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"..so as to advance Sino-Singapore realtions..." China is insisting that we adopt their view of the nine dashed line in the South China Sea. Reminiscent of Warring States period this is taking us down one by one beginning with Cambodia and Laos.
The Chinese are no good at talking, that is the western powers forte. They are good at big and intimidating display of coercive power. Singapore insistence on dealing with any other power as equals is now put to perhaps its severest test.
Regarding the South China Sea and the East China Sea, there is no other way to deal with China except to line up an even stronger set of powers against her, even that she will not give up but keep strengthening her armed forces to exceed what you can bring against her. China sees hegemony of these seas as tantamount to protecting its sovereignty and ensuring its security. The collateral and almost as desirable benefit is all Asian states would than serve Chinese interests with them deciding what is good for the rest of us. China as hegemon will not dictate how we should live like she does with the Uighurs forbidding them from even practicing Islam. What she will do is make every state put Chinese interests ahead of theirs and the rest is up to us. Sure the US does the same but yet in practice it would be very different. The Chinese have no concept or understanding of liberty much less belief in a benevolent higher power and value system that desire to see everyone happy and prosperous.
The Chinese just see us as a "Chinese" country. And thus we should be supportive of their agenda and understanding towards them. This is evidence when observing the Chinese in Singapore. Interesting there also seem to be a rise of Chinese apologists in Singapore.
ReplyDeleteYep, they could never understand why we are Singaporeans first then Chinese. In most places and especially in South East Asia, the Chinese Diaspora hearts point to China. To the Chinese, race trumps nationality. It is an ancient concept which preceded the concept of nationalism. That is also why between their ancient heritage and modern era laws, the former supersedes the latter. That is why after signing to UNCLOS they would not respect it in the context of the South China Sea but would in seas far from China. The Chinese are not "unreasonable" or malevolent, they are just being true to their nature which outsiders have no way to understand except that they are indeed unreasonable and potentially malevolent. This gap of perception and people would even debate if it is a problem of perception at all is ultimately impossible to close except by the strong subduing the weak. The Chinese understand this better than outsiders and have decided it is useless talking preferring to resort to their ancient strategies which they have so much pride and confidence in.
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