Fire with Fire

[Ken White]

Ken you want to do a little research into the Feb 2010 visit to the US by the Dalai Lama...

What happened was quite obvious to all. OTOH, how some happen to wish to take it:

...The concessions made by the White House ... were not lost on the rest of the world to be sure.

is only slightly less obvious.

What is of course interesting is that China obviously believes it "owns" enough of the US to dictate which world leaders the US should invite to the White House. Should be a source of major concern.

I'm not at all sure that conclusion is correct. The Dalai Lama for example is NOT a world leader, though he may have slightly more moral stature than does the Archbishop of Canterbury -- also not a world leader -- or Jean-Claude Duvalier -- also a former but deposed national leader. The Lama's 'constituency' is larger than that of the latter but is far smaller than that of the former. The Pope OTOH is a world leader and even if the Vatican is tiny, he's still in charge of it for now...

As for the "own," yep, they do own a lot of paper -- and they have a very strong interest in that paper being worth something. They also really like the US import market a bunch. Thus, they'll express their opinions and feelings but they won't push too hard. At the risk of stereotyping, Orientals are quite correctly noted for shrewd bargaining. So, come to think of it are Persians.

The amount of accord those Chinese opinions are given will vary. That's partly dependent on which US domestic lobby is ascendant in Washington at the time (pro or anti China) and partly on the collegiality quotient of the Administration in office. In the case of the Dalai Lama, both those aspects were in congruence for a minor, almost cost free kow-tow in China's favor.

Sort of like the bow to Hu -- or Abdullah. Don't read to much into bowing. Or kow-towing. Or into apparent economic demise; we've been there before. Disappointed all the wishful thinkers before, likely will this time and a few more times. Implosion will certainly eventually occur but not in my lifetime. I strongly doubt it will occur in your lifetime and probably not that of your children if any.

The recipient of the bow below is the Mayor of Tampa, Florida, a mid size city not in China. She also is not a world leader. She does lead a city whose MSA population is about on par with that of all Tibet...