Why China’s Support of Spain Against Catalonia Independence Makes Sense

by | Oct 14, 2017

This article originally appeared at Anti-Media. 

 

Through its Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Thursday, China officially showed support for the Spanish government as it works to suppress an independence movement in the semi-autonomous region of Catalonia.

“The Chinese side closely follows the relevant situation in Catalonia, understands and supports the effort of the Spanish government to uphold national unity, ethnic solidarity and territorial integrity and believes the Spanish side is capable of safeguarding the social order and civil rights and interests in accordance with law,” spokeswoman Hua Chunying said during her daily press briefing.

Continuing, Hua called China and Spain “friendly countries” and said China “will continue to develop friendly cooperation with Spain by upholding the principle of respecting each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.”

As Anti-Media has been reporting, China is facing its own crisis of unity, with several of its semi-autonomous regions — most notably Taiwan, whose leadership has recently doubled down on the idea of moving away from the Chinese sphere — expressing a desire for more independence. In this context, China backing Spain’s central government makes sense.

The Economy Minister of the Spanish government, Luis de Guindos, told CNBC Thursday that the real culprit of the violence that occurred during the Catalonian referendum of October 1 — in which citizens voted for independence — was the Catalonian leadership because “the constitutional court of Spain declared this referendum illegal.”

The minister went on to say that the situation in Catalonia is no longer about independence, but rather about “radical policies,” adding that the people “calling the shots are an extremely radical group that has links with the anarchist tradition of Barcelona and Catalunya.”

Meanwhile, the Catalonian president has accused Spain’s prime minister of ignoring his offer to suspend the referendum results while the two sides talk. Spain’s leader says no such dialogue will take place and has threatened to impose, by force, direct control over the region if it doesn’t declare the independence vote void.

James Holbrooks

James Holbrooks

View all posts

Our Books

Shop books published by the Libertarian Institute.

libetarian institute longsleeve shirt

Support via Amazon Smile

Our Books

libertarian inst books

Recent Articles

Recent

The Soul of a Socialist

From the pen of H. G. Wells (1908), socialist: War is a collective concern; to turn one’s back upon it, to refuse to consider it as a possibility, is to leave it entirely to those who are least prepared to deal with it in a broad spirit. In many ways war is the most...

read more
On “Election Integrity”

On “Election Integrity”

The government openly claims the right to control everyday decisions millions of people make with taxes and regulations. Why would they have some exception for who gets to run for (or be elected) President of the United States? The same deep state Domestic Imperialist...

read more

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This