And the torch has been passed to a new land: the German newspaper Suddeutscher Zeitung reports on China surpassing the Bundesrepublik as the “world’s top exporter,” or, literally, “world master of exports” in an article entitled “China, You Are Germany.“
Along with and her cabinet members, German Chancellor Angela Merkel appears to be filling a void left by the Obama administration in speaking frankly to China on environmental and human rights issues. Apparently being somewhat less in debt to China, or, perhaps, possessing the postwar German penchant for speaking truth to power, adds to the conservative democrat’s ability to do speak with a moral voice. Without speculating that Germany is simply nervous about losing its […]
On a day when the Chinese Vice-Premier is meeting with the Japanese leadership, it seems appropriate to think about reconciling remaining differences from the Second World War. From my perspective as a sometime scholar of the Chinese past and its depiction in CCP propaganda, I view France and Germany as among the most active societies and governments on earth in coming to terms with the past. Yet there is still plenty to argue about. These […]
Somehow Sunday and Monday have fused together as a single Teutonic-Sinological seismic entity. Ascribe it to living downtown, to having tens of thousands of real football fans course by one’s window, the sun shards glistening, the croissance of a new day, the blessedness of cynicism held back in a deep gorge somewhere distant and untouchable. And so one can dwell in Der Spiegel or Suddeutscher Zeitung for an hour or so, and get all Teutonized, […]
