China has upset many countries in the Asia-Pacific region with its release of a new official map that lays claim to most of the South China Sea, as well as to contested parts of India and Russia, and official objections continue to mount. What is the map, and why is it upsetting people so much?
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It seems significant, then, that Beijing chose to release the map on the heels of a late August meeting of the BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – and just before China is to participate in top-level meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Group of 20 rich and developing nations.
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In releasing the map now, Beijing is widely seen as signaling it has no intention of backing down on any of its claims and is making sure that its positions are fresh in the minds of other countries in the region.
Do you have a moral compass? A set of values you compare other things against? If so, does it apply to your views on foreign policy?
Yes. I am a utilitarian and a consequentialist. I’m concerned for the world, not just America’s interests. So all my foreign policy considerations flow from that.
So the good of humanity is the top interest right? So things that China does that are bad for humanity are bad, right? It seems to me like self interested territorial expansion, possibly with military force, would be pretty bad for humanity on the whole.
Yes. Any nation that subverts the sovereignty of another nation through trade or violence is bad for humanity. But eastern and western media create a false dichotomy that if one is good, the other must be bad. It benefits media financially and the governments agendas. But there are other choices. Unfortunately, the geopolitics of trade dictate conflicts over resources so that the other options are untenable. Idealistically, an international system could determine trade and exchange of resources. Realistically, there is no international body that can enforce nations to isolate. So we war.
Edit: I’m not a geopolitical expert.
I agree both western and eastern countries can and have been in the wrong. I think that’s the point your trying to make. And I agree.
Your original comment sounded like you were saying both are okay, or that China’s aggression was not bad.
I only take the contrarian stance to make people think about the news they are ingesting. In my view all nations are bad, and this is just a struggle between ruling classes. Most people in the world are just trying to survive and get through their day. It’s those with money and power that war.
You might want to specify you think both are bad rather than that one excuses the other. Whataboutism (where one deflects to bad things other countries have done) is extremely common in justifying absolutely horrific things. Such as the invasion of Ukraine, the ongoing Ethnocide of Uyghurs, or even the Holocaust.
Thanks. I’ll try to do that in the future. I think part of me selfishly enjoys the antagonism. I‘ll work on that.
By the way, the memes thread on hexbear from yesterday is a prime example of using whataboutism/America bad to justify North Korea China and Russia. That’s what my knee jerk reaction was against.