China has lashed out at Germany after its foreign minister called Xi Jinping a “dictator” and summoned Berlin’s ambassador for a dressing down, in the latest flaring of tensions with a western democratic power over how the Chinese leader is described overseas.

  • sunbeam60@lemmy.one
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    3 years ago

    If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, there’s a high probability it is a duck.

  • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 years ago

    I disagree with some of Scholz’s policies, but he is kind of a breath of fresh air. Merkel was a great leader, but she played it far too safe.

  • sndmn@lemmy.caBanned
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    3 years ago

    He’s not just a dictator, he’s also a dick.

    What’s he going to do? Fling his pooh?

  • quindraco@lemm.ee
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    3 years ago

    Very noticeable that they didn’t specify how he wasn’t a dictator, nor what other label would be more appropriate.

      • quindraco@lemm.ee
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        3 years ago

        I use a client that can block instances, so I have all of Hexbear blocked. It radically improves the Lemmy experience.

          • zooi@feddit.nl
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            3 years ago

            Have you ever bothered to read the rules of your instance? If I go on there and say anything negative about your cute dictator I’ll be banned. However, you can freely go on our greedy capitalist instances and praise your teddy bear as much as you want. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. I guess your mind can’t comprehend being free.

            • Red Wizard 🪄@lemmygrad.ml
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              3 years ago

              Do you mean the rule about not being Sinophobic? Is that really a hard rule for you to follow? I like to look at objective reality instead of just barking the same nonsensical shibboleths when the topic of China arises.

              • zooi@feddit.nl
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                3 years ago

                No capitalist apologia / anti-communism

                You would whine even harder if lemmy.ml had No communist apologia / anti-capitalism in their rules.

                • Red Wizard 🪄@lemmygrad.ml
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                  3 years ago

                  Most anti-communism has no basis in reality and often are myths perpetuated by state agencies. All Anti-Capitalist sentiment is rooted in the material realities of our world and life. To deny socialist historical reality is to deny your own history, and ultimately is an admission of your disingenuous support of the truth.

                  Historical Materialism is truth seeking in practice. It requires you to have a fact based, objective view of our past and present.

                  Also I don’t know why I would whine, because I’m not using lemmy.ml. That instance can have whatever rules they want. I wouldn’t block or defederate from them because of it either. But if you are not interested in seeking the truth and objectively observing reality, then I guess you can insolate yourself from it and keep your echos.

    • LarkinDePark@lemmygrad.mlBanned
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      3 years ago

      Because he was democratically elected in a transparent election. Unlike the current American demented imbecile.

      • MeowZedong@lemmygrad.ml
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        3 years ago

        Probably the antiracists. You should wonder if you’re on the right side when you are promoting and supporting racism.

          • MeowZedong@lemmygrad.ml
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            3 years ago

            The Winnie the Pooh meme about Xi is just racism. I don’t care if you think he’s a dictator.

            • unphazed@lemmy.world
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              3 years ago

              Not racist at all. It’s against one person. Trump’s face is seen on an orange all the time. No one is calling for racism. He just looks like a damn orange.

              • MeowZedong@lemmygrad.ml
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                3 years ago

                There’s a big difference here.

                Is Trump’s skin naturally orange? Is there a long history of oppressing white people in the US and other NATO countries?

                Just because the Winnie the Pooh meme didn’t originate as a racist symbol doesn’t mean that it isn’t used to propagate racism and sinophobia.

            • DarthFrodo@lemmy.world
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              3 years ago

              The Taiwanese use the meme all the time. Obviously not because it looks like Xi in particular and especially because of fragile censoring, but because they like to be racist against themselves. That must be it.

              Calling Trump a guinea pig is probably also considered racist in lemmygrad.

              • MeowZedong@lemmygrad.ml
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                3 years ago

                Taiwan is where the former Republic of China retreated after being defeated by the People’s Republic of China. The censorship of Xi=Pooh in China isn’t rooted in racism, it’s rooted in the political conflicts between the ROC and PRC. China censors these comparisons because they are used by opponents to attack the government. You don’t have to agree with their methods to understand why they would want to do this. Censoring realistic threats to the ruling government is a common practice in all nations.

                The racist aspect originates from how the meme is used in Western circles where there is a long history of racism towards minorities and the enemies of the US as well as a long history of sinophobia.

                If your understanding of history, racism, and their opinions of Trump are so shallow, maybe lurking Lemmygrad to learn why users from this instance act so aggressively towards racism and war-mongering propaganda would be helpful.

              • MeowZedong@lemmygrad.ml
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                3 years ago

                Dehumanizing people through racism is a well established method the US has historically used when manufacturing consent to go to war among its people. Look at depictions of Germans and Japanese in WWII. Look at depictions of Koreans, the Vietnamese, Afghans, and Iraqis during the invasions of their countries.

                Just because its origins weren’t racist doesn’t mean it hasn’t taken on a racist meaning. Sinophobia is rooted in racism and ignorance.

    • hackris@lemmy.ml
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      3 years ago

      It’s definitely part communists, but I think mostly special interest groups, maybe even from China itself.

      • Łumało [he/him]@lemmygrad.ml
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        3 years ago

        You really want to feel special enough to think the Chinese government would even care about this internet backwater? Get real.

  • Guildo@feddit.de
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    3 years ago

    “The remarks made by Germany are extremely absurd, seriously infringe on China’s political dignity, and are an open political provocation,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular news briefing on Monday.

    Because everybody thinks this is because she called Xi a Dictator - is there any proof, that this is really the case? I searched everywhere, but I couldn’t find anything. I think the problem is her whole statement and not just calling Xi a dictator. I would be very very happy if anybody can give me a source for this. I would like to read the whole context and not just one sentence with nothing in it.

    Don’t downvote me, just give me a source. Thx.

    • Laitinlok@discuss.tchncs.de
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      3 years ago

      When asked about Russia’s war on Ukraine, she said: “If Putin were to win this war, what sign would that be for other dictators in the world, like Xi, like the Chinese president?”

      • Guildo@feddit.de
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        3 years ago

        Thx, maybe it helps other people to understand that this statement is implying that China would like to invade Taiwan. It implies that China wants to act like russia acted with ukraine. If you are following china’s international politics and diplomacy you should understand that this is the bigger problem. They don’t care about this dictator-shit. If they really care about the word dictator: PLS! PLS! PLS! Give me a source for it.

        • SnipingNinja@slrpnk.net
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          3 years ago

          Yes, China doesn’t want to invade other countries, not at all, that’s not the reason why other countries are mad at the map the Chinese government released recently, it’s just the other countries misrepresenting China and Xi.

          !Heaping dose of sarcasm!<

          • Guildo@feddit.de
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            3 years ago

            Are you some kind of retarded? I said the problem is that Baerbock was implying it. I did not say anything about, if they want to invade or if they don’t want to. I don’t want to judge about it. If you wanna do it - go for it. But don’t say I made a choice here. Diplomacy is a game, which only works, if you’re playing it good. Baerbock has many opportunities to play games, but what does she do? She goes to this damn News-Channel, who promoted Trump.

  • TheSaneWriter@lemmy.thesanewriter.com
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    3 years ago

    Most dictators haven’t gone by that term, preferring instead some other executive role like chairman, supreme leader, or president. If Xi doesn’t want to be called a dictator, maybe China should start holding open elections, see how popular the CCP really is.

    • sevenapples@lemmygrad.ml
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      3 years ago

      The CCP has higher approval rates than western governments and the vast majority of Chinese believe they are living in a democracy. This is confirmed by western studies; latest one I’ve seen was from Harvard.

      • Syldon@feddit.uk
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        3 years ago

        The CCP does not have confidence in that though, hence the way it runs the elections there.

        • sevenapples@lemmygrad.ml
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          3 years ago

          I’d say that it has confidence in that, but their elections and government are structured in a different way.

          • Syldon@feddit.uk
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            3 years ago

            Just like Ford sold their cars in any colour you want, so long as it is black.

            • sevenapples@lemmygrad.ml
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              3 years ago

              If 95% of ford owners were satisfied with their black cars, vs 40% for another manufacturer that provides cars in multiple colors, then ford would be the better manufacturer.

        • sevenapples@lemmygrad.ml
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          3 years ago

          Enough for them to believe that they live in a democracy, it seems (and I don’t say that sarcastically).

          It’s not like people in liberal democracies have more influence. We can’t choose who runs, and each individual’s vote is negligible. I don’t know the specifics of China’s government, but I suspect they value being able to influence local policy and higher official elections via the Communist Party more than a direct vote on its leader – I would too, honestly.

        • zephyreks@programming.dev
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          3 years ago

          A fair bit, actually. China’s political system is basically a popularity system from bottom to top. At the lowest level, politicians only stay in power if their population is happy. This trickles up to the provincial level, where politicians again only stay in power if their population is happy. At a national level, the national leaders stay in power by building, essentially, large cabinets out of different provincial and regional leaders - thus, their entire position relies on keeping the provinces happy.

          It’s not the perfect system, but Chinese citizens can fairly easily impact local and even provincial policy and, by extension, influence national policy (recently, by repealing the COVID lockdowns with mass protests).

          The CCP isn’t an absolute monarchy or something. At the end of the day, it serves it’s people. The power of the Chinese economy is in its industrial capacity, after all, not in its wealth: the needs of the people need to be addressed to keep the country stable.

          • discount_door_garlic@lemmy.world
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            3 years ago

            don’t make conflations with the USA and other liberal democracies. There are plenty of transparent, effective democracies where popular votes matter massively, and saying because the USA is electorally broken that everywhere is only serves the narrative that true liberal democracy “isn’t possible” i.e., exactly what China and Russia suggest.

      • TheSaneWriter@lemmy.thesanewriter.com
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        3 years ago

        Yeah, our elections suck. They should be more open and should be ranked choice. Likewise, the Electoral College is complete bullshit. Even still, Xi is a dictator and China is not a democracy. Multiple things can be true.

        • LarkinDePark@lemmygrad.mlBanned
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          China is a democracy, the USA isn’t. Xi is the democratically elected leader of his country and enjoys massive popular support. Your past two presidents are hated by the peasantry. You have no understanding of the world because you live in what you think North Korea is like.

          Your press is censored, your internet is censored, you have a one party state with no democracy and people die from preventable diseases daily. Homelessness and poverty are rampant. Child slavery and child poverty have skyrocketed under the current regime. America is a shithole, circling the drain and your pathetic racist shit in this thread just exemplifies how little you have to come back with.

          • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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            3 years ago

            Xi is the democratically elected leader of his country

            How many people voted for him? How many votes did his opponent get?

            • LarkinDePark@lemmygrad.mlBanned
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              3 years ago

              No idea. I couldn’t even tell you that about my own country or the USA, you know that place that’s totally a democracy where they don’t count all the votes and keep the black people from voting with dirty tricks.