In the search for stability, some western nations are turning to a country that many in Washington see as an existential threat
If geopolitics relies at least in part on bonhomie between global leaders, China made an unexpected play for Ireland’s good graces when the taoiseach visited Beijing this month. Meeting Ireland’s leader, Micheál Martin, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China’s president, Xi Jinping, said a favourite book of his as a teenager was The Gadfly, by the Irish author Ethel Voynich, a novel set in the revolutionary fervour of Italy in the 1840s.
“It was unusual that we ended up discussing The Gadfly and its impact on both of us but there you are,” Martin told reporters in Beijing.
China is on a charm offensive with western leaders, a path cleared by Donald Trump’s increasingly erratic and destabilising power grabs on the global stage. Although Europe breathed a sigh of relief this week when Trump withdrew the threat of using military force in Greenland and said he would not impose tariffs on opponents of his plans in the Arctic, the US no longer seems like a reliable partner.
Look who’s being deceptive.
I go out of my way to point out I’m no expert and don’t know much beyond what’s common knowledge, and yet you start out with this piece of nonsense:
I’m not claiming any authority, so don’t pretend I did.
So what you’re saying is that I’m right. This does happen. And also:
So you don’t actually know as much as you’re trying to claim.
My point is that this 996 schedule would be unimaginable anywhere in Europe. We’ve got labour protections that China apparently doesn’t.
And of course it’s great that China is moving in a better direction, I’m not denying that, but as long as abusive practices like these can happen in major corporations, you can’t really claim to take better care of your workers than Europe. (Europe is also still far from perfect, and varies wildly per country of course, but I’d say we’re doing this a lot better than the US and China.)
Wait, is this a “we’re too big to do it right” argument? I usually hear that when people defend America’s lack of healthcare, labour protections or abundance of murder. It’s a bullshit argument. There’s no good reason why a large country couldn’t do this. Sure, individual European countries aren’t that big, but the EU as a whole is half a billion people with an economy comparable to the US and China, and despite having all these diverse different countries with their own laws, none of them allow these sort of labour conditions. Though I must admit here too enforcement is sometimes lacking and real slavery has happened. But not by major corporations, because it gets punished harshly when discovered. It’s usually people taking advantage of migrant workers.
That is awesome news, and I look forward to the time when China’s labour conditions surpass those of Europe. But it’s not there yet.
And developing? It’s pretty industrialised, and has a lot of high tech industry. Keep in mind that the EU has a lot of former Soviet-bloc countries that were dead poor when the USSR collapsed, and are now doing much better. Or look at the development of Finland or Ireland over the oast century. Those weren’t colonisers, but colonised.
That’s only true if the people actually do control the government. I never hear about elections in China, and elections don’t mean a lot when the government controls all information. And Chinese leaders often seem to have that cult of personality thing that you often see in dictatorships.
Personally, I’d rather see companies controlled by the workers rather than by the state.
Failing? Last I checked they’re still topping all the happiness, freedom, equality and lack of poverty charts.
Of course they have problems; no country is perfect and there’s always room for improvement. And social democracy is a compromise between socialism and capitalism.
That is true, but with strong labour rights, antitrust enforcement and progressive taxation, it seems to be working quite well, actually. You do need constant vigilance of course, but show me a system where that’s not the case.
You’ve pointed this out several times already, and I have to admit it’s the first time I’ve heard this. As far as I can tell, China has taken away democracy in Hong Kong. I never heard about elections there. All media seem to be under strict government censorship. From what I’ve heard, you can’t even talk publicly about Winnie the Pooh, because that’s taken as mocking Xi.
I’ll try to read up on China’s democratic processes, but for now I remain skeptical.
You seem to have made up your mind and are not willing to see other perspectives at all. Live in your anti China bubble all you want there’s clearly no fruit to be had in this conversation as you willfully twist my words in bad faith efforts to justify your pre existing biases.
What a waste of time writing all that up when you clearly only read what I said and none of the articles I spent time to collect to back my statements.
Shameful. The westoid brain really is one full of holes to make them feel better about themselves.
Read what I wrote. I am considering other perspectives right here. Are you? You seem to see this as a contest that needs to be won by condemning your opponent, instead of an honest exchange of information and views.
I said I’ll look into these issues you raised, and I will. But a claim is not proof, and I’ve explained why I’m skeptical about some of your claims, while also expressing the possibility that you might be right. What more do you want? Are you here for an honest conversation at all?