[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."

[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.