Could China-Europe tensions be easing with a flurry of French and EU diplomacy?
Could China-Europe tensions be easing with a flurry of French and EU diplomacy?
The French foreign minister and EU trade chief have been in Beijing to mend fences on trade and Ukraine.
China and Europe seem to be taking a more pragmatic approach to their relationship as the Trump administration alienates US allies, but big differences remain over trade and Ukraine.
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The South China Morning Post is one of the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda media outlets owned by Alibaba Group. This "article" comes essentially from the dictatorship's office.
Yep, so what's their motive in publishing this?
It is a propaganda outlet, so their motive to publish is to spread the fascist and totalitarian propaganda to support their dictatorial policy. The same policy, you know, that decisively support Russia in its war against Ukraine and, therefore, is threatening Europe's security. Something from such a 'source' should not be posted here.
But we have to deal with them. They are a superpower, a rival to the USA. I'm not saying we should believe what they say, but analyse why they are saying it. We cannot just ignore them as Europeans.
We have to discuss everything, but there should be no content posted from any extremist right-wing (or left-wing) sources, no propaganda outlets, let alone if the governments behind actively threaten European security. China is the same unreliable and authoritarian dictatorship we have seen already before this Florida man took over across the Herring Pond. Such a source should not be posted imo.
It's one of the few English speaking sources from China. That fact alone makes it already clear that it is a propaganda outlet mostly aimed at foreigners, but if you are aware of that, it can be a legitimate source to see how the Chinese government wants to spin a certain topic in the eyes of a foreign audience.
It’s one of the few English speaking sources from China.
China's Global Times is an English-language propaganda outlet in English. The Chinese Communist Party's news agency Xinhua publishes in English (as well as in German, French, and many other languages). And then there are many propaganda outlets in English and other languages in the world.
Sometimes these are openly influenced by China. The Chinese government has been spending billions of dollars (in the single-digit billions, if I recall correctly) over the last decade or so to establish a network of such propaganda outlets all across the globe (publishing news in English and other local languages), all of them collaborating with the so-called "International Communication Centers" inside China for fine-tuning Chinese anti-democratic narratives.
Other propaganda outlets are hiding their connections to the Chinese Communist Party, the recent most prominent example likely being "NewsBreak", that was once (or still is?) the most downloaded US news app, and in 2024 turned out to be of Chinese origin, and spreading AI generated 'fiction' and Beijing's propaganda.
Your statement is absolutely baseless and even downright naive if it comes from a moderator dealing with such content.
[Edit for clarity.]
Well, there is a huge difference between an officially state run news agency, a genuine Chinese source like the newspaper linked above (obviously not independent), and covert propaganda efforts.
Not seeing that difference is naive and group-think to ban anything with a relationship to a foreign govermment also doesn't help.
And anyways, this kind of propaganda is among the least worse, as it is pretty obvious and doesn't hide its intentions.
First, not all here are supposedly aware that this media outlet is propaganda, but even if so, there is no need for this garbage imo. And, second, the same user cited Alexandr Dugin, one of Putin's most derailed propaganda figures (who supports Russia's invasion because, according to Dugin, all Ukrainians are 'nazis' - Dugin is one of the Russian figures from whom this and other repugnant slurs come from, used by Russia to justify the war).
That aside, you and me (together wirh a couple of others if I remember that right) had a discussion in another thread some time ago. Back then you, poVoq, argued to explicitly allow propaganda, so I am -unfortunately- not surprised here.
The argument was more nuanced. Using moderation to suppress differing opinions (which, yes, tend to be influenced by propaganda), usually just results in people switching to pure propaganda bubbles, which is much worse.
Pointing out here in the comments that SCMP is a Chinese propaganda outlet is fine. That way even people unaware of it previously can come to their own conclusions.
The argument was more nuanced.
'More nuanced'? You even got offensive as practically all others in this thread back then had a different opinion. People switch to pure propaganda bubbles anyway, whether or not you are explicitly fine with Chinese and Russian propaganda. There's is no excuse for that.
I didn't get offensive, but yes I noticed a certain group-think here when it comes to such things. But that is why places like lemmy.ml that enforce similar group-think via moderation actions are worse than what we are trying to do here.
As an addition to what I have already written in this thread (and having read your other comments here), the question is rather what your motive is in publishing this Chinese and Russian authoritarian propaganda like SCMP and Dugin.
My motive is to analyse our adversaries. I am European, and I am a fervent believer in a united Europe, and anybody who is trying to break us apart is my enemy.