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Topic Summary

Posted by: 90sRetroFan
« on: October 19, 2023, 06:17:13 pm »

Eurocentrist Xi's reading list:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/behind-authoritarian-mask-real-xi-160000968.html

Quote
myth making has been an equally important component of Xi’s push for preeminence – his public image is clearly a priority.

‘I have many hobbies, the biggest of which is reading. Reading has become a way of life for me,’ Xi told reporters in 2013, weeks after becoming President, after name-checking eight Russian writers – including Chekhov, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy – whose works he claimed to have read.

Two months later, Xi charmed Greece’s Prime Minister by saying he read many works by Greek philosophers during his teenage years. When Xi visited France the following year, he boasted about reading Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Sartre, and more than a dozen other writers.
State media feted Xi as an erudite leader, publishing lists of his favourite books and cajoling citizens to emulate his love for learning.

The publicity blitz set tongues wagging among Xi’s fellow ‘princelings’, as descendants of revolutionary leaders and senior officials are known. Many among them concluded that Xi’s outlandish claims of literary prowess betrayed deep-seated insecurity



Of course we have a duty read Western authors (in order to know the enemy so as to more efficiently defeat it), but we should not enjoy reading them, much less boast about enjoying them (as if personal Westernization is something to celebrate!).

Quote
Xi is not cultured. ... one princeling who has known Xi for decades told me.

We can tell even without knowing him in person:

https://trueleft.createaforum.com/questions-debates/is-putin's-russia-duginist-autocracy/msg8418/#msg8418

Continuing:

Quote
Xi promised to build a system that could transcend China’s feudal past

See? China never thought of itself as "feudal" until colonial-era Western academics started telling them to do so:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudalism

Quote
Feudalism, in its various forms, usually emerged as a result of the decentralization of an empire: especially in the Carolingian Empire in 9th century AD, which lacked the bureaucratic infrastructure[clarification needed] necessary to support cavalry without allocating land to these mounted troops. Mounted soldiers began to secure a system of hereditary rule over their allocated land and their power over the territory came to encompass the social, political, judicial, and economic spheres.[34]
...
In the 18th century, writers of the Enlightenment wrote about feudalism to denigrate the antiquated system of the Ancien Régime, or French monarchy. This was the Age of Enlightenment, when writers valued reason and the Middle Ages were viewed as the "Dark Ages". Enlightenment authors generally mocked and ridiculed anything from the "Dark Ages" including feudalism
...
Some later Marxist theorists (e.g. Eric Wolf) have applied this label to include non-European societies, grouping feudalism together with imperial China and the Inca Empire, in the pre-Columbian era, as 'tributary' societies .[53]

but it is no surprise that Eurocentrist Xi accepts the progressive narrative. In reality, China's system was not feudal at all:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landed_gentry_in_China

Quote
The "gentry", or "landed gentry" in China was the elite who held privileged status through passing the Imperial exams, which made them eligible to hold office.
Posted by: EU
« on: October 04, 2023, 03:16:59 pm »

EU unveils sensitive tech areas to de-risk China relationship | DW Business
Quote
European Commission unveils a list of four sensitive technology areas to “de-risk” its relationship with China and other authoritarian regimes. Areas include cutting-edge microchips, AI-powered systems, quantum computing and biotech. We speak to tech stocks guru Dan Ives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPJ8wRw7Bxc
Posted by: EU
« on: September 14, 2023, 05:42:40 pm »

China accuses the EU of 'blatant protectionist behavior' | DW News
Quote
EU Commission president, Ursula Von Der Leyen, said Chinese vehicles are flooding global markets and that state subsidies were having a distorting effect. He Yadong from China's Commerce Ministry, responded to Wednesday's announcement by the EU Commission President: “What I want to emphasize is that the investigation that the European Union plans to take is to protect its own industry in the name of fair competition. This is blatant protectionist behavior It will have a negative impact on the China-EU economic and trade relations.”
Given recent and ongoing tensions between the Europe and China, is there more to this than just economics? And does Beijing have a point when it accuses the EU of protectionism?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ede9Z9INmVQ
Posted by: 2ThaSun
« on: May 17, 2023, 12:20:52 am »

EU sanctions on China: Germany warns against EU hitting China with sanctions | World DNA
Quote
The European Union will discuss the existing and future sanctions against Russia at the G7 summit scheduled to take place in Japan from May19-21. Watch the video to know more.

#europeanunion #russia #japan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_GBCoERfmU

A comment not like all the others:
Quote
Europe is no stranger to destroying its economy for the benefit of the Anglo-Saxons.
;D

Another interesting comment and response:
Quote
The Ukraine Russian war has greatly caused so much suffering to gas deprived G7, EU and Nato countries.
9/10 of the countries with the most debt are from NATO countries or allies. 
Source: List of countries by external debt
United States: 31 trillion   
United Kingdom: 8.73 trillion   
France:   7.04 trillion   
Germany: 6.46 trillion   
Japan: 4.36 trillion
Canada: 3.23 trillion
China: 2.64 trillion
Spain: 2.26 trillion   
Australia: 1.83 trillion

Response:
Quote
This debt can very easily cancelled.
The debt is held by people who are not taxed as they should be taxed
Posted by: 90sRetroFan
« on: May 11, 2023, 04:17:19 am »

China under Eurocentrist Xi keeps trying to find common ground with the countries he worships via a narrative of the US as the bad guy, the exact opposite of what we recommend.....
Posted by: Zhang Caizhi
« on: May 11, 2023, 02:21:47 am »

China urges NATO to reflect on crimes on 24th anniversary of killing Chinese journalists in Belgrade

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202305/1290359.shtml

Quote
The Chinese people will never forget the blood and lives paid to defend truth, fairness and justice, and NATO's barbaric crime of bombing the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia, said the Chinese Foreign Ministry when asked to comment on the 24th anniversary of the killing of three Chinese journalists during NATO's aggression in Yugoslavia.

The US-led NATO should seriously reflect on its crimes and abandon its out-of-date Cold War mentality to stop stirring up conflicts, splits and chaos, the ministry's spokesperson Wang Wenbin emphasized at Monday's press conference.

On May 7, 1999, NATO carried out a brutal missile attack on the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing three Chinese journalists and injuring more than 20 Chinese diplomats.

On Sunday, the Chinese Embassy in Serbia held a commemoration at the site of the bombed former Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia in Belgrade to honor the three martyrs - Shao Yunhuan of the Xinhua News Agency, and Xu Xinghu and his wife Zhu Ying of the Guangming Daily newspaper.

"24 years have passed, but every scene in that grievous night will be remembered!" said China's Ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo. Serbian Minister of Sport Zoran Gajic and dozens of officials and civilians laid wreaths and flowers at the memorial monument.

While claiming itself as a regional and defensive organization, NATO has kept exaggerating regional tensions and making bloc confrontations, said Wang, listing victims including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria.

"The wars NATO launched and participated in after 2001 alone have led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and the displacement of tens of millions of people. Recently, NATO's continued eastward movement into the Asia-Pacific region to provoke bloc confrontation has aroused high alert among regional countries," said Wang.

In place of the ruined embassy building, a memorial monument now stands, carved with the Chinese characters "Remember the martyrs, cherish the peace." Wang said NATO should seriously reflect on its crimes, stop provoking antagonism and turmoil, and do things beneficial to long-lasting peace and stability for Europe and the world.
Posted by: 90sRetroFan
« on: May 09, 2023, 04:56:04 pm »

Earlier:

https://trueleft.createaforum.com/issues/economic-entanglement-and-systemic-rivalry-germany-and-china-at-a-crossroads/msg16460/#msg16460

Look how that worked out:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/italy-intends-exit-china-belt-125737574.html

Quote
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reassured US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during a meeting in Rome last week that while a final decision hasn’t been taken, her government is favoring an exit from its role in China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative, according to people present at the talks.

Italy signed onto the infrastructure initiative in 2019 when Giuseppe Conte was premier, becoming the only Group of Seven country to become part of the deal. Participation will automatically renew in 2024 unless Rome actively exits the agreement.
...
The potential move is closely linked to Meloni’s stance on Chinese investments in Italy and in particular on an upcoming choice on whether to use executive power to curtail the influence of China’s Sinochem Holdings Corp., the largest shareholder in tire maker Pirelli & C. SpA, the people said. That decision has been delayed to the end of May.

Will Eurocentrist Xi learn? Probably not.

Best comment (despite incorrect use of term "fascist"):

Quote
during the pandemic, china was the only country offered their help and actually helped the italians. the fascists recognize skin color only.

All the way back here I was already saying China should not be helping Italy:

https://trueleft.createaforum.com/issues/diplomatic-decolonization/msg134/#msg134

Quote
This on its own is good:

www.aa.com.tr/en/health/china-to-continue-assisting-iran-against-coronavirus/1766434

   
Quote
China will continue to provide "as much assistance as it can" to Iran to curb the coronavirus outbreak, the country’s president said Saturday.

    Xi Jinping said China offered Iran a batch of anti-epidemic supplies and sent a team of voluntary health experts to Iran, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

On the other hand:

www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/china-sends-essential-coronavirus-supplies-italy-200313195241031.html

   
Quote
A planeload of medical supplies, including masks and respirators, has arrived in Italy from China to help the European country deal with its growing coronavirus crisis.
    ...
    A team of nine Chinese medical staff arrived late on Thursday with some 30 tonnes of equipment on a flight organised by the Red Cross Society of China.

Has China forgotten so quickly about this?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_concession_of_Tientsin

In context, for China to treat a former colonial power (which additionally has only recently been watching refugees drown every day without helping) as well as it treats Iran is actually an insult to Iran.

Now you see what you get in return when you do so.
Posted by: 2ThaSun
« on: April 12, 2023, 02:52:42 pm »

Europe sovereignty: ‘Pandemic, war made us discover we have to reduce our dependencies’ | DW News
Quote
France's Macron says Europe must shape its own destiny:

French President Emmanuel Macron discussed his conception of "European sovereignty" in a key address at the Nexus institute in The Hague on Tuesday.
"It means that we must be able to choose our partners and shape our own destiny, rather than being, I would say, a mere witness of the dramatic evolution of this world," he said, adding that this could be done "in a cooperative manner in keeping with our spirit of openness and partnership."
His speech came after he caused a stir over the weekend with remarks on China the US and Taiwan.
"The question we need to answer, as Europeans, is the following: Is it in our interest to accelerate [a crisis] on Taiwan? No," Macron told Les Echos and Politico on Friday. "The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the US agenda and a Chinese overreaction."
Politicians in the United States, Europe and China criticized those remarks but the White House said on Monday it was "confident" in the relationship with France despite Macron's comments.
Macron spoke in English outlining his vision for a new era of "European sovereignty."
"Pandemic and war just pushed us in a situation to discover that we have to reduce our dependencies if you want to preserve the European identity," he said.
"We can set up a new economic doctrine which will allow us to reconcile creating jobs, financing our social model, dealing with climate change and being more sovereign and deciding for ourselves," he said.
"This is critical in this period when we have war and our economy is being weaponized," Macron added.
He said it should be based on five pillars: competitiveness, industrial policy, protectionism, reciprocity
The speech was part of the first formal state visit by a French president to the Netherlands in more than two decades.
Macron and his wife Brigitte were greeted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima.
The royals were set to host Macron for a state dinner after the speech.
He was also scheduled to see the hot-ticket Johannes Vermeer exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and meet Prime Minister Mark Rutte on a canal boat.
The visit coincides with widespread unrest and strikes back in France, after Macron sought to pass his increase in the pension age from 62 to 64 by decree, fearing it might be voted down in the lower house, the National Assembly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhh5raDKiMQ
Posted by: ChinaEU
« on: April 04, 2023, 07:56:20 pm »

EU leaders travel to China to reshape the country's relationship with the EU | DW News
Quote
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is traveling to China this week. Before leaving she's laid out a framework for resetting the EU's relations with Beijing. The French President Emmanuel Macron will also be joining talks focusing on trade and the war in Ukraine.

We talk to Andrew Small from the German Marshall Fund think tank with a focus on Asia. And we talk to Reinhard Bütikofer. He is a member of the European Parliament and outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist Party. He was placed on a sanctions list by China after he condemned human rights abuses in the country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cF-uaxA_Hk
Posted by: EUChina
« on: March 30, 2023, 02:21:30 pm »

Live: Von der Leyen delivers speech on the future of EU-China relations | DW News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnHGmLEs6dU
Posted by: Latvia
« on: March 30, 2023, 02:10:33 pm »

Latvian President: Why Ukraine holds the key to the challenge of China | DW News
Quote
Egils Levits is the President of Latvia, one of the tiny Baltic States neighboring Russia – and a member of NATO since 2004.
Levits explains why in his view, the fate of Ukraine will be essential in the next major contest facing the West: with China.
With the war still raging and Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping getting closer, he talks about the implications for democracies in Europe and Asia. And he says it’s essential for NATO to strengthen defenses in Latvia and NATO’s entire “eastern flank.”
Levits comments on China’s recent 12-point “position paper” for ending the war – and whether he believes Beijing or Moscow are really serious about peace. And he explains what Russia’s plan to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus – which also borders Latvia – means for his country.

Chapters:
00:00 – 00:27 - Introduction
00:27 – 02:37 Germany holding back on sending fighter jets
02:37 - 03:37 Russia’s plan to deploy nuclear weapons to Belarus
03:37 – 07:48 NATO troops in Baltic states
07:48 – 09:14 China’s 12-point “Position Paper” 
09:14 - 10:55 Russia and China’s perception of NATO expansion
10:55 – 12:56 Sphere of influence of Russia and China in East Asia
12:56 – 14:50 NATO expanding its horizon into Asia
14:50 – 17:12 Isolationist attitude of some Republicans

#ukraine #baltics #nato
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOljERy1Mc0
Posted by: 90sRetroFan
« on: March 10, 2023, 08:08:03 pm »

This is how pathetic it looks when a Eurocentrist autocrat feels the need to pretend to be a democrat:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/vladimir-putin-congratulates-dear-friend-072651613.html

Quote
Delegates handed Mr Xi a third term as China’s president and re-elected him as head of the country’s Central Military Commission in a unanimous vote.
...
A digital monitor on the edge of the stage proclaimed the final tally – all 2,952 votes had been cast in favour of awarding Mr Xi another term in office.
...
In the oath, beamed live on state television across the nation, Mr Xi vowed to “build a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and great modern socialist country”.

Not only will no one believe Xi's blatantly choreographed vote, but it just makes actual democratic countries look good in comparison because the implication is that they actually are what autocratic countries have to choreograph themselves to be.



Quote
Prof Steve Tsang, the director of the SOAS China Institute in London, told AFP: “We will see a China more assertive on the global stage, insisting its narrative be accepted.

Nothing could be further from the truth. To insist your narrative be accepted would first involve insisting that autocracy is superior to democracy. The above behaviour is a display of the exact opposite.
Posted by: 90sRetroFan
« on: November 16, 2022, 08:22:04 pm »

Latest bootlicking by Eurocentrist Xi:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/xi-asks-italian-pm-help-183745724.html

Quote
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping told Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday at the G20 summit in Indonesia that he hoped Italy would play an important role in helping the European Union's policy towards China remain "positive" and "independent."

In their first-ever meeting, Xi and Meloni praised each other's countries as ancient civilisations, with Xi pointing out China's cooperation with Italy on battling COVID-19, and calling on China-Italy relations to become a "model for the development of relations between two countries with different social systems and cultural backgrounds," according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Background:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_concession_of_Tianjin

Quote
On 7 June 1902, the Italians took control of the concession, which was to be administered by an Italian consul.

After the First World War, Italy desired to add the former Austro-Hungarian concession which was adjacent to the Italian concession, and would have doubled its size. However, in 1917 China terminated the leases of Germany and Austria-Hungary's concessions. The districts were converted into "Special Areas" under Chinese control, with a separate administration from the rest of Tientsin.

Italy requested again the Austrian concession at the end of First World War and obtained it in 1920.[1]

Does Xi care? Of course not (just like he doesn't care about all the refugees unnecessarily drowning in the Mediterranean every day since Meloni came into power):

https://news.italy24.press/trends/203509.html

Quote
A meeting “marked by cordiality”, echoed Palazzo Chigi. So much so that, at the end of the face-to-face meeting, Xi invited Meloni to pay a visit to China.
...
There are immediately two details to underline. The first concerns the duration of the meeting, which has come close to 60 minutes, which is much more than expected. The second aspect calls into question the Chinese side’s interest in this bilateral agreement, given that the Dragon has deployed a high-profile delegation, such as Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the governor of the Central Bank (Pboc) Yi Gang.

His facial expression tells it all:



Posted by: guest78
« on: August 18, 2022, 11:54:20 am »

China & Europe's Relationship is Collapsing: The End of 16+1
Quote
Over recent years China and Europe's relationship has been eroding. Despite a good start at the beginning of 2010 things have well and truly gone off the rails. So let's explore what lead to this downfall & what happens next.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX0D5upjXAY
Posted by: 90sRetroFan
« on: August 08, 2022, 01:49:40 pm »

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/17/china/china-europe-relations-ukraine-russia-intl-mic-hnk/index.html

Quote
China once saw Europe as a counter to US power. Now ties are at an abysmal low

The part in bold was the mistake. Now is the chance to correct it.

Quote
it is a significant blow for Beijing's ideal vision: a Europe with robust China ties that provides a counterbalance to American power and posture.

"China and the EU should act as two major forces upholding world peace, and offset uncertainties in the international landscape," Xi told EU leaders at a summit in April

Xi has it the wrong way round. China and America should act as two major forces upholding world peace, counterbalancing the power of the former Western colonial powers. But Xi being a Eurocentrist of course prefers to fantasize about his Eurocentric vision.

Quote
There has been acknowledgment of China's myopia among mainland scholars,

Chen Dingding, founding director of the Intellisia Institute think tank in Guangzhou, wrote in a coauthored article in The Diplomat, that the risks of the war in Ukraine are "not fully understood in China," where officials and academics had failed to acknowledge the "shock" that death and destruction in Ukraine would bring Europeans.

That's because the Chinese officials and academics do not understand the sheer racism of those whom they are dealing with. They observed the indifference towards the death and destruction in Syria, Yemen, etc. and naively assumed the EU would view the same in Ukraine with similar indifference. Of course this was not the case:

https://trueleft.createaforum.com/news/mainstream-media-rightist-bias/msg11553/#msg11553

https://trueleft.createaforum.com/news/mainstream-media-rightist-bias/msg11558/#msg11558

https://trueleft.createaforum.com/news/mainstream-media-rightist-bias/msg11572/#msg11572

https://trueleft.createaforum.com/news/mainstream-media-rightist-bias/msg11623/#msg11623

https://trueleft.createaforum.com/news/mainstream-media-rightist-bias/msg11750/#msg11750

https://trueleft.createaforum.com/news/mainstream-media-rightist-bias/msg11898/#msg11898