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Beijing Takes Aim at Prague After ‘One-China’ Dispute Deepens

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Re: Beijing Takes Aim at Prague After ‘One-China’ Dispute Deepens

#31

Post by User23 »

gridlockd wrote: post #16
melling wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China is either the world’s 1st or 2nd largest economy, depending on how you measure it: https://www.thebalance.com/world-s-largest-economy-3306044 https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-worlds-largest-expor... I think people are slow to realize their new position in the world. When US and Europe shipped all that manufacturing to China, it created this problem.

> China is either the world’s 1st or 2nd largest economy, depending on how you measure it So what? Its exports account for only ~13%. According to the same data, Belgium is 2.4%. I've never even heard of anything "Made in Belgium".

Arms[1].

[1] https://www.fnherstal.com/

Re: Beijing Takes Aim at Prague After ‘One-China’ Dispute Deepens

#32

Post by JumpCrisscross »

It feels like Hong Kong has spurred a political crisis in Beijing. Publicly denouncing the NBA? Publicly going after a European capital?

It would be one thing to do this behind closed doors. But the hamhandedness of it all resembles flailing more than a coherent strategy.

Is there a domestic nationalistic PR strategy this is playing into?

Re: Beijing Takes Aim at Prague After ‘One-China’ Dispute Deepens

#33

Post by grecy »

liuliu wrote: post #17
nrp wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quebec is not the best example. There have been two referendums on this, the second of which was extremely close to passing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_sovereignty_movement The Supreme Court of Canada went on to confirm that a referendum is a legal method for Quebec to initiate secession: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference_Re_Secession_of_Queb...

True. It is just hard to rewrite nation borders once it is set and done for a country of China's size. Realistically, the West probably hope of USSR type of breakdown. To me, that is extremely unlikely given the desire of the Chinese people to remain as a united group.

Sudan did it. Up until that point it was the largest country in Africa.

Re: Beijing Takes Aim at Prague After ‘One-China’ Dispute Deepens

#35

Post by Rebelgecko »

I was in Prague a week or so ago and was surprised by how much graffiti there was regarding the politics Hong Kong/Taiwan/One China/etc. About a 60/40 mix of English and Chinese. Given the massive number of Chinese tourists I suppose it's a decent way to reach an audience in the touristy areas

Re: Beijing Takes Aim at Prague After ‘One-China’ Dispute Deepens

#36

Post by infamia »

calculuscrayon wrote: post #13

Why does China care about municipal politics of a foreign city? On the other hand, I can't sympathise with the Tibet supporters either. The issue is not as straightforward as many Westerners believe[1]. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/feb/10/tibet-...

The article you linked to is poor mostly because it's liberally bathed in whataboutism. Tibet's backwardness has nothing to do nor does it justify China's actions in Tibet. Two wrongs don't make a right.

Re: Beijing Takes Aim at Prague After ‘One-China’ Dispute Deepens

#37

Post by User23 »

It helps to know about the resurgence in Tianxia[1] ideology in China. It's vaguely analogous to the old American concept of Manifest Destiny, but with, of course, a much longer history and far greater scope. What it basically comes down to is that in the pre-Westphalian era the Chinese world view was that China had sovereignty over everything under heaven. The Great Game dealt that world view a pretty harsh blow, but the Chinese people persevered and through industry and shrewdness have restored themselves to something like their historical standing. I don't expect them to stop here. Influence is almost as much of a drug as power, and testing it is self-reinforcing. Look at how China is making the NBA their whipping boy for another example.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianxia

Re: Beijing Takes Aim at Prague After ‘One-China’ Dispute Deepens

#38

Post by guardiangod »

SubiculumCode wrote: post #4

Beijing is slow to realize that trying to strong-arm the West's views on Tibet, Hong Kong, etc will not work, and in fact, makes their international position weaker.

Beijing doesn't care. Beijing only cares about 1 thing- internal unity. What better way to promote this than to show the strength of modern China.

China wants other countries to fear China's economic and military power, and to bow down to China's demand (or, at the very least, fearful of repercussions from China.)

I suspect that China is perfectly content with not interacting with other countries ever, as long as other countries recognizes China as the most powerful country in the world.

PS. Do you know China's netizens most popular nickname for USA? "America Empire"

Re: Beijing Takes Aim at Prague After ‘One-China’ Dispute Deepens

#39

Post by infamia »

liuliu wrote: post #17
nrp wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quebec is not the best example. There have been two referendums on this, the second of which was extremely close to passing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_sovereignty_movement The Supreme Court of Canada went on to confirm that a referendum is a legal method for Quebec to initiate secession: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference_Re_Secession_of_Queb...

True. It is just hard to rewrite nation borders once it is set and done for a country of China's size. Realistically, the West probably hope of USSR type of breakdown. To me, that is extremely unlikely given the desire of the Chinese people to remain as a united group.

> To me, that is extremely unlikely given the desire of the Chinese people to remain as a united group.

Who are you grouping under auspices of "the Chinese people"? Clearly there are large groups of people within China who want nothing to do with the One China policy.

There is no telling what will happen when the economic gravy train comes to an end, especially if it were to do so in a jarring way. I suspect this is one of the reasons why Xi has become more authoritarian recently.

Re: Beijing Takes Aim at Prague After ‘One-China’ Dispute Deepens

#40

Post by eschaton »

liuliu wrote: post #12
SubiculumCode wrote: post #4

Beijing is slow to realize that trying to strong-arm the West's views on Tibet, Hong Kong, etc will not work, and in fact, makes their international position weaker.

What's the end-goal? Tibet cannot be a separate country (or in that respect, Hong Kong) very much like Quebec cannot be a separate country from Canada. You can say that China becomes arrogant, but what exactly West expect other than a total war that rewrite much of the world nation borders? --- Although way passed the point to convince anyone, my comment above and below conditioned on "after WW2 (breaking up any larg…

Sure it can. Especially since Tibet is a separate country; invasion is no longer recognized as a way for a country to increase its area.
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