A surefire way to impede the goals of any overreaching government is to simply object to their whims. Failure to comply may result in the issue being dropped altogether or, the more likely case as an Israeli newspaper recently proved with China, they will prove how totalitarian they truly are.
It is no secret that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)conducts massive censorship on the content made available to their people in order to maintain their desired order. Major media outlets and Hollywood studios typically comply with demands to edit productions in order to gain access to the massive consumer market that China’s population provides. However, that was not the case Monday when the Jerusalem Post publicly denied the removal of an interview while alleging an actual diplomatic ultimatum had been leveled.
The Post had conducted an interview with Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and, evidently, the CCP was none too pleased with what Wu had to say.
Didn’t take long. Got call from Chinese embassy. Apparently I’m supposed to take down the story or they will sever ties with the @Jerusalem_Post and downgrade relations with the State of Israel. Needless to say, story ain’t going anywhere. https://t.co/BypRMTbc6W
— Yaakov Katz (@yaakovkatz) May 30, 2022
“Didn’t take long,” the Post’s editor-in-chief Yaakov Katz wrote on Twitter. “Got call from Chinese embassy. Apparently I’m supposed to take down the story or they will sever ties with the @Jerusalem_Post and downgrade relations with the State of Israel. Needless to say, story ain’t going anywhere.”
Through their threats to strike a blow in relations with Israel, China succeeded in proving the exact point that Wu had made in the interview they were so upset about. “China is an authoritarian country and they do business in a very different philosophy,” Wu said. “Sometimes they use trade as a weapon, and we have seen them practicing their weaponized trade relations with many other countries.”
The foreign minister went on to state, “When dealing with China, you should never accept preconditions because once you accept preconditions, you lose no matter what… and when you worry about China getting angry and give in, or make pledges that you shouldn’t make concessions, China also wins.”
Throughout recent months there has been an alignment of hostile nations including China, Russia and Iran, and Wu warned against the Chinese gleaning the wrong lessons from the global response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I’m not sure whether the Chinese leaders are rational in making their own decisions. What we are seeing recently is that they seem to be gearing up a military threat against Taiwan,” he suggested. “They seem to be trying to project their forces far beyond Taiwan. And, therefore, it seems that China has been drawing the wrong lesson, and it seems to be trying to examine what went wrong in the Russian warfare against Ukraine to improve themselves. And if they do that, I think their determination to go after Taiwan is going to be stronger.”
The threat from China toward Israel is no idle matter as the Post explained: “Israeli-Taiwanese relations are complicated, mostly due to Israeli concerns that overt diplomatic ties with the island nation will upset China, one of Israel’s largest trade partners. Earlier this month, for example, the Foreign Ministry reportedly ordered Israeli diplomats stationed around the world to refrain from inviting Taiwanese officials to Israeli events or from participating in events organized by Taiwanese diplomats.”
Fox News also reported Monday that Taiwan had seen its largest incursion by China’s air force since January days after conducting a joint military exercise with Russia flying nuclear-capable bombers throughout the region.
President Joe Biden’s blunders on the world stage are believed by many to be encouraging aggression by these foreign powers, but Wu seemed to believe being on China’s bad side wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
“A very prominent American diplomat told me that you must be doing something right when China gets upset,” the foreign minister said. “So don’t worry about China getting upset at you. When they get upset at you, that means you are doing something right.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
- Notoriously ‘moderate’ GOP senator comically blasts MTG for ‘dragging our brand down’ - April 24, 2024
- Chip Roy voices concern over George Soros’ purchase of major radio company, potential impact on Texas - April 24, 2024
- Australian PM calls on social media platforms to ban memes that make fun of him - April 24, 2024
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.