Demerzel’s China Blog - Intellectual Analysis on China, SEO, and the Web
Independent and intellectual thoughts ranging from China, SEO, and other international topics
Why You Have Lost the Argument With “Stay Out of Chinese Internal Affairs”
Author: Demerzel15 Apr
“Stay out of Chinese internal affairs!” is the quickest way to losing the argument in today’s world. Simply put, globalization makes domestic affairs further entwined with every other nation around the globe.
Every once in awhile I will run across a comment on the web or will be told in person that one (me, Americans, etc.) should stay out of China’s internal affairs. By stating this line one has already put oneself on the defensive and with any knowledgeable person schooled in international affairs this will equate to quickly losing the argument. As to why this line of debate will lose often:
- Defensive Arguments: By staying on the defensive, one rarely get the chance to turn the argument around while the attacker continues to point-by-point explain why it matters to care about what happens in China. In fact, by playing defensive, one brings out further criticisms and problems about China and China only rather than dealing ever trying to win the argument.
- International Affairs Majors: Those who lean towards International Economics / Neo-Liberalism will quickly delve into the effects of globalization on the world today. What one country does internally can easily affect the outcome of another country’s economy. When the US continues to subsidize its agriculture industry to help keep agricultural jobs within the US, poorer nations where agriculture is their main export can no longer compete in the world market causing job loses and economic instability in that country. Japanese textbooks that wash over what happened in Nanjing during World War Ii creates diplomatic uproars between the Japanese and Chinese governments due to historical sensitivities.
So, what is the right way to go about dealing with someone who is complaining about what is going on within China? Know international history well and what country the person is coming from. If the person (let’s say an American) is complaining about how horrible things are in a certain Chinese province, start doing comparisons with how Americans treated Native Americans.
Complaints about intellectual property rights? How else do you think the industrial revolution started within the United States except from a man who literally memorized how to make a British-patented device leading to American modernization.
Complaints over Chinese Yuan value to the American dollar? Agree with them but then say that China will first have to reclaim all the debt that the US currently owes China–about $4 trillion dollars worth.
Complaints about the environment? The US chopped down such a wide swath of forests that makes Brazil’s use of the Amazon rain forest look small in comparison.
In conclusion, when a new problem arises out of China (or any other native country), learn the international history associated to the topic and prepare to note their hypocrisy in not dealing with their own internal affairs in the right way first. Tell them they say one thing, but have done something else entirely.
Subscribe to Entries
3 Responses for "Why You Have Lost the Argument With “Stay Out of Chinese Internal Affairs”"
I see the “blame game” as entirely useless in assessing moral issues. An issue on human rights for example–yes…the United States has done terrible things in the past, their treatment of the Native Americans being on such issue.
Yet there is nationwide shame for these acts. You can’t go through an American elementary school class without hearing how badly abused the Native Americans were, how they all lived in peace on their native soil, and how settlers ripped it from their hands.
I fail to see how the immoral acts and the ethical blunders of past generations and administrations vindicate any action on the part of China. The most that can be said is that we ought to be remorseful for the actions of our fathers, learn from their mistakes, and attempt to remedy the damage that has been done to the best of our ability.
This is in stark contrast to the whispered “Incident of 1989″ which was ignored for over a decade and then played down in the history books when finally admitted.
Instead of playing games such as these, why don’t we take honest criticism for what it is, rather than trying to excuse ourselves by citing the wrongs of others.
Firstly, I want to make sure that I am not trying to justify the actions, only that the argument saying “stay out of China’s internal affairs” is a losing argument and that if one were to try to debate, then there are better ways.
And I completely agree that the long-run implications will be some kind of national shame for what is going on, and always will be when we do not take honest criticism for the horrors we commit today.
Also, there’s the whole other side of the story in that the criticism leveled at China is not felt to be honest criticism, but ignorance/bias against China.
[...] 话还得再说回来，否则我极有可能被划到“网特”“汉奸”那个阵营中去，或许不是所有的事儿都可以让洋人们插上一脚，大抵如此，中间路线永远都是值得考量的；又或许所谓“国际主义”、“孤立主义”、“全球主义”、“民族主义”都不过是一些幌子罢了，说到底， This is all about money。 参考文章：Why You Have Lost the Argument With “Stay Out of Chinese Internal Affairs [...]
Leave a reply