China does, after all, describe itself as “the Middle Kingdom,” the place around which the world revolves, just as in ancient Roman times the Mediterranean was named as the sea in the center of the Earth. So Chinese governments have always expected visitors to come and, to use their own old word, “kowtow” to them or bow at their feet. To them, a flow of Europeans kowtowing perhaps seems natural. And it has been quite a flow. Just counting from the beginning of April, President Xi Jinping and his colleagues have received visits from Olaf Scholz, chancellor of Germany; from Andrzej Duda, president of Poland; from Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary; and now from the prime minister of Italy.
mandag 12. august 2024
Giorgia Meloni and Europe’s incoherence over China
Chinese leaders must be either confused or delighted by the stream of visits they have been receiving from European heads of state and government. Italy’s Giorgia Meloni may think that her five-day visit to China was something special. To the Chinese, however, it will have felt quite routine.
China does, after all, describe itself as “the Middle Kingdom,” the place around which the world revolves, just as in ancient Roman times the Mediterranean was named as the sea in the center of the Earth. So Chinese governments have always expected visitors to come and, to use their own old word, “kowtow” to them or bow at their feet. To them, a flow of Europeans kowtowing perhaps seems natural. And it has been quite a flow. Just counting from the beginning of April, President Xi Jinping and his colleagues have received visits from Olaf Scholz, chancellor of Germany; from Andrzej Duda, president of Poland; from Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary; and now from the prime minister of Italy.
China does, after all, describe itself as “the Middle Kingdom,” the place around which the world revolves, just as in ancient Roman times the Mediterranean was named as the sea in the center of the Earth. So Chinese governments have always expected visitors to come and, to use their own old word, “kowtow” to them or bow at their feet. To them, a flow of Europeans kowtowing perhaps seems natural. And it has been quite a flow. Just counting from the beginning of April, President Xi Jinping and his colleagues have received visits from Olaf Scholz, chancellor of Germany; from Andrzej Duda, president of Poland; from Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary; and now from the prime minister of Italy.
