This is quite rich for China to ask while constantly complaining about being victimized by Japan during WWII while not a peep has come out of them about the shaming they suffered during Opium wars when western nations effectively carved up China to spheres of influence. Not to mention the seizing of neighbor’s islands and territories through force while proclaiming it as theirs because an insane Chinese monarch once sent out a bunch of rickety boats into the seas centuries ago. I suggest Chinese tidy up their over-all diplomatic messaging and strategy first.
not a peep has come out of them about the shaming they suffered during Opium wars when western nations effectively carved up China to spheres of influence
The century of humiliation is something that is mentioned by the Chinese government a lot, I’m not sure what you meant by this.
That would make about as much sense as criticising China for complaining about what Japan did to it in the past.
Luckily westerners never talk about WWII and what the Nazis did. No films, no books, no memorials. It’s like none of it ever happened. Good thing, too; imagine how embarrassed you’d be to try to work in good faith with people you’ve been at war with after spending years funding them.
while not a peep has come out of them about the shaming they suffered during Opium wars when western nations effectively carved up China to spheres of influence
This is the underlying reason why they don’t like or trust the west. It’s pretty much their whole MO and why they think Japan and South Korea will rally with them.
Kiiiiinda hard for South Korea to hear that with a straight face, considering China sided with NK pretty significantly in the Korean War and considers NK an ally (or at least definitely within their sphere of influence) to this day.
You can be born in a western country as an East Asian and still also be called a foreigner and asked where are you really from
My son is 50/50 Thai / English.
We live in Thailand and he is accepted as 100% Thai.
I admit that I’ll never be accepted as Thai but that comes with benefits as well as drawbacks.
It’s generally easier on the kids in Thailand, I think, because mixed race couples are more widely accepted there than in Japan/China/Korea.
I did a few years teaching ESL in Seoul and out of hundred kids, there were just two siblings that were mixed race - Korean mom and American Dad.
Even though these two kids looked basically Korean (except their hair was dark brown instead of black) and spoke fluent Korean, I was shocked that some of the other kids in the class referred to them as 외국인 (foreigners), the exact same word they used to refer to me as white man.
I never said they necessarily mean anything bad by it, though.
Regardless of whether your status as a foreigner is perceived as being positive or negative, you’ll always be a foreigner.
Petulant child picking up fights with every neighbor, claiming he owns everyone’s toys and breakfast, behaving like the natural state of the world is to revolve around himself, sports a surprised Pikachu face when said neighbors decide to go to the movie together.
So China is accepting Japan into their midst and getting all buddy-buddy?
How very Nanking of them…
China will never ever consider Japan as an equal or viable partner. Breaking the bond between West and Japan? Sure, they are all about that but being buddies and accepted into China? Never ever happening.
