Is the West being to hard on China?

[gearhead]

It seems like China is often the center of attention due to its foreign and domestic policies. Understandably it is an authoritarian state. Often major criticism comes from the West and activists. In fact, even the olympics which is ideally devoid of politicizing has been used as a political tool. Does China truly deserve to be criticized as much? Are the Western powers any cleaner? I am not saying China is doing the right things but it seems like they are a punching bag nowadays. Is it a function of who runs the news service? Or standards imposed by other powers? What will eventually happen...Will China just take it or get fed up?

Just was wondering cause I ran into this article online:

China defends Zimbabwe arms shipment headed for Angola


[SIZE=1]Photo: AFP
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JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - A Chinese ship loaded with arms intended for Zimbabwe was headed to Angola, the agent handling the ship said on Tuesday, as China defended the shipment against international criticism. "According to the documentation, the next calling port is Angola. This vessel is causing a lot of attention. The information is very sensitive," said Wang Kun Hui, representative of the Cosren shipping agency in Durban.
Asked where exactly in Angola the ship was headed, Wang replied: "Luanda."
The ship, the An Yue Jiang, was carrying three million rounds of assault rifle ammunition, 3,000 mortar rounds and 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades, according to its inventory, published by a South African newspaper.
The ship was forced to abandon plans to offload the arms in the South African port of Durban last week after activists won a court case which prevented it from transporting the load overland to the Zimbabwe border.
There were fears that the arms could be used to crack down on protests following parliamentary and presidential elections in Zimbabwe last month, both of which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says it won.
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The shipment was also likely to inflame a debate about China's growing diplomatic and economic role in Africa, which has focussed on the country's links with the Sudanese government, accused of human rights abuses in Darfur.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu on Tuesday defended the shipment, saying she hoped there would be no attempt to "politicise" the arms cargo, although she hinted that China may be forced to take it back.
"This is normal trade in military products between the two countries. The relevant contract was signed last year and has nothing to do with the situation in Zimbabwe," she told reporters in Beijing.
"As Zimbabwe could not receive the cargo as scheduled, China Ocean Shipping Corp had to give up the Durban port and is now considering carrying back this cargo," she said, referring to the state-owned COSCO shipping firm.
Zimbabwe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party, battling to stay in power after last month's disputed elections, has also defended the regime's right to buy weapons from any legal source.
"It's our sovereign right to defend ourselves, it's our sovereign right to buy weapons from any legitimate source worldwide and we don't need clearance from anyone," Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said earlier.
Port authorities in Angola, where President Jose Eduardo dos Santos is a long-time ally of Zimbabwe's veteran leader Robert Mugabe, said on Monday they had not yet received any formal request for authorisation to dock the ship.
Were the weapons to be offloaded in Angola, they would then most likely have to be flown into landlocked Zimbabwe as the countries' common neighbour Zambia is strongly opposed to the arms reaching Harare.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, head of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which is mediating in the political crisis in Zimbabwe, said he was "glad" that South Africa had refused the shipment.
"The Chinese can play a very useful role in Zimbabwe without the use of arms. We don't want to escalate the situation in Zimbabwe more than what it is," Mwanawasa was quoted as saying by state media on Tuesday.
Human rights lawyers in Namibia, which lies between South Africa and Angola and where the ship could be forced to stop for refuelling, said they would prevent any possible unloading of the arms in Namibian ports.
International trade unions have mounted a campaign to stop the ship from unloading its arms cargo and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre said it was tracking the ship through South Africa's territorial waters.

[tidus1203]

IMO yes. The next superpower is being harassed by the current powers who feel threatened. Smart countries should start dealing more with China and less the US. Afterall the US owes China a lot of money via their US treasuries Since DEBT=SLAVERY, US is a slave of China

[uls]

Yes.

Coz the West is afraid of China's power.

[pitbullz]

thats because the "world" needs an antagonist...period hehehe

[coiter]

hehe. the West has always been hard and unfair to any "threats to their security". be it military, economic or social status.

[jonski]

No...but they deserve it. Hindi dapat pinayagan mag host ng olympics china dahil sa mga ganito







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According to the source this woman was tortured with electricity

[tidus1203]

I find it funny countries like Italy is part of the G7 and the world still says that China is a "developing country" whilst China is way more richer than Italy both in capital and in human resources. Not to mention Italy is a budget deficit country (aka mas madaming utang kaysa revenue) while China is the world's biggest surplus nation (more money coming in than coming out). The old powers are just trying to suppress the Chinese from rising in the top echelons of nations. But they can never stop it, these things happen in the world every few centuries that no once can stop. An empire falls (the US) and a new empire rises (China, although China has been rising and falling for milleniums now ). People who have positioned themselves to China's rise will make a lot of money.

[Jun aka Pekto]

Just wondering where does it say the West in the original article. It says activists. More than likely these would be the same people who'd slam the US or any other power on some other issues.

Add:
Just for the sake of argument the US decides to quit being the world's policeman since it can no longer afford to do so.

Who's going to fill the void? Some other country will fill the void, that's who. That's pretty much guaranteed. But who? China? Will everyone here be satisfied if China becomes "the superpower"?

[gearhead]

Just wondering where does it say the West in the original article. It says activists. More than likely these would be the same people who'd slam the US or any other power on some other issues.

You are right. These were more activists. However, there are issues like France holding the moral high ground regarding Tibet etc.

Does the West have a double standard? People can say they look the other way when Israel trashes Palestine.

Also is it far-fetched that China may emerge the new super power and Imperial Rome (aka the US) may fall? Did Rome actually realize the barbarians were at the gate?

[tidus1203]

Hahaha the west can boycott the Olympics if they want but if China retaliates and tell the west that their business can no longer operate in China and their products can no longer be sold in China tignan natin sino ang masasaktan....