China: a 19th Century power in a 21st Century world
Robert Kagan had a good op-ed in the Washington Post about how China’s brutal crackdown in Tibet caused its “mask” to slip, exposing it for the anachronistic dictatorship that it is.
China can go for great stretches these days looking like the model of a postmodern, 21st-century power. [...] But occasionally the mask slips, and the other side of China is revealed. For China is also a 19th-century power, filled with nationalist pride, ambitions and resentments; consumed with questions of territorial sovereignty; hanging on repressively to old conquered lands in its interior; and threatening war against a small island country off its coast.
This is the aspect of China that does not seem to change, despite our liberal progressive conviction that it must. [...] Today this all looks like so much wishful thinking — self-interested wishful thinking, to be sure, since, according to the theory, China would get democratic while Western business executives got rich. Now it looks as if the richer a country gets, whether China or Russia, the easier it may be for autocrats to hold on to power. [...] More money pays for armed forces and internal security forces that can be pointed inward at Tibet and outward at Taiwan. And the lure of more money keeps a commerce-minded world from protesting too loudly when things get rough.
Kagan also rightly points out that China treats the pro-independence movement in Tibet in a decidedly retrograde manner. Other countries deal with independence movements, but they do not shoot unarmed protesters. China’s violent reaction in Tibet shows that China is a 19th century empire pretending to fit into a 21st century world, where self-determination and respect for all peoples are basic norms.
China, after all, is not the only country dealing with restless, independence-minded peoples. In Europe, all kinds of subnational movements aspire to greater autonomy or even independence from their national governments, and with less justification than Tibet or Taiwan: the Catalans in Spain, for instance, or the Flemish in Belgium, or even the Scots in the United Kingdom. Yet no war threatens in Barcelona, no troops are sent to Antwerp and no one clears the international press out of Edinburgh. But that is the difference between a 21st-century postmodern mentality and a nation still fighting battles for empire and prestige left over from a distant past.
China wanted the Beijing Olympics to be its great “coming out party.” It wanted to show the world how advanced it is. Yet the Chinese government’s repression in Tibet has spoiled all of that. What is happening in Tibet is the fault of the Chinese government, not the Chinese people, but it reflects badly on the entire Chinese nation. If I were a Chinese citizen, I would not be happy with my government right now. 中国政府是咎由自取发生什么事，在西藏。中国人民是没有责任。但中国政府的行动带来了耻辱，给整个中华民族。中国人民必须对此不满，他们的政府的行动。
2 Responsesto “China: a 19th Century power in a 21st Century world”
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LOL, who you fooling? over 99% of chinese folks in china and overseas see the tibet movement trying to cause trouble.
Seeing the images and video the tibetan thugs attacking innocent chinese folks in china making every chinese’s blood boil!
dam it, Tibetan’s are not acting as I’ve been taught and the actions of the burning are only going to cause more pain, dam it.
This must be stopped, we can spread the word, give us a little more time, but stop the violence, dam it..
This violence is only going to let the Chinese think that the crimes that they caused years ago can be repeated again. The Chinese are brainwashed like lots of American’s that this war is right. As if the peace and different choice is a threat to the Chinese, it’s all about the control. Look at Craigslist.com in Chicago under the politic, here you will see violent China, wanting to destroy America, along everyone else, they know no peace.
The media is stopped only because the Chinese think they can control the world, well not on my watch. Free Tibet, Free Choice, Free People