Wow, shocking to read of such deep capitulation from a country like Norway, which positions itself as egalitarian and goes the extra mile in various areas such as excluding certain companies from investment by its global sovereign fund on ethical grounds[1]. This was also chilling to read: "And when the Dalai Lama was invited to Norway in 2014 by the Norwegian Nobel Committee to celebrate his receiving the Nobel Peac…
I don't get why this is such a big deal or "deep capitulation". Its a statement, seems more like net win for Norway, they got concrete economical benefits by trading in some (empty) words. While the treatment of Dalai Lama was unfortunate, it also happened before this normalization, during a period of appeasement. Now that the relations are bit better again and an agreement has been reached, I would expect (somewhat…
Yet China has perfected their anti-western propaganda machine, when it's not censored it's to turned into victimization narratives or other reversals. The only 'real' pressure would be a united front with real economic costs imposed on China. That'd have to start somewhere but the efficacy must be honestly considered vs the very real costs China could impose in return against a single weaker opponent.
Considering many other bigger western countries have capitulated to China in similar ways, far quieter, over Taiwan and other social issues, it's better to characterize this as Norway falling into line with the rest of the countries. It wasn't quite a protest from the beginning nor was China bullying one country in particular (although the Noble prize thing clearly struck a strong cord among the elite).
One alternative, albeit a more cynical long-term perspective, with greater free trade and economic growth the Chinese middle class will continue to grow and each new young generation will be far better educated. Since external pressure seems unlikely to be effective or to be well incentivized, internal progress seems like the only hope.