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Beijing Takes Aim at Prague After ‘One-China’ Dispute Deepens
- martythemaniak 7y agoWell, that's one way to deal with overtourism.
- mrbonner 7y agoMan, I know what you mean!
- eastendguy 7y agoPrague had its own version of the Tiananmen square protests in 1968, when the Soviet Union and other members of the Warsaw Pact invaded the country to suppress the reforms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring
- SubiculumCode 7y agoBeijing 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.
- toxik 7y agoI guess they’d need Wikipedia and the early Internet culture to know about the Streisand effect. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
- melling 7y agoChina 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.thebalance.com/world-s-largest-economy-3306044 https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-worlds-largest-exporters-in-2018/ 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.
- FussyZeus 7y agoWe can manufacture elsewhere, and many companies already are. China needs us a hell of a lot more than we need China.
- SllX 7y agoMost of China’s exports are low value manufactured goods which can be made elsewhere. There’s a lot more countries in the world than there are Chinas, even if your worldview counts both of them.
- bitL 7y agoThat used to be the case; now the new Silicon Valley for producing anything is in Shenzhen with crazy innovation (kinda like what Japan used to be in the 80s). You can set up your own goods production there in minutes and in all kinds of quality as your budget allows. A regular Chinese now matches a regular American in quality of life as measured by typical economical metrics (adjusted for purchase parity, not in nominal value). Many US/EU companies reduced to selling stuff one can buy on Alibaba for 1/10th, just rebranded to appear US/EU-made. There are some areas Chinese can't do yet, like advanced metallurgy, which was generating quite a bit of business for US/EU, but that disadvantage is disappearing rapidly as they continue throwing money on it and invest into research.
- mcguire 7y agoI was with you until "A regular Chinese now matches a regular American in quality of life as measured by typical economical metrics (adjusted for purchase parity, not in nominal value)." A regular Chinese in Shenzhen, maybe. I'm not sure about someone from the part of China that isn't on the coast or Beijing.
- secraetomani 7y agoXi doesn't care, just like Putin doesn't care.
- liuliu 7y agoWhat'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 large geographical country is unlikely)".
- nrp 7y agoQuebec 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 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_Quebec https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference_Re_Secession_of_Queb...
- liuliu 7y agoTrue. 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.
- hjklhlkjh 7y agoWesterner here. I'd settle for allowing Muslims to build nice minarets on mosques in XJ without getting jailed, and for Hong Kongers to be able to choose who leads them (really choose: not from a list of candidates preselected by the Party) until 2047. The motivation? A belief that humans are entitled to at least a modicum of political self-determination.
- liuliu 7y agoTrue. But the topic here is "One-China" policy.
- guardiangod 7y agoBeijing 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"
- vertex-four 7y agoI mean, that's a pretty common opinion of the US pretty much everywhere.
- chronic71819 7y agoGood for Prague. We need more European countries/cities standing up to China.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- Markoff 7y agoit's not country, heck not even city, it's just new Prague mayor one year in office without experiences who did pretty much nothing first year and he is confused thinking he is minister of foreign affairs instead of solving daily issues of inhabitants of Prague like main square flooded with drug dealers, illegal old car replicas driving all around city center, electric scooters illegally driving on sidewalks... not I guess resolving these things would not praise his ego in media
- calculuscrayon 7y agoWhy 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-china-feudalism https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/feb/10/tibet-...
- gridlockd 7y agoWhat does the feudal past of Tibet have to do with anything? Are the "Free Tibet" people covertly arguing for a return to feudalism?
- alwaysdoit 7y agoIt's like a weird Chinese version of the White Man's Burden. They were "uncivilized" once upon a time, so now they deserve occupation.
- snagglegaggle 7y agoThe yellow man's burden is alive and well in Africa...
- Linq123 7y agoJust like native Americans, except there is no sufficiently strong military power to bake and support "liberating" movement within US, so they just sit tight in reservations and nobody wants to "rescue" them.
- gridlockd 7y agoLiberate and rescue them from what? They live on their own land and decide, to some degree, their own law. At the same time, they have the rights of full citizens.
- infamia 7y agoThe 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.
- JumpCrisscross 7y agoIt 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?
- mc32 7y agoIt’s looking like geopolitical whackamole. Probably due to inexperience with dissent since just about everyone capitulated after MFN was made permanent via WTO, whereas with MFN that had to be renewed annually and gave opponents a window to offer counter opinions.
- microcolonel 7y ago> Is there a domestic nationalistic PR strategy this is playing into? Yes.
- NeedMoreTea 7y agoIt does seem remarkably clumsy, but they seem to have completely boxed themselves in with Hong Kong from an international perspective. Maybe too many years of actions coming without much global consequence. Havel flew the Tibetan flag for years and was a friend of the Dalai Lama, so I am glad to read that the Tibetan Flag is flying in Prague once again. For anyone who doesn't know it, the Tibetan flag is one of the more striking world flags. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Tibet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Tibet
- boomboomsubban 7y ago>Publicly going after a European capital? A Facebook post from someone on the Embassy staff. >Publicly denouncing the NBA? From what I've seen, an article in a state run paper. The embassy event is strange, but I'm pretty sure they routinely publish similar articles in their paper. I think something is causing the Western media to cover the recent cases in detail, and they write the articles to imply the message came from Chinese leaders.
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- Rebelgecko 7y agoI 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
- lousken 7y agoin which part of Prague have you been?
- Rebelgecko 7y agoPraha 1 & Praha 6
- User23 7y agoIt 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianxia
- ycombonator 7y agoTIL about Tianxia. Thanks
- ta9413 7y agoNot so sure the modern Chinese generally still clings to that.. probably more 自强 than 天下 (Tianxia) For the past 50 years the global cultural viewpoint is largely Western (used loosely here)... it would be not practical to think that will always be the case, or has been the case for much of human history. Using an easy to digest example of "individual freedom and unbridled freedom of expression" vs "know your place and be humble in your speech and actions"... <do your own thought scenario analysis> ... The middle is very quiet... are they forced to be so? It's almost like two rival gangs fighting and a couple of old folks stepping in to try to restore peace. Both gangs will slaughter the old folks and then carry on fighting.
- throw0101a 7y agoAnd where could an English-speaking Westerner learn more about "自强"?
- dvfjsdhgfv 7y agoFor an accessible and convincing (albeit controversial) presentation of this concept, see the movie Hero: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_(2002_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_(2002_film)
- Gustomaximus 7y agoI'm surprised that business is so keen on China. Obviously they are a massive market, but they are also so fickle and nationalistic. Its so easy for a non-Chinese business to make an innocent mistake or just different view and have the government or citizens actively boycott you. I'd be hesitant to put any business reliance or investment in China these days.
- philipov 7y agoMy interpretation: the difficulty that competitors have penetrating the market means the profits will be that much bigger for the company that finally "cracks the code." It's like dopamine-seeking behavior writ large; the more you're denied payoff, the greater the anticipation, the more desperately you want it.
- bcrosby95 7y agoA month ago people probably would have said the NBA cracked the code. But I would hope that recent events had made it clear: there is no such thing as "cracking the code". It's a perpetual dance and if you trip once you're out.
- philipov 7y agoYou might as well try explaining the same thing to someone with a gambling addiction. Corporations are no more rational than the individuals that comprise them. In some ways, less so.
- NicoJuicy 7y agoIt was a private persons thoughts and his employer got sanctioned. That's a lot different than your POV, lol
- mcguire 7y agoBut Kickstarter lives off of Chinese factories.... :-)
- devicetray0 7y agoSince Beijing [was] a sister city of Prague, this got me interested and discovered that Dallas is a sister city of Taipei, Taiwan. Hmm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas#Sister_cities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas#Sister_cities
- microcolonel 7y agoTaipei has been a sister city of Houston since '61. Taipei has a very large family. :- )
- throwaway66920 7y ago> China’s embassy reacted angrily, saying on Facebook that Prague’s leadership should change its attitude as soon as possible or “it will be their own interests that will be hurt.” That’s pretty pathetic. Honestly this sounds like a desperate Chinese government worker who is trying to save face
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- ycombonator 7y agohttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chinese-state-runs-out-hong-kong-options-when-fighting/id589864479?i=1000452117274 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chinese-state-runs-out...
- yumraj 7y agoWow, a city leadership has more balls than most countries combined. Respect!!!!!!!
- umeshunni 7y agoCity leaderships have nothing to lose and can virtue signal all they want.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- xwdv 7y agoWhat happens if all the western world stands up to China?
- datapunk 7y agoMass of tariffs. Sanctions on travel of key foreign citizens To the extreme, nationalization of foreign owned assets Economic disaster assuredly.
- mikelyons 7y agoIs a China + Russia vs. "the west" WWIII off the table? (as a possibility, not a suggestion)
- xwdv 7y agoI don’t see much of the point of WWIII. What assets would they be looking to take by military force from western nations? Oil fields? Cities? Seems like this is more of an economic war. Even if you could invade the US mainland for instance, what’s the point? More land, more problems, plus everybody has a gun.
- mikelyons 7y agoplus everybody has a gun But we keep hearing the chant, "not for long!"
- Markoff 7y agooh no, what are we gonna do, we will miss all those nice Chinese tourists completely ignoring they are in different country and they will cut financing to some football club? horror, dunno what will my children eat after they will do that...