China has upset many countries in the Asia-Pacific region with the release of a new official map that lays claim to most of the South China Sea, as well as contested parts of India and Russia, and official objections continue to mount

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.

  • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
    English
    577·
    10 months ago

    Yes. This could be considered a whataboutism. But that’s not always a bad thing. See here. Context matters. This article puts China in a negative light. I’m not defending China’s actions. I think it is inflammatory. But I also felt obligated to relay the hypocrisy of America.

    It might even be that the whataboutism serves a function in forcing the speakers to both recognize a common, underlying factor to both sides of the argument.

      • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
        English
        151·
        10 months ago

        The Independent published the article. They are based in the UK. It is in their interest as part of the capitalist hegemony, led by America to make China look bad (the enemy). I just pushed back against that narrative. It was not my intention to highjack the discussion. Also, I was the first to comment, so there was nothing to highjack at the time.