My Take | Yes, China and Russia really did win in WWII, as allies of Britain and America
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas’ pointless jabs at China during the SCO summit in Tianjin and events in Beijing to mark victory over Japan betray wilful ignorance and diplomatic incompetence
Though terribly sexist, it’s not for nothing that many Chinese on the mainland have taken to calling Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign affairs chief and her boss, Ursula von der Leyen, “silly white sweeties”.
Oftentimes, you just don’t know whether to laugh or cry over Kallas’ out-of-the-left-field pronouncements, and whether she is being serious or just wants to pick a fight with her favourite targets, Russia and China.
She has lately taken issue with claims by both countries during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin and the commemoration in Beijing of imperial Japan’s defeat in the second world war that they were the victors.
It’s hard to know why that’s controversial for her.
“This is the battle of narratives for the Global South and all the rest of the world,” she told reporters when asked about the two events. “Russia was addressing China like we fought the second world war, we won the second world war and we defeated Nazism, and I was like, ok, that is something new [my italics]. If you know history, it raises a lot of question marks in your head. I can tell you that people don’t read and remember history that much. You can see they buy these narratives.”
So, like I guess like it’s ok to talk like a teenager for someone holding one of the most important diplomatic jobs in the world.