> you could replace China with "The US" or "Russia" or "North Korea" or "colonial Britain" or almost any other country and it would be true. Those who wouldn't be worthy of the list are those who've never had the resources or opportunity to make the list.
Many Western countries have a checkered past, but it's not exactly as though present citizens of the West were directly involved in the atrocities committed in the past by the West. Every sufficiently long lived state has had its dishonorable days, but it's not like we can't criticize both the past and current behavior of these nations and the /current/ behavior of China.
On the other hand, it is to the current Western climate's benefit that many dare make such criticism openly on the record and without fear of persecution (e.g. Gitmo). The same cannot be said of China.
> And didn't they do well over the last 40-odd years!
While your paragraph has the tone that the West is simply getting its just desserts, I find it unwarranted. This criticism, at its best, is criticism of past bad realpolitik policy by the West. People like the parent comment are only just learning of how woeful it is that Chinese influence is spreading, when Chinese influence is that unjust. It is useful to know that the West may have fed the beast. But the parent comment you are replying to was likely ignorant of the situation then and likely had no decision-making power then anyway. Thus adopting such a tone is in quite bad taste, since the parent comment is likely a victim of someone else's poor decisions and not their own.
"the tone that the West is simply getting its just desserts"
That wasn't my intention, although it can easily be read like that. My intention is for the potentially "ignorant of some history" parent-poster to be provided with some context around the current situation, ie. it does not exist in a vacuum, and has been strongly influenced by the actions and policies of the leadership of non-Chinese countries and companies.
The citizens of all countries are the victims in this. The significant majority (99+%) of the world population are caught in situations created or influenced by a very small minority of people (some of which were democratically voted for, but then that turns into a much more complex debate).
I intentionally started my comment with "I know your heart is in the right place" to make it (hopefully) clear that I wasn't directing any accusations toward the parent poster.
Many Western countries have a checkered past, but it's not exactly as though present citizens of the West were directly involved in the atrocities committed in the past by the West. Every sufficiently long lived state has had its dishonorable days, but it's not like we can't criticize both the past and current behavior of these nations and the /current/ behavior of China.
On the other hand, it is to the current Western climate's benefit that many dare make such criticism openly on the record and without fear of persecution (e.g. Gitmo). The same cannot be said of China.
> And didn't they do well over the last 40-odd years!
While your paragraph has the tone that the West is simply getting its just desserts, I find it unwarranted. This criticism, at its best, is criticism of past bad realpolitik policy by the West. People like the parent comment are only just learning of how woeful it is that Chinese influence is spreading, when Chinese influence is that unjust. It is useful to know that the West may have fed the beast. But the parent comment you are replying to was likely ignorant of the situation then and likely had no decision-making power then anyway. Thus adopting such a tone is in quite bad taste, since the parent comment is likely a victim of someone else's poor decisions and not their own.