International Law

The One China Myth. Let's Get Together And Feel Alright.

By Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson

I wish I could reveal what has spurred me to write this post, but if I do, it will no doubt hurt the feelings of people who probably spent a lot of time on the information they provided, so I will be more circumspect. But If I hear one more person at a seminar talk about how there is no "one China" I will scream and If I see one more map dividing up China in an effort to get people not to view it as monolithic, I will do the same.

I say this because I have absolutely no evidence to support the notion that anyone out there with an IQ over 90 actually believes that the 38 year old Ph.d Computer Science professor in Shanghai thinks exactly the same as the 72 year old peasant in some village in Anhui Province. Or that the international lawyer in Beijing thinks the same as the street peddler in Chengdu.

So until someone shows me that person, I am asking that we give this whole "there is no one China thing" a rest. And if you find me that one person who actually thinks there is one China and everyone there thinks alike then for me to care, you will need to explain to me how that person has any influence on anything even remotely related to China.

Who's with me?

Full post as published by China Law Blog on June 03, 2010 (boomark / email).