Does China View Itself As The World's Only Sovereign State?

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a speech during the commemoration activities to mark the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 3, 2015. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

Gordon G. Chang, Gatestone Institute: Xi Jinping Thinks China Is World's Only Sovereign State

* The trend of Chinese ruler Xi Jinping's recent comments warns us that his China does not want to live within the current Westphalian system of nation states or even to adjust it. From every indication, Xi is thinking of overthrowing it altogether.

* Beijing now thinks it can, with impunity, injure Americans. In the first week of May, the Pentagon said that China, from its base in Djibouti, lasered a C-130 military cargo plane, causing eye injuries to two American pilots.

* The laser attack in the Horn of Africa, far from any Chinese boundaries, highlights Beijing's unstated position that the U.S. military has no right to operate anywhere and that China is free to do whatever it wants anyplace it chooses. And let us understand the severity of the Chinese act: an attempt to blind pilots is akin to an attempt to bring down their planes, and an attempt to bring down planes is an assertion China has the right to kill.

"I hear prominent Americans, disappointed that China has not become a democracy, claiming that China poses a threat to the American way of life," Jimmy Carter wrote on the last day of 2018 in a Washington Post op-ed. That claim, Carter tells us, is a "dangerous notion."

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WNU Editor: The above author (Gordon G. Chang) has always been a harsh critic of the Chinese government, and IMHO he is definitely right on how the Chinese government now views itself when it comes to international affairs. It is their way or the highway, and will only respect international norms if it serves their interest. This is a recipe for future conflict, especially if China believes that they are being denied what they are entitled to. In the past colonial powers used gun-boat diplomacy to get their way. My prediction .... do not be surprised if the Chinese starting exercising this type of diplomacy beyond intimidating its neighbours over border disputes.