Seoul has denied the Dalai Lama an entry visa. Again.
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Seoul has denied the Dalai Lama an entry visa. Again.
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24 Comments
Political fireball, that guy.
They’re the country who’ve kicked out the Republic Of China, aka Taiwan, in order to establish ties with the ChiComs. And their United Nations Secretary General is the guy who sends back the Taiwan application to the UN without opening it. What do you expect?
Quote from the article:
Xianjiang?!? Probably mean Xinjiang, too. And Taiwan a “region with ethnic minorities”? Dude, stop drinking that Kool-Aid…
I get upset when I hear people say Korea Kowtowings to China. Then I hear of stuff like this and I can’t say anything…
WangKon–
There is something sinister in the was everyone blows the Dalai Lama.
If people cared about China’s Human Rights they would stop shopping at Walmart. Talk about Kowtowing!!!!!!!!!!
To be fair dda, I think most people (including Taiwanese) forget that Korea held out of cutting recognition of the ROC the longest among the developed nations (severed around 1992 I think), and that no other trade oriented nation wouldn’t give in to anti-Taiwan pressure from China.
That said, I feel bad for the Buddhists in Korea as they seem unique in East Asia for getting the rear end of the stick of society. If the Dalai Lama was Christian, no doubt the government wouldn’t deny him entry.
“They’re the country who’ve kicked out the Republic Of China, aka Taiwan, in order to establish ties with the ChiComs.”
Really? And France? And any other countries for that matter? As for France? What are they doing?
http://www.taipeitimes.com/New.....2003378175
” In one case, Chen said, China pressured an unnamed African country to stop two leaders of a political party from attending the summit. That country charged the pair with sedition so that they could not come to Taipei, while another pair of party leaders from a different invited country were forced to abandon their trip.
“As most African delegates had to transit through Paris to fly to Taiwan, the French government forced Air France to prevent them from boarding Taipei-bound flights, saying they did not have Taiwanese visas and that Air France would not recognize the visa-upon-landing document issued by Taiwan,” Chen told the forum held at the Grand Hotel in Taipei.”
What a typical Korean reaction. Criticize Korea, and they jump and point at something else, hoping we’ll forget about the original point in case… Was France mentioned here? No. This is about Korea and them greasing up and bending over any time China is involved. Are they the only ones? Indeed not. Did the Dalai Lama visit France? YUP! 20 times, at least. Was he allowed in SK? NOPE. Let’s stick to the issues here, okay?
Balancer indeed. In the pockets of the Chinese and the North Koreans.
“What a typical Korean reaction. Criticize Korea, and they jump and point at something else, hoping we’ll forget about the original point in case…”
Woo.. hold your horses there buddy. You’ve got some wrong impressions based on stereotypes. Do I deserve a rude and insulting reaction from a Frenchman? NOPE. Au revoir monsieur Frawnce.
“You’ve got some wrong impressions based on stereotypes. Do I deserve a rude and insulting reaction from a Frenchman?”
Right, and Frenchmen are rude?
Shame on this out-going pack of cowards and fools. It is little wonder that the Korean Foreign Ministry put unwarranted pressure on a small pet shop owner to change his advertising — just to please China.
Meanwhile, I believe it was Emory University where the Dalai Lama accepted a position as a professor (his brother is a retired professor at Indiana University) about two weeks ago, right after receiving that big award from the US gov’t. Take that China.
I hope there are lots of Chinese students at Emory.
“Shame on this out-going pack of cowards and fools.”
Yeah, you guys are right. F*ck commerce, economy, and livelihood of millions of people - it’s about the principle! Don’t be a pussy! Piss off the country that buys 20% of the stuff you make and makes 13% of what you buy, just so that you can say “Look at me, I have such a huge pair of brass balls that I’m starting to think I have cancer.”
We invented being rude, and upgraded it to an art form…
@13 Regarding what percent of Korea’s purchases come from China:
1) Are you saying that if the Dalai Lama got a visa, the Chinese would stop selling to Korea… making that 20% go down? Get real. And so what… buying less from china might just be better for the “livelihood of millions of people.”
2) for comparison, what percent of what the US buys comes from China? you think the Dalai Lama’s truly grand treatment from the US (much more than getting a visa) is gonna drive that number down (god I wish)? Again, no way.
And about China buying 13% of Korea’s exports: do you think some guy in Shanghai is going to decide against buying a Korean-made cellphone because the Dalai Lama got a visa into Korea? I doubt it.
Nor is China is going to suddenly do a 180 and start to support NK’s rights to nukes over the issue.
Finally, allowing the Dalai Lama, the Farrakhan-esque incitor that he is(n’t), is not showing a huge pair of brass balls.
Anyway, this reminds me of the thread a week or so back talking about SK without the US’s military presence. In such a scenario, this kind of bowing to one of the bigger neighbors is an example of how things just might be more often, and on more fronts, for SK.
1) Easy way of arguing, putting words into someone else’s mouth, huh? I’m saying that when the relationship with an important commerce partner is in conflict with Dalai Lama, it is reasonable to choose the former - and the choice definitely doesn’t deserved to be called “cowardly”.
2) U.S. sells about 4.3% of its export to China and imports about 13.3%. China, however, sells 21% of it export to U.S. (as opposed to 4.7% to Korea) and buys about 8.0% of its imports from U.S. (as opposed to 11.1% from Korea)
It’d be “nice” if Korea allows Dalai Lama to visit, but not allowing them doesn’t deserve the level of criticism that you guys are displaying.
“Finally, allowing the Dalai Lama, the Farrakhan-esque incitor that he is(n’t), is not showing a huge pair of brass balls.”
Right, way to modify what I said to fit your need and taking the issue out of context - i.e. “pissing off the country (China)”
No, my point directly addressed what you said. Let me put it succinctly so you don’t focus on how I might have missed some of the meaning of your stats: I strongly disagree that letting the DL visit is going to “f**k commerce, economy, and livelihood of millions of people,” as you predicted that it would. You (and apparently the Korean gov’t) are paranoid of China’s response.
for clarification:
bum said:
”
‘Finally, allowing the Dalai Lama, the Farrakhan-esque incitor that he is(n’t), is not showing a huge pair of brass balls.’
Right, way to modify what I said to fit your need and taking the issue out of context - i.e. ‘pissing off the country (China)’
”
Bum, I’m not sure what you meant by modifying, but I hope you didn’t think I was insinuating that you were comparing the DL with Farrakhan. That was sarcasm, and should have been obvious… Anyway, my point was exactly that the DL is an international symbol of peace, and thus, by granting the guy a visa, it wouldn’t make Korea look like they are trying to proudly flash their “brass balls” to China on the international stage, as you suggested it would be. This is especially obvious when you consider the purpose of the DL’s visit. What was the purpose again?
“to visit the country as a symbol of global peace amid warming inter-Korean relations after the second inter-Korean summit in October and progress in ongoing multilateral talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons ambitions.”
Look what we have here. The DL wanted to come to Korea to support a common agenda as China. He is on China’s side in this battle–China wants peace on the Korean peninsula, and China wants progress in the multilateral nuke talks, and China wants the Norks to end their nuclear weapon ambitions. ..the exact things the DL was intending to come to Korea to promote. China is well aware of the DL’s international status, his great record, and the fact that he’s the spiritual leader of Buddhists throughout the world. They are also aware that Korea has many Buddhists, and they probably would have caught wind of the reason why the DL was invited to Korea this time around. Were the DL granted a visa, China wasn’t going to suspect that Korea was inviting the DL to Seoul to be the grand marshall in any “Free Tibet” parades down Sejongno. The DL’s visit was not going to be Korea endorsing the DL and his cause wrt Tibet. Korea was not going to give the guy the Congressional Medal of Honor (like the US a few weeks back) or honorary citizenship (like Canada has done). And as a result of granting the DL a visa, Korea would have, at worst, paid the same price as the US and Canada–they’d have received strongly worded statements of disappointment/rhetoric from Beijing.
Taking quotes out of context again, cmm? Nice. Because “F*ck” in the sentence you quoted can be replaced with “Let’s not concern ourselves”, but with much less kick and biting. (Great, now I feel like Bill Clinton when he was explaining the meaning of the word ‘is’) And as for clarification, I was implying that that’s what everyone was saying here - “Forget about commerce, economy…” You get the idea.
“Bum, I’m not sure what you meant by modifying, but I hope you didn’t think I was insinuating that you were comparing the DL with Farrakhan.”
My point was that pissing off China for some intangible deed is a foolish bravado (hence the brass ball comment) - even if the impact isn’t apparent in economics, screwing up an international relationship JUST FOR Dalai Lama is pretty retarded. You were implying that I thought inviting Dalai Lama was inherently risque.
Dude, I’m not against Dalai Lama visiting Korea. I’m just saying it’s not THAT unreasonable for South Korea to refuse visa to Dalai Lama considering the relations they have to maintain.
Bum,
Apparently you don’t understand my English (perhaps because it’s been underused for about 3 years) and apparently I can do nothing but put words in your mouth or take things out of context, so let’s stop being offended at each other’s misinterpretations. I’ll make my point in a few hopefully simple sentences, free of any trace of your comments.
I’m just saying Korea is being unnecessarily deferential to China. Korea would not suffer any significant damage in any areas (relations, economy, etc.) from the commies for hosting the Dalai Lama for his intended mission in Korea.
Yeah, like I said, I’m not opposed to Dalai Lama coming to South Korea - but I do understand and empathize why the government made that choice. If I had the choice between straining relations with China and inviting Dalai Lama, I would go for the former. And my initial responses were directed at R. Elgin’s “cowardly” and dda’s “Taiwan” comment, so I guess misdirected arguments/ misinterpretations were everywhere on me as well.
Funny how Korea is so careful not to piss off China or North Korea, yet have no qualms about pissing on Japan and the US. This selectiveness in pissing off some trading partners while tiptoeing around others sounds an awful lot like kowtowing to me.
Hey, I like France… so long as Sarko is in power, anyway <3
But that guy’s rude too… Even before he started the interview with 60 Minutes (that he walked out on midway) he was bitching about how he was too busy.
Yeah, and he had my vote, every time. But I’ll add, so long as I don’t spend more than 3 weeks per year in France… And I already spent like 8 weeks! Too much!
Sarkozy’s not the nicest person on Earth, but he is indeed busy, and he has Herculean tasks awaiting for him. So yeah. Busy, not soft-spoken, but that’s what France needs at the moment.