Who’s hurt Chinese feelings the most?

As Jerome reported in yesterday’s This Week in China, the Chinese government criticized French President Nicolas Sarkozy for hurting “the feelings of the Chinese people” by meeting with the Dalai Lama. This is a favorite phrase of Chinese officialdom, as James Fallows notes. One Chinese blogger took it upon himself to comb through the People’s ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
591183_081211_chinamap5.jpg
591183_081211_chinamap5.jpg

As Jerome reported in yesterday's This Week in China, the Chinese government criticized French President Nicolas Sarkozy for hurting "the feelings of the Chinese people" by meeting with the Dalai Lama. This is a favorite phrase of Chinese officialdom, as James Fallows notes.

As Jerome reported in yesterday’s This Week in China, the Chinese government criticized French President Nicolas Sarkozy for hurting “the feelings of the Chinese people” by meeting with the Dalai Lama. This is a favorite phrase of Chinese officialdom, as James Fallows notes.

One Chinese blogger took it upon himself to comb through the People’s Daily archives to rank the countries and organizations that have hurt Chinese feelings the most. The superb China media blog Danwei.org shares the results:

  1. Japan: 47 times, starting in 1985
  2. USA: 23 times, starting in 1980, when Los Angeles flew the ROC flag
  3. NATO: 10 times, mostly relating to the 1999 Belgrade embassy bombing
  4. India: 7 times, starting in 1986 and mostly relating to border issues
  5. France: 5 times, starting in 1989
  6. Nobel Committee: 4 times
  7. Germany: 3 times, starting with a meeting with the D?l?i L?m? in 1990
  8. Vatican City: 3 times, starting in 2000
  9. EU: 2 times, starting in 1996
  10. Guatemala: 2 times, both in 1997
  11. Indonesia: in 1959, when a newspaper inflamed anti-Chinese sentiment
  12. Albania: in 1978, for criticism of Chairman Mao and the Chinese Communist Party
  13. Vietnam: in 1979, for a high official’s slander of China
  14. UK: in 1994, over the Taiwan issue
  15. The Netherlands: in 1980, over the government authorizing a company to provide submarines to Taiwan
  16. Iceland: in 1997, for allowing Lien Chan to visit
  17. Jordan: in 1998, for allowing Lien Chan to visit
  18. Nicaragua: in 1995, for supporting Taiwan’s bid to join the UN
  19. South Africa: in 1996, for proposing a two-China policy

In case that wasn’t clear enough, there’s a map of countries that have offended China:

Have you ever hurt China’s feelings?

Joshua Keating is a former associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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