
Beijing Takes Aim at Prague After ‘One-China’ Dispute Deepens - ktln2
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-09/beijing-takes-aim-at-prague-after-one-china-dispute-deepens
======
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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianxia)

~~~
ta9413
Not 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
And where could an English-speaking Westerner learn more about "自强"?

------
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?

~~~
boomboomsubban
>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.

~~~
JumpCrisscross
> _From what I 've seen, an article in a state run paper_

Plus "a statement published on [CCTV Sports'] Sina Weibo account on Tuesday"
and the cancellation of NBA's China Games' broadcast [1].

Later, "Geng Shuang, a spokesman for its Foreign Ministry...said in a regular
news briefing Tuesday that the NBA 'knows clearly what to say and what to do'"
[2].

Spinning this as not coming from Xi's administration is absurd.

[1]
[https://www.scmp.com/sport/basketball/article/3031997/cctv-p...](https://www.scmp.com/sport/basketball/article/3031997/cctv-
pulls-nba-china-games-broadcast-response-adam-silvers-support)

[2] [https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-has-an-apology-
playbook-t...](https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-has-an-apology-playbook-the-
nba-has-another-idea-11570633239)

~~~
boomboomsubban
>Spinning this as not coming from Xi's administration is absurd.

From the WSJ article, China has an apology playbook as incidents like this
aren't rare. This isn't causing a political crisis like the poster said, and
the practice predates Xi's reign.

------
eastendguy
Prague 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)

------
chronic71819
Good for Prague. We need more European countries/cities standing up to China.

~~~
Markoff
it'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

------
throwaway66920
> 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

------
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

~~~
lousken
in which part of Prague have you been?

~~~
Rebelgecko
Praha 1 & Praha 6

------
martythemaniak
Well, that's one way to deal with overtourism.

~~~
mrbonner
Man, I know what you mean!

------
devicetray0
Since 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
Taipei has been a sister city of Houston since '61.

Taipei has a very large family. :- )

------
Gustomaximus
I'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
My 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
A 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
You 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
It was a private persons thoughts and his employer got sanctioned.

That's a lot different than your POV, lol

------
SubiculumCode
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.

~~~
liuliu
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 large geographical country is
unlikely)".

~~~
nrp
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](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...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference_Re_Secession_of_Quebec)

~~~
liuliu
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.

~~~
hjklhlkjh
Westerner 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
True. But the topic here is "One-China" policy.

~~~
sachdevap
The "One-China" policy is way beyond just geographical. It has very strong
cultural ambitions too. You cannot talk of the geographical policies in
isolation.

------
xwdv
What happens if all the western world stands up to China?

~~~
mikelyons
Is a China + Russia vs. "the west" WWIII off the table? (as a possibility, not
a suggestion)

~~~
xwdv
I 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
_plus everybody has a gun_

But we keep hearing the chant, "not for long!"

------
Markoff
oh 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...

------
ycombonator
[https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chinese-state-runs-
out...](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chinese-state-runs-out-hong-
kong-options-when-fighting/id589864479?i=1000452117274)

------
yumraj
Wow, a city leadership has more balls than most countries combined.

Respect!!!!!!!

~~~
umeshunni
City leaderships have nothing to lose and can virtue signal all they want.

------
calculuscrayon
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-...](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/feb/10/tibet-
china-feudalism)

~~~
gridlockd
What does the feudal past of Tibet have to do with anything? Are the "Free
Tibet" people covertly arguing for a return to feudalism?

~~~
alwaysdoit
It's like a weird Chinese version of the White Man's Burden. They were
"uncivilized" once upon a time, so now they deserve occupation.

~~~
Linq123
Just 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
Liberate 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.

