[Newsbot]

Title: China warns Obama about meeting with Dalai Lama
Category: World
Posted By: Hyack
Date: 2010-02-01 23:58:41

[ShepherdsDog]

Hu and co. need to be pat on the head, told they're cute, and then told to go back to the children's table while the adults talk.

[Proculation]

I put a 10$ bill that Obama will choke and abstain from meeting Mr. Lama.

[CanadianJeff]

I put 10 dollars on china trying to push a lot more of us around in the future. This kind of activity really proves how evil the government of China is.

[martin14]

hmm, not many takers for those bets.

[ShepherdsDog]

Not evil, in fact they are returning to their roots. In Mandarin, The Chinese refer to their country as Zhongguo(中國) which literally means Middle Kingdom. It is the destiny of the Middle Kingdom to rule the world.

As we see the leaders of China drift even further from their version of Communism(which technically preached egalitarianism and fraternity between all peoples), and return to their Confucian roots, the idea that China has a special place in the world will become even more pronounced. Nationalism will be cultivated/harnassed to help divert the people's attention away from internal problems.

Five hundred years ago China had the most advanced society on the planet, and then one man, the Xuande Emperor(I think), changed it all and turned China in on itself. A few centuries later the Chinese weren't even masters of their own empire as Westerners carved it up. Those who have led China for the last 60 years have vowed that China would never again be dominated by 'inferior' barbarians, which is how they still view us. It's their (pipe)dream to see China once more become the dominant culture on the planet.

Fortunately (or unfortunately if you see it that way) I don't think you'll see this happen unless something truly radical happens in the way the Chinese government works. Too much power rest in too few hands and one man can still turn China on its collective ear once more.

[andyt]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

Five hundred years ago China had the most advanced society on the planet, and then one man, the Xuande Emperor(I think), changed it all and turned China in on itself.

Wasn't he the guy who burned all their ships, the biggest fleet the world had seen to that point, ready to explore the world?

But, I wouldn't be as sanguine about Chinese domination. I just read about Paulson the US treasury guy saying that Russia was trying to destabilized the US by dumping Fannie Mae bonds, but China wouldn't play along. This was during the tiff with Georgia. China is or soon will be in a position to play those games by itself. They're trying to develop their internal markets, and then won't be so reliant on exporting to the US. And the US just seems to be heading downhill, still think they can have their cake (lots of govt services, a kickass military going on adventures) and eat it too (low taxes).

[GreenTiger]

Proculation Proculation:

I put a 10$ bill that Obama will choke and abstain from meeting Mr. Lama.

What the US Fearless Leader Obama should tell the Chinese is something in the nature of "I'll talk to whomever I damn well fell like" but I agree he will probably turn PC (or chicken shit) and back out of meeting with the Dali Lama.

[CommanderSock]

China can't do shit without resources from the outside.

If every African port was closed China would starve and there would such a severe gas shortage, the people would freeze to death in the north, all within a month.

[Zipperfish]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

Not evil, in fact they are returning to their roots. In Mandarin, The Chinese refer to their country as Zhongguo(中國) which literally means Middle Kingdom. It is the destiny of the Middle Kingdom to rule the world.

As we see the leaders of China drift even further from their version of Communism(which technically preached egalitarianism and fraternity between all peoples), and return to their Confucian roots, the idea that China has a special place in the world will become even more pronounced. Nationalism will be cultivated/harnassed to help divert the people's attention away from internal problems.

Five hundred years ago China had the most advanced society on the planet, and then one man, the Xuande Emperor(I think), changed it all and turned China in on itself. A few centuries later the Chinese weren't even masters of their own empire as Westerners carved it up. Those who have led China for the last 60 years have vowed that China would never again be dominated by 'inferior' barbarians, which is how they still view us. It's their (pipe)dream to see China once more become the dominant culture on the planet.

Fortunately (or unfortunately if you see it that way) I don't think you'll see this happen unless something truly radical happens in the way the Chinese government works. Too much power rest in too few hands and one man can still turn China on its collective ear once more.

That was an extremely informative post. Thanks.

[Thanos]

China = Cylons. They have a plan.

[romanP]

I think the Dalai Lama may consider himself to be a Boddhisattva and, as such, may not want to meet with Barack Obama if it would cause China to have afflictive emotions about either one of them.

[EyeBrock]

Wow, that must be good weed roman!

[Lemmy]

OOOOOHHHH, the veiled, yet unspecified Chinese threat: "If you don't do what we say, all 1.4B of us will jump off our kitchen tables at precisely the same time, causing the Earth to spin awkwardly away from its natural rotation, hurtling the planet uncontrolably out of orbit and killing all life on-board." Go ahead, make my day.

[EyeBrock]

I think that the supposed imminent move of China to superpower status has been overstated by the media and the Chinese.

It's still a third world country with a few shiny cities and a lot of cash. Lick a McDonalds Happy Meal toy anyone? I thought not....