Yes, China is a "repressive nation." Especially when it comes to technology, e.g., "The Great Firewall."
No, Britain is not a "repressive nation." The British government surely takes some repressive actions, but not to such a degree as to be labeled a repressive nation.
>No, Britain is not a "repressive nation." The British government surely takes some repressive actions, but not to such a degree as to be labeled a repressive nation.
Are we talking about the same "CCTV everywhere" nation?
The same "lackeys of the united states --GW Bush etc-- policy and partners in war crimes" nation?
Yes, we are. Britain is not perfect, but it does not deserve to be lumped in with China as a "repressive nation."
In my opinion, this style of argument is not helpful. It reminds me of this quote:
"To say that the CIA and the KGB engage in similar practices is the equivalent of saying that the man who pushes an old lady into the path of a hurtling bus is not to be distinguished from the man who pushes an old lady out of the path of a hurtling bus: on the grounds that, after all, in both cases someone is pushing old ladies around." -William F. Buckley
Google the Good Friday Agreement. The test is in how the country deals with a persistent low level civil war. We talked and accepted the need for compromise.
>Yeah, Britain hasn't been repressive in this sense for at least the last ~250 years
250 years? They had colonies all over the world until merely 50 years ago. Doing stuff from direct slavery to mass executions, to fighting natives asking for freedom with submachine guns. And they still interfere in their ex-colonies politics (not to mention being the US lackeys and partners in all kinds of invasions). They even cheered when their "prince" did his first killings of their "enemies" in Afghanistan, like they had any reason for being there in the first place.
There is no comparison to China's Taiwan: "That should be China's attitude". Also Tibet. Clearly not a Chinese country but of course that doesn't stop them.
The government of Taiwan also thinks Taiwan is part of China... it's a dispute over which government is the rightful ruler of the geographic entity comprised of Taiwan plus the mainland.
China also never killed, directly or indirectly, millions of people in Taiwan. Britain can't say the same thing about India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.
It's hard for people who don't know about the history of China (sorry staticfish for making this assumption) to understand why it behaves the way it does now. The century of humiliation and the civil war (not to mention Japanese invasion) has left its mark on the Chinese psyche. The one thing they learned from all that mess was that China had to be 'one', dissidence could not be allowed; otherwise there would be constant bickering and infighting. Although surely they're repressive, there's a reason for that which is not pure malice and evil
But in absolute terms, has been a far more repressive nation than China. Among the world's larger nations in world history, China's probably been among the least repressive.
No, Britain is not a "repressive nation." The British government surely takes some repressive actions, but not to such a degree as to be labeled a repressive nation.