https://tfipost.com/2020/09/chinese-for ... miliation/
Chinese foreign minister started his Euro tour with hopes and ambitions, he came back with despair and humiliation
Sanbeer Singh Ranhotra, 6 September 2020
The US-China decoupling, as it is being called, is bringing about tectonic shifts in the already dynamic world order, with the European Union distancing itself equally from both the US and China, much to the latter’s dismay. Under the chairmanship of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the European Union has been made to develop a liking, albeit unwanted in nature, with respect to China. This also fits into the larger scheme of things for EU, as it looks to distance itself from the Trump-led US, at the cost of selling itself away to Chinese colonialism.
Now, while Chinese colonialism in Europe is not quite at the face, it is nevertheless a steady strategy adopted by Beijing to extend its borders and take an imminent war with the United States to its Eastern Coast. Angela Merkel, rest assured, has done quite a spectacular job of bringing together all EU member states to accept China as a compulsive friend, if not as a natural ally. Impressed by the German Chancellor’s groundwork, Xi Jinping deployed his foreign minister Wang Yi for a five-nation tour of Europe, which included halts in countries like Italy, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Norway. The visit ended as an unmitigated disaster for Beijing, not to mention as a personally embarrassing one for Wang Yi.
The visit, which was aimed by Xi Jinping and his aide-like foreign minister to be one which could be used as an opportunity to consolidate support from major European players ahead of the September 14-China-EU summit, ended up exposing the frailty of Sino-European ties, as the European countries made it no less than an inquisition for Wang Yi. Human Rights violations, Hong Kong, unfair trade practices, Indo-Pacific; China was pounded on all counts. The German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas even went to the extent of warning China, saying that the middle kingdom shouldn’t dare threaten the European countries.
To be fair, German Chancellor Angela Merkel held the fort for Xi Jinping for as long as she could. This gave much hope to Beijing, which hopped around in joy for quite some time of having found a formidable ally in Merkel, whipping support for China among EU member states. However, Merkel too had a threshold. When faced with a country like China, one simply cannot go on and on unquestionably supporting it. Chinese excesses in Xinjiang and its abuse of Uighurs, the imposition of National Security Law in Hong Kong and heightened Chinese belligerence in the Himalayas and South China Sea ultimately led to the EU finally snubbing China, in a grandly disrespectful manner no less. Internal dynamics and external factors, all lead to the EU allying with the democratic and free world, led by the United States. Siding with China, although attempted at first, proved to be a miscalculation on the part of EU, a mistake which they are now working to rectify.
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https://tfipost.com/2020/09/we-must-fol ... s-enemies/
‘We must follow India,’ India’s complete domination of China on the battlefield has emboldened China’s enemies
Akshay Narangby Akshay Narang, 6 September 2020
The Eastern Ladakh standoff is fast turning out to be a costly affair for China. Even apart from the direct cost and embarrassment that China has to bear because of the way India has hit back at China both militarily and economically, the indirect costs, too, have turned out to be rather heavy. Consequently, countries like Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, the Czech Republic, Taiwan and Tibet, which were never able to confront Chinese aggression, are now getting emboldened.
Zhou Fengsuo, Co-founder and President of Humanitarian China and Tiananmen Student Leader, has said that other countries should follow the steps being taken by India to tackle China. Fengsuo, an exiled Chinese human rights activist was speaking at a webinar titled ‘Emperor Has No Clothes: China Under Xi Jinping’.
Fengsuo has an important point to make here. India has broken the aura that China had built around itself over the past several decades through extensive State-run propaganda. Ever since the Eastern Ladakh standoff started, India has humbled China several times, both in terms of military competition and trade tensions. Whether it is the Galwan bloodbath or the recent pre-emptive action by India in southern Pangong Tso, India hasn’t only matched up to China at the LAC but has also overwhelmed the Chinese PLA.
In terms of economic and trade tensions, India has set strong precedents by banning every popular Chinese app that comes to mind; imposing custom checks and reducing the role of Chinese companies in government contracts. Also, India is targeting all Chinese sectors, including shipping and oil.
This has sent a loud and clear message to countries being bullied by the Dragon that Beijing is not invincible. India is drafting a counter-offensive strategy against China wherein New Delhi doesn’t mirror the Dragon’s manoeuvres, but choosing where to hit China and in what form.
Therefore, India has also opened up the naval front at will and dispatched its assets to the South China Sea to step up the pressure in Beijing’s disputed waters, or also opened up the Tibetan cause by deploying the Special Frontier Force (SFF), which recruits heavily from among the Tibetan refugees, during the Eastern Ladakh stand-off.
India’s attitude is allowing countries like the Philippines to think out of the box. For example, Manila is inviting powers such as India and the United States to play a bigger role in the South China Sea. And not just the Philippines, but even Vietnam is also confronting Beijing in its own backyard.
Away from the South China Sea, Japan is also challenging in the Western Pacific. Even when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was threatening Tokyo with a clash near Japan’s Senkaku Islands chain, the Japanese administration had hit back by keeping its military on standby. Ultimately, the Chinese PLA chickened out of a confrontation with Japan proving how India’s bold attitude in matching up to Chinese aggression has turned tables in the Indo-Pacific.
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Gautam