So the European Union imposed tariffs against Chinese solar panels. This is quite interesting, as it shows us what China can and can’t do, in the eyes of the European Union and its member states.
What China can do without any fear of reaction, response or reprisal:
- Execute more people than the rest of the world put together, after mostly unfair trials.
- Detain hundreds of thousands in prison camps without trial, especially for religious or political activism.
- Hold the Nobel Peace Prize laureate in prison.
- Use the courts not to dispense justice, but to punish critics.
- Prevent lawyers from doing their job.
- Censor the media and the internet.
- Conduct cyberspionage on foreign governments, companies and media outlets.
- Use forced evictions to grab land for development, often in connection with corruption.
- Repress the Tibetan and other minority cultures.
- Force people to have abortions and sterilizations in the pursuit of the one-child policy.
- Deport refugees to North Korea.
What China can’t do:
- Subsidize the production of solar panels.
“There was something we wanted to talk to you about. But we forgot what it was. Well, can’t have been too important then.”
EU, you may want to rethink your priorities.
The Happy Hermit 