I find this an absolutely fascinating subject KaWai ... of course he was referring to the CHINESE GOVERNMENT ...no doubt about that ! ...
I have never met people who has any quarrel of dislike for the Chinese people, who sadly have gone through an appalling history of repression and absolute evil tyranny since Chairman-Mao-Tsetung took over the rains, but the Chinese government is fantastic in the ART OF POLITICAL SPINNING . With the Olympic Games stirring so much controversy, the 'uprising' in Tibet and their huge problems at home with the controversial and totally arbitrary land confiscation in order to sell it to property developers , leaving so many people totally homeless and poorer than before that in the end could explode in an up-rising against the government ...... JACK CAFFERTY has been. indeed,a total blessing in disguise !

I disagree that CNN should had not apologised for the totally undiplomatic remarks, and CNN must maintain certain degree of credibility .. and on the contrary that is an smart move .... leaving the CHINESE government rather empty handed .... but no matter they will try to squeeze what they can out of it ... in order to divert the attention from their real problems and to make themselves, ( the Chinese govenrment) look like the ' innocent victim' ... that is good for then to stir up nationalism and pride so that the people will in the end be unite behind them ... and the real crisis and problems they are facing can for a moment be forgotten and will have to wait !

And as for the cartoons ........ that really needs a different consideration, I think, because that is even more explosive than JACK CAFFERTY's thoughtless remarks

Freedom of expression ABSOLUTELY !... but using street level kind of language when being in a position of influence ..... that is another story !

considering just how massive China is there is virtually no chinese viewers apparent on this forum ,is that odd?

This is a bit off the topic, but I just want to get this off my chest. The European countries and US view China as a threat, is a bit ludicrous, the European countries and US, in the past and now, were and have/had been a threat to countries in Asia, and Africa, and Middle East, and to the natives in American continent. If the US would reserve the right to attack a country without having been attacked by it first, US is statistically of now a real threat to world peace. Asian countries(except Japan, which is a big threat to Asia, in many Asian minds, if they are strong again militarily) and African countries never attacked Europe, or North/South America. China had sophisticated navigation for centuries, the Dynasty's Imperial fleet went to as far as Africa, and DIDN'T invade any land in Africa. China was only doing trades for centuries and centuries with the Arabs and Persians,as well as with the Europeans. Mongolians for the short duration of their control over the Middle Kingdom(China), raided a large part of the world during Yuan Dynasty but Mongolians are not Hans, who are the majority. China was the only country during WW2(if I remember correctly) that had no quota for the European Jews to escape to. Of course that's never mentioned in any Hollywood movies. Photographer Helmut Newton almost went to China during WW2, he ended up in Singapore instead. I feel, before European politicians point their fingers at China, they have to look into their past before harshly judging another country.

As far as I'm concerned I feel it is time to move on ... for me... :):)

Nationalism ... wherever in the world can be really scary !, that is my very personal opinion and I hope my opinion will be respected as I try to respect others people's opinions, believes and convictions as long as they are harmless and open to reasoning and not blindly bias. I personally will never be able to grasp, understand blind loyalties such as Nationalism... if we can call it that ! ... and after having read the bold and insensitive statements by the writer Lulu Wang against the Tibetan people and the western media while she herself enjoys her freedom of speech and movement in Europe I realise now that it is futile to continue on the subject ! ...

In Lulu Wang's case I find it rather pointless to engage in a logical, peaceful, meaningful discussion that becomes a kind of charade if just to back unconditionally the Chinese government's top elite actions for the sake of
being loyal to China ......which I personally find to be two different distinct things !

I'm sincerely sorry if this issue upsets you !... but I see no reason why one should be subjected to an endless lecture about Bush and America, or Europe for that matter which by the way are very open and democratic societies with a huge degree of tolerance as far as I know and where all its citizens can openly ventilate their opinions against their governments without having to fear persecution , torture or incarceration for that matter !

Thank you very much for the time .