The Queen’s Chinese Guests from Hell - Nina Khrushcheva

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/queen-elizabeth-comments-chinese-behavior-by-nina-l--khrushcheva-2016-05?utm_source=Project+Syndicate+Newsletter&utm_campaign=9f31cc4ac5-Legrain_OP_5_22_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_73bad5b7d8-9f31cc4ac5-93854061 ...Given this, having world leaders live under the same roof for an extended period of time may be the most dangerous approach of all, though it seemed to work for Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The American and British leaders appear to have forged the closest of political friendships during Churchill’s 24-day stay in the White House in 1941. In fact, that visit provided the occasion for one of Churchill’s most famous quips. While Churchill was in one of the White House baths, Roosevelt suddenly wheeled into the room to discuss a semi-urgent matter. Realizing his mistake, Roosevelt tried to get out quickly. But, before he could, Churchill stood up, naked, and proclaimed, “The prime minister of Britain has nothing to hide from the president of the United States!”... ... Yet Chinese officials’ deportment in London on their latest visit demonstrated a particular kind of arrogance, offering insight into the way China’s leaders regard their country’s position in the world today. They seem to believe that China has once again become the “Middle Kingdom,” occupying a central position in the world that demands global deference – and vassalage for its immediate neighbors. China’s hierarchical conception of world order has deep roots, which Yan Xuetong, perhaps the country’s leading contemporary strategic thinker, explores in his books The Transition of World Power and Ancient Chinese Thought, Modern Chinese Power. According to Yan, China’s actions are always considered moral, because they reflect the proper “order” of the international system. Anyone failing to recognize – or, worse, directly challenging – this hierarchy is in the wrong. That attitude can be seen in the statement of a former Chinese foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, now a member of the State Council (the central government’s executive organ). At the ASEAN summit in 2011, Yang rebuked his Vietnamese hosts and other ASEAN members for refusing to accept China’s sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, saying, “China is a big country and other countries are small countries, and that’s just a fact.” In this sense, it is no surprise that Chinese officials in the UK did not give the queen the courtesy one might expect. In their view, Britain’s sovereign received the treatment a second-rate power merits.