Meh. Being chinese, at least ethnically, I've rather mixed feelings on China itself, especially when it comes to politics.
In short, I disagree with their handling of.. a lotta things, hehe. On the other hand, I kinda like the concept of Westphalian Sovereignty (think the Prime Directive).
The reality of it is that none of these opinions matter as it's not a situation that can be addressed by political liberalism (notion of ethics, principles, values) but political realism (who has more power). When it comes down to it, China has the political power to tell anyone who disagrees with them to go piss off. The question of opposing social values never even gets a chance to come into play.
I think this is one of the reasons I'll be identifying myself as American for any foreseeable future.
An' yeah.. nice excuse to hate on atheism, Tenzin.
I'm glad you posted this, I've been too tied up with my own selfish musings about the economy and the war to give Tibet the attention it deserves.
I think there are many people, racially identifiable as Chinese, who disagree with what China, the nation-state, does. I can think of an entire island full of them in fact.
The problem with sovereign states is that sometimes (of often) they do the wrong thing and there doesn't really seem like much that can be done. The only thing I can think of is not to buy Chinese goods (nothing would please me more) and to continue to speak out against such things.
The concept of "wrongness" is entirely subjective -- well, not really, at least on a philosophical level but that level is far from ever being reached in any discussion, whether it involves China or any other government (like here in the US). It's subjective for all practical purposes for either case.
Think the contrast with what our own government does is worth noting. The general masses are typically ineffectual at doing anything here either (short of a united democratic ousting of bad politicians). But I think part of ragging on China is that it makes us feel good that there's some country with even more fundamental flaws than we do, at least from our own cultural perspective.
I think the reason there is so much focus on China in America is because the two economies are so intertwined, because China is becoming the "other" global superpower, and because China seems so foriegn (ie there are large cultural differences) to Americans. As my co-worker pointed out there's a lot more going on in Darfur (still) and yet Tibet has drawn so much attention, so quickly
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In short, I disagree with their handling of.. a lotta things, hehe. On the other hand, I kinda like the concept of Westphalian Sovereignty (think the Prime Directive).
The reality of it is that none of these opinions matter as it's not a situation that can be addressed by political liberalism (notion of ethics, principles, values) but political realism (who has more power). When it comes down to it, China has the political power to tell anyone who disagrees with them to go piss off. The question of opposing social values never even gets a chance to come into play.
I think this is one of the reasons I'll be identifying myself as American for any foreseeable future.
An' yeah.. nice excuse to hate on atheism, Tenzin.
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I think there are many people, racially identifiable as Chinese, who disagree with what China, the nation-state, does. I can think of an entire island full of them in fact.
The problem with sovereign states is that sometimes (of often) they do the wrong thing and there doesn't really seem like much that can be done. The only thing I can think of is not to buy Chinese goods (nothing would please me more) and to continue to speak out against such things.
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Think the contrast with what our own government does is worth noting. The general masses are typically ineffectual at doing anything here either (short of a united democratic ousting of bad politicians). But I think part of ragging on China is that it makes us feel good that there's some country with even more fundamental flaws than we do, at least from our own cultural perspective.
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