The Asianist

Danwei has a classic China story (via Rconversation):

Today, The Beijing News dutifully reports on new regulations to control the internet, saying that the incitement of demonstrations on websites will now be banned. Juxtaposed with the story, however, is an admiring photograph depicting the thousands of anti-war protestors gathered in Washington on Sunday. We like to think that the irony was conscious.

Clearly it was not. In fact, it's not irony for the Chinese leaders at all. Opposition in China is bad from their perspective, but opposition in a country that is a potential rival is good for them.

There is no irony, no jokiness among the Chinese leaders. They are deadly serious about maintaining their political (thus economic) monopoly in China, and they are deadly serious about making China primus inter pares of Asia -- at the expense of the United States and to the detriment of genuine independence of the surrounding countries.