![]() ![]() Importantly, however, China does not see Europe as an enemy, and is certainly not an enemy of Europe, and China-Europe relations are critical to world peace. Repeated hostile statements made by G7 countries remind the Chinese of the aggression of the Eight-Nation Alliance (Germany, Japan, Russia, Britain, France, the U.S., Italy and Austria-Hungary) that invaded China in 1900 to put down the Boxer Rebellion.Īfter suffering for decades at the hands of Western powers and Japan, China’s leaders and people are determined to stand up to the West, and particularly the U.S. He believed that there was a strong element of racism in Americans’ attitudes toward China. for many years, said in a speech in Beijing in December 2021 after his retirement that there was no bottom line to America’s ill will for China. Cui Tiankai, China’s ambassador to the U.S. Chinese leaders and many Chinese people believe that underlying Western negativism towards China is an unwillingness to accept China as an equal and a desire to pull China down if possible. While each grievance is worthy of discussion and debate, we should also know that China has its own grievances against the West. The most recent is probably China’s refusal to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and its persistence in being friendly to Russia. Different reasons are cited at different times - President Xi Jinping’s autocracy, Chinese diplomats behaving like “wolf warriors,” alleged genocide in Xinjiang, introduction of the national security law in Hong Kong, threats against Taiwan, excessive territorial claims in the South China Sea, spying, unfair treatment of foreign companies in China, theft of intellectual property, unfair trading practices, the baleful influence of Confucius Institutes, hiding information about the origin of Covid - the list goes on. It is hard for many Singaporeans to understand why the Western attitude toward China has become so much worse. This essay is adapted from the author’s speech at the European University Institute’s School of Transnational Governance in Florence on May 23.Īnti-China sentiments in Europe have risen in recent years, not just among European leaders but also among ordinary people. George Yeo was Singapore’s minister of foreign affairs from 2004 to 2011.
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