Entries in Diplomacy (1)
Three Fingers and "Pressuring China"
An old saying where I come from is "when you point a finger at someone, there are 3 fingers pointed back at you". The Darfur situation is an example of this. There are many in the US calling on China to exert pressure on the government of Sudan to quell the genocide that is occuring in that country.
Why should China should listen to us, when we are morally at parity, at best?
From a recent article I read that in the Darfur conflict, 200k have died, and millions have been displaced. OK, but in Iraq, at least that many have died, and millions have also been displaced. On top of that, China is merely supporting the government of Sudan by buying their oil. By contrast the US has directly played a role in Iraq.
Actually, we are not at parity. We are on lower ground, morally. No matter what label you put on it, our body count of innocents in much higher. Yet, we are busy pointing fingers.
In the interests of actually improving the situation in Darfur, we should carefully consider how to best influence both China and Darfur. When one country actively involved in immoral antics on the world stage berates another country for similar things, is it a surprise that country B would take it as an insult and become obstinate?
Shizi
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