- cross-posted to:
- europe@feddit.org
- world@quokk.au
- cross-posted to:
- europe@feddit.org
- world@quokk.au
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/32374201
The original article in German is here.
- Victor Gao, ex-interpreter to politician Deng Xiaoping and now Beijing’s mouthpiece, promotes China’s line in the West.
- In the midst of economic problems, China is trying to win back Europe as a partner - on the condition that it does not criticize Beijing.
Where other Chinese experts remain silent because the new anti-espionage law forces them to be cautious, Victor Gao [once Deng Xiaoping’s interpreter, now vice president of a government-affiliated think tank and figurehead for China’s propaganda] talks. And how. Whether CNN, BBC or al-Jazeera - everyone gets it from him, the party line, eloquently packaged and charmingly served.
[…]
His current mission: to woo Europe, while relations with the West are crumbling under the weight of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang, corona and closing ranks with Russia.
[…]
Victor Gao demands: “Wake up from your American nightmare.” And immediately delivers the Chinese offer: less morality, more market. China as a “resource”, not a rival.
[…]
But behind the smile lurks geopolitical calculation.
After all, NATO has long been seen as the enemy, and Western democracies are described in China’s state media as decadent, refugee-ridden orders. At the same time, Gao preaches closing ranks in interviews - as long as Europe refrains from any criticism of Beijing.
[…]
Victor Gao, who translated Deng’s words into the international arena in the 1980s, embodies China’s transformation: from an aspiring reformist state to an autocratically controlled superpower under Xi Jinping.
What used to be openness is now demarcation - and yet: economic hardship is forcing China back towards rapprochement.
With the economic downturn in its own country, youth unemployment, the real estate crisis, demographic decline and mountains of debt, it now wants Europe back as a partner. Or at least as a market.
[…]
Gao describes Europe as a continent on the brink of collapse: “You have no more money at all,” he says. China, on the other hand? Ready to help. With experience, technology and growth. A kind of development aid - made in China.
But the price is high: no criticism. No geopolitics. No questions asked.
Human rights? Tibet? Xinjiang? Are elegantly omitted. Anyone who raises them is either a “gangster” financed by the USA or a naïve idealist. Gao prefers to sell the high-speed train network, the next 6G expansion and the bubbling growth figures.
Problems? “Of course there are,” he says - and immediately changes the subject.
[…]
Victor Gao says that Europe is too small to be an adversary.
But perhaps this is precisely Europe’s underestimated strength: not wanting to dominate, but to mediate between the extremes - without selling out.
Because Gao is right about one thing: the world as we know it is changing rapidly. But whether China’s charm offensive is more than just a tactical smile will be measured by whether Beijing wants genuine partnership - or just a Europe that shuts up and pays up.
China is looking to replace the Pax Americana with the Pax Sinica. But where the US and Europe at least had cultural and ideological overlaps. This doesn’t exist between China and Europe.
Just make a list of allies of the US or the EU, it’s massive. A list of China’s allies… North Korea maybe? China doesn’t want equal partnerships, it wants to lead and the others to follow.
I mean ditto for America, but you’re right about everything else. Pax Sinica probably isn’t happening.
Not before Pax Canadiana at least
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyPeWSLbdjw
I think this video is very telling. It looks all very ceremonial, but presidents of other nations are dropped off and have to hoof it along the empty red carpet by themselves surrounded by Chinese soldiers.
I’m not sure exactly how degrading is that, but fair enough.
I think history will show that Pax Americana and its British predecessor were genuinely novel empires in that they were underpinned by progressive ideologies. Free-trade liberalism, evangelizing Christianity, ideas about individual rights. The American empire in particular went out of its way not to be domineering: the whole concept of self-governing nation states with inviolable borders, i.e. the rules-based order, was basically invented by President Wilson. For small nations the last century has been like a utopian holiday compared to how things were before. Anyway, whatever one thinks about how well these empires lived up to their ideals, I personally have trouble imagining that China is going to do better.
…can I get some of those whitewashing drugs you took?
History will remember the US as the single most destructive and warmongering nation in world history.
This is a preposterous claim that (if serious) only proves your ignorance of world history. End of discussion from this side.
I’m truly sorry your nazi version of history is incorrect. I hope you understand that your education in the coming years isn’t anything personal, just something that needs to be done to fix people like you so humanity can move forward.
Most nations are victims of US empire, including EU before this unjustified attack. The golden billion’s media bubble ignores 7B rest that has China as a greater friend. The cultural programming that makes Europeans think US is a force for good is a massive weakness that captures their subservience.