China shouts, South Africa jumps and dances
China has told the South African government to deny the Dalai Lama a visa. South Africa complies. I wonder if Zuma is going to carry on in this weak-willed manner? What a sharp contrast with Nigeria, which invited the Dalai Lama without any fuss. I wonder if this signals a varied picture of African relations with China?
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6 comments:
This s only the latest of the bugger-ups the SA Gov has made...
The front page news that greeted us this morning in SA is as follows:
"SA to award Fidel Castro top honour"
link to article: http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/Politics/0,,2-7-12_2491554,00.html
it isn't about china's so called influence but SA's interest and china's interest meet on this issue. with all the money spent on the world cup, SA doesn't want to risk any wahala with this monk, so let him come and preach his peace after their investment in the world cup as paid off. china's asked them to deny him the visa for political reasons, and frankly it makes sense for a country trying to clamp down on any potential violent situations ahead of the world cup.
do you have any evidence china asked nigeria to stop the dalai lama not to come to nigeria. and is it in nigeria's interest to stop him from coming?
the west needs to stop criticisng everything china does in africa like they really give a damn about africa
"the west needs to stop criticisng everything china does in africa like they really give a damn about africa."
The obvious rejoinder to this is that "Africa needs to stop criticising everything the West does like China really gives a damn about Africa."
I suspect that only when we see a half-decent Nigerian railway network built by the Chinese (or other infrastructural equivalent) will respect be given where it is due...
nigeria supports anc against apartheid
mandela gets in
south africa pussies out of fight against abacha
mbeki says 'african renaissance', i'll sort out sudan.
mbeki goes to sudan, comes back with contracts, shuts up about sudan.
so what is surprising about current dalai lameness?
@ Anon 12.05
you've got to be a real Zombie to think that SA honouring Fidel Castro is a 'bugger-up'. You sound like you ddn't miss your daily dose of Bill O'reilly's puke. With that kind of thinking, I very much doubt that this is the blog for your kind, try Sean Hannity's or Anne Coulter's blog, I'm sure you'll feel at home there.
@ Jeremy
'China shouts, South Africa jumps and dances'
So what? It's called realpolitik, would you rather they offend a major trading partner to appease the phony idealism of western liberals? Oh, Of course you would.
I wonder why SA would act this way, hmmm, let's see -
1) China is a veto wielding permanent member of the UN security council, a position the South Africans are keen on. Offend any one of the 5 PMs and their chances are out the window or at least gravely damaged.
2) SA is China's largest trading partner in Africa, business is booming, hundreds of thousands of jobs depend on this cordial relationship. Why rock the boat?
3) The Dalai Lama is a delusional pinhead, so too is anyone who thinks that in this day and age, people should be subjected to a feudal system in which they are nothing more than serfs worshiping as a God a fellow human being. Madness.
The SA government have done excellently exactly what they are paid to do - Protect SA national interest - that is what western governments do, that is what intelligent governments do, and no amount of bad press from foul mouth hypocrites will change that fact.
last poster. smoke on...
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