Sociology professor Zhao Dingxin of Chicago U, who is also the Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences at Zhejiang U, criticized China's wolf warrior diplomats in an article published in the October issue of Beijing Cultural Review. 1/7
The article's main theme, however, is misunderstandings in public perception with respect to SIno-US ties and a warning to China to avoid geopolitical traps, lest it become a scapegoat for the United States' need to "be great again," as Japan did after Pearl Harbor. Excerpt:
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"In recent years, some Chinese diplomats have frequently used highly emotional rhetoric when interacting with Westerners. It is understandable that these diplomats have grievances against some Western countries' hegemony, bias, and hypocrisy.
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"Yet they [wrongfully] use the West's own rhetoric to counter Westerners. For example, when Westerners accuse China of serious human rights violations, they respond by claiming that the West also has serious human rights infractions.
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"Not only does their rhetoric elicit an extremely negative response in the international community, but it also perpetually casts China in a passive and subservient role.
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"Therefore, it is critical to develop a non-zero-sum and more moral doctrine of international relations based on equality and tolerance.
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"Only by addressing the discursive level will our diplomats and scholars be able to employ "new concepts, new categories, and new formulations that integrate China and the outside world"* and interact with Westerners in an "open and confident, yet humble and modest"** manner.
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Link: mp.weixin.qq.com/s/4LCFybiXnFZV…
* Quoted from Xi Jinping's speech at the National Propaganda and Ideological Work Conference on August 19, 2013.
** Quoted from Xi's address on int'l communication in a group study session of the Politburo of the CCP Central Committee on May 31, 2021
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"Security cooperation has always been the top priority of the Shanghai Cooperation Org (SCO)"- Ding Xiaoxing, CICIR's Director of Inst of Eurasian Studies, disagrees with those who downplay the SCO's role in regional security, claiming that it's becoming even more prominent. 1/6
Ding says that the SCO has done a lot of work in the field of security cooperation over the last 20 years, primarily in six areas: 1) promulgating legal documents and establishing a legal system;
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2) upholding the "new security concept", which is basically an alternative to US-led Western security concept; 3) establishing a cooperation mechanism for exchanging info, coordinating law enforcement, and promoting security cooperation;
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"The rules for the future of the whole world will be decided by us" - CCP member, lecturer on the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, and an associate professor at the China University of Political Science and Law's Institute of Ideological and Political Studies, Guo Jicheng. 1/5
As the world is facing "changes unseen in a century" of a rising East and declining West, Guo believes it's time for China to step up its game and save humanity.
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Guo says: "My Ph.D. was in Western philosophy at BYU, and let me tell you: all the ills and problems that human society faces today were brought about by Western civilization, so by definition [the West] is incapable of fixing these problems...
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"Although China studies articles and books are becoming larger than ever before in terms of quantity, China studies in the West has lost its academic relevance and is on the verge of death" - The obituary for "Western China studies" by political scientist Zheng Yongnian
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Zheng's essay should be read under the context of the CCP's "historical statecraft" (h/t @mayer_iras). Chinese nationalists have built a narrative of a "Chinese civilization-state" with the world's longest unbroken history of 5000 years, to contrast with...
...other civilizational constructs (mostly Western "civilization"), in order to convey a sense of Chinese superiority in morality and institutions.
Mei Xinyu, a well-known economist and senior expert on international trade at China's Ministry of Commerce, has a more quantitative analysis of Chinese investments in Afghanistan, along with similar policy recommendations as Liu Zongyi's.
Excerpts: 1/3
"Our country should not interfere in Afghanistan's internal affairs and should respect the Afghan people's choice, but we also need to be calm and objective about Afghanistan's economy and trade in the post-US era, and not go into a blind frenzy.
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"We can actively and steadily supply the Afghan market with consumer goods for everyday livelihood in the short term, provided payment and security are guaranteed, but fixed-asset investment projects, particularly large-scale investments, must proceed slowly".3/3
"China shouldn't rush to invest in Afghanistan" - The Secretary-General of the China and South Asia Cooperation Research Center at the prestigious Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS), Liu Zongyi, discusses the ramifications of a Taliban takeover to China. 1/5
Liu's top concern is that the Taliban regards "terrorists like the "East Turkestan Islamic Movement" [Uyghur separatist terror organization that doesn't exist according to the US] as their brothers of faith, and it has the obligation to protect and shelter them".
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Therefore, "they may not allow the ETIM to engage in anti-China activities on Afghan soil, but I'm afraid that handing over ETIM members to China would be difficult."
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Chinese influencer Lu Kewen: "Jews, you who rule the American Empire and control its finance and media, as well as the dwarf Japanese pirates of the small islands, you have no idea how far we, each and every one of us in the Chinese nation, are willing to go for... 1/
"the revival of this country, and how much humiliation we have endured in silence all these years so that we can return to our ancestors' days of glory" - Lu's article, published on Aug 9, discusses US Secretary of State Blinken's, "the Jew," "grand strategy to encircle China"./2
Lu is a contentious yet extremely popular influencer and founder of Lu Kewen Studio media company. This isn't the first time this zealous jingoist bigot has shared such dangerous ideas with his millions of followers. On May 29, he released a five-chapter manifesto titled... 3/