdered by their own communist government, had no comment on this matter.

[jpl]

I won’t be watching the Olympics (I never do), but I’m less concerned that China has the Olympics than I am that we’re selling off the future of our country to them.

[MrB]

Some things deserve ridicule.

The Chinese communist government is one of those things.

They deserve to be embarrassed and exposed, as do all leftists.

[MrB]

Those darn Mongorians!

Oh No! Not my C(h)ity Chicken!

[RightWhale]

China is this, China is that. There is no China, it is all in our minds. Learned that from ‘Network.’ There is General Motors, General Electric, General Foods.

[gridlock]

We have to go to the Berlin Olympics or the Germans will be offended, and then who knows what they will do!!!

I am tired of people making excuses about why we should knuckle under to China. They should just admit that they are bought and paid for, and leave it at that.

[steel_resolve]

It genuinely infuriates the Chinese that they are blamed for Darfur while their Western critics occupy Iraq.

Which just goes to show you that the Chinese people are about as clueless as to what we are doing in Iraq as the mainstream media. Not only that, but how do they draw a moral equivalence of one country paying for another's stabilization in blood and treasure (Blood for No Oil) and the systematic economic rape and blind eye turning of China's efforts in Darfur? Screw China

[The Toll]

If we took them out with a “first strike”. Would ANYONE complain?

[KC_Conspirator]

Nice to see that the author, Phil Bowring, is following in the footsteps of the lying Walter Duranty of the NY Slimes by white washing China’s communist crimes against humanity.

[PeterFinn]

This conflict is going to go on for a long time, until it explodes IMHO. One of the historical trends of the 20th Century that is continuing into the 21st is the breaking down of empires and polyglot states into smaller states, e.g., the breakup of the Austrian Empire, Russian/Soviet Empire, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, etc. Places are being given autonomy nearly equal to independence, like Catalonia and Scotland. China is swimming against this tide in trying to piece back together the Chinese Empire and it will continue to cause unrest.

Indeed. China is concerned about Tibet breaking away because right after Tibet leaves then so will Western (and Muslim) China along with Taiwan. It is further possible that China may devolve into the city-states that were essentially the China of just a century ago.

[I. M. Trenchant]

The behaviour of China in this situation is no different from what it would be if it existed under precisely the same Constitution as the one that the U.S. aspires to adhere to. The notion of American exceptionalism, often wrongly thought to have been coined by de Tocqueville during his examination of America in The Age of Jackson, had existed in analgous form in China for tens of centuries, when the only human inhabitants of the Americas were the New World Indians. Chinese exceptionalism is no different in quality from American exceptionalism, is independent of political systems, and as this columnist correctly notes, it is rooted in nationalism. Just as the rest of the globe has had to 'live with' the concept (and reality) of American exceptionalism, so it will have do the same with Chinese exceptionalism, which is no less justified and justfiable than American exceptionalism now that it has shaken its colonial past, before which, Tibet always was and will forever in the future, subject to China's dominance. As that old Nazi, Valter Kronkite, used to remind us on a regular basis, "That's the way it is."

[Brilliant]

“The Chinese leadership faces a difficult balancing act.”

If China wants respect of the West, it should get out of Tibet and allow its people to vote in free elections.

[JoJo Gunn]

A transcript from Radio China?

[Carry_Okie]

Places are being given autonomy nearly equal to independence, like Catalonia and Scotland.

This is a trend designed to empower global government. Support a "free Tibet" and we may reap an "independent Aztlan."

[indcons]

The comparison is not valid...the Tibetians did not sign a treaty and receive money in exchange for territory. They were subjugated about 50 years ago against their wishes.

What’s happening in Tibet is ethnic and cultural genocide. That’s not the case in California and Arizona (at least, the last time I checked).

[Carry_Okie]

The comparison is not valid...the Tibetians did not sign a treaty and receive money in exchange for territory. They were subjugated about 50 years ago against their wishes.

This has NOTHING to do with whether the claim is valid or just, only about how it will be used.

[Carry_Okie]

What’s happening in Tibet is ethnic and cultural genocide. That’s not the case in California and Arizona (at least, the last time I checked).

If the left continues to get its way, you have only to wait.

[Travis McGee]

How many “extra” Chinese males are there in the military age group, as a result of the one-child policy?

[Trailerpark Badass]

How many “extra” Chinese males are there in the military age group, as a result of the one-child policy?

I've seen estimates ranging from 18-25 million.

[Candor7]

Boycott the Beijing 2008 Olympics !

Yes!

Hoo Flungdung?

China did. Now they wear it.

Who cares how angry they are.

[GunnyHartman]

The last Olympics I ever watched.

[cmdjing]

Actually, they did sign a treaty recognizing Chinese sovereignty of Tibet... but then again don’t let inconvenient facts get in the way.

[CDFingers]

Beware a China that is getting what it wants.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

It genuinely infuriates the Chinese that they are blamed for Darfur while their Western critics occupy Iraq.

Tough luck. Iraq is nothing at all like Darfur, and they know this, which makes them liars, as well as despots.

[mulan]

Chinese people should be aware of the difference between what US does in Iraq and what China does in Tibet. What Puerto Rican did (voting in favor of becoming Americans) was the best example to tell what US is doing in other countries. If Chinese people know what US is doing in Iraq and how people in Iraq think about US being present in Iraq and then compare to what CCP does in Tibet, they will know why US has the position to talk about justice and liberty in this world. It’s the same thing as you would want to get involved if you know your neighbor is abusing his/her children.

[indcons]

Pray - Comrade Jing - tell us about this wonderful treaty that the ChiComs forced the Tibetans to sign (after they send the ruling Head of State into forced and involuntary exile).

A certified ChiCom troll like you has no business lecturing others about “inconvenient facts.”

Pinging VR for a troll alert - we need one on this thread now that you've made your appearance.

[indcons]

Forgotr to ping you, Comrade Jing.

[Max in Utah]

That’s not the case in California and Arizona ...

And New Mexico, and Texas, and Nevada, and Utah, and Colorado...

[PGR88]

The Chinese Communists have inculcated extreme-nationalism, as justification for their own rule. It is 100% promoted and encouraged by the Gov’t.

[Max in Utah]

Actually, they did sign a treaty recognizing Chinese sovereignty of Tibet...

Did they also agree to give up their native language and the right to practice their religion?

[~Kim4VRWC's~]

"...It genuinely infuriates the Chinese..."

I ask that they click on the keyword CHINA on FR, and then see why they are the cause of their own woes. To our congressmen...Git rid of the "china has the most favored nation status" please.

[Larebil]

“I don’t even know who Roy Jones Jr is.”

He beat the snot out of the korean boxer, but the Korean boxer’s family bought the judges and took them out for dinner to “buy” the medal.
It was revealed after investigation that the fight was fixed against the American boxer,
I said BUH BYE to the olympics after that.
This was in the early 90’s I think.

I have no desire to watch the olympukes.
Seeing female weightlifting as a sport further drives me away.

[colorado tanker]

Yes, China could devolve to a number of smaller states. Unfortunately, it would be a very bloody process.

[colorado tanker]

The comparison is not valid...the Tibetians did not sign a treaty and receive money in exchange for territory. They were subjugated about 50 years ago against their wishes.

Yes. Not only are they being subjugated by an outside authoritarian regime, they are being displaced in the economy by non-Tibetans China is encouraging to immigrate.

[hinckley buzzard]

Chinese exceptionalism is no different in quality from American exceptionalism

The Tibetans beg to differ, as do the Uighurs. The Mogolians made their point early on. Present day China, more accurately known as the Han Empire, has serious rift zones which threaten the central government in ways the American government never has.

In any case, the difference between a democratic republic and a race-based dictatorship are too obvious to need elaboration. Nice try though, and thanks for playing.

[Travis McGee]

Don't let the Holy Olympic Flame go out! Its originator, Adolf Hitler, would not approve.

[TigersEye]

Beijing plays up the foreign threat - much like the U.S. government used the Al Qaeda threat as a justification for invading Iraq. For example, Beijing has raised the specter of Tibetan suicide squads organized by the "Dalai Lama clique" attacking the Olympics.

The author making a moral equivalence between actual Al Qaeda terrorist attacks and Beijing's propaganda fantasy of Tibetan suicide bombers? Moral relativism too to compare the PRC and The U.S. and other western nations fighting Islamo-fundies.

[TigersEye]

Don’t worry about it. That precedent has already been set by recognizing Kosovo. No one is going to stop the Chinese from killing Tibetans.

[TigersEye]

Yeah, with a gun to their heads and thousands of dead Tibetans as a bargaining lever they signed a treaty with Mao’s thugs. Don’t let those facts get in your way, ChiCom.