By Daniel Woker / Lowy Institute of International Policy

Dr Daniel Woker is the former Swiss Ambassador to Australia and now a Senior Lecturer at the University of St Gallen.

Due to China’s size and importance, relations with Beijing are of a particular nature. Rather than a genuine give and take, it’s often a case of ‘you take and I give’. Countries and companies alike seem to forego principles and interests in order to stay on good terms with the mighty Middle Kingdom. Economic stakes are apparently too high to risk Beijing’s ire or to ignore its whishes in areas judged by Beijing to be core interests. 

Two telling recent examples of such behaviour are recorded here. First, a visit to some European countries by the highest spiritual authority of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, and the political head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Sikyong (Prime Minister) Lobsang Sangay. And second, the merger conditions imposed on Glencore by Chinese authorities for its takeover of Xstrata. (View full article)