Bettine Vriesekoop continues to write nonsense on her China blog for NRC Handelsblad and still cannot take criticism.
I have promised to keep a close eye at the nonsense she likes to write for this renowned Dutch newspaper as long as she refuses to place my comments.
She tends to write her articles with placing some terms in them where she probably hopes that her readers think of her as a very intelligent human being who knows so much about China. Although the stories she writes can be nice for someone who would like to read a bit more background information about every-day-life in China, I am of the opinion that since those stories are published in a Dutch newspaper, they have to resemble the truth!
Yesterday Bettine Vriesekoop once again placed an article without really researching the details and I find this very disturbing. The article was about a visit to the harbor city of Qingdao where currently the 60 year anniversary of the Chinese navy is celebrated.
In a little bit of background information she writes that the name of the famous Qingdao beer – Tsingtao – is based upon the old Wade-Giles transcription system.
Well that is nice to know for the ignorant reader, however it is COMPLETELY WRONG!
As you can easily find out on Brittanica, according to the Wade-Giles system the qing-part of qingdao is not tsing but ch’ing and therefore the pinyin qingdao according to Wade-Giles is ch’ingtao.
Wikimedia Commons clearly says:
Qingdao is well-known to the West by its Postal System Pinyin transliteration Tsingtao.
Furthermore she states in her article that
De snelle modernisering van de marine is overduidelijk gericht op het beschermen van Chinese oliebelangen in de Stille Oceaan en de Golf van Aden waar zich belangrijke doorvoerroutes bevinden.
Translation: The rapid modernisation of the navy is clearly aimed at protecting Chinese oil interests in the Pacific and the Gulf of Aden where there are important transport routes.
Actually the Pacific is a very big pool of water where the Chinese do not have any oil interests en where there is hardly any transport of oil. That is not necessary because almost all oil is transported from The Persian Gulf via the other side of Yemen, rounding India to China.
Other routes of transport are from Venezuela over the Atlantic Ocean to Cape of Good Hope and then through the Indian Ocean to China.
Also the tankers seldom sail under the Chinese flag, the Chinese purchase the oil and the seller has to deliver it to China. The Chinese do not have a fleet of supertankers and they do not need one, because they do not export oil.
The trade routes of container ships to Europe and North Africa are important to the Chinese. Otherwise they have to sail around Cape of Good Hope, something that obviously cost a lot more money compared than the Suez Canal which in turn would have a negative effect on the competitive position. And then there is of course the whole issue with the Somalian pirates…
Something that Bettine forgets to mention is that the Chinese want a strong navy and a strong army and that the military will always try to maintain itself and argue for reasons for expansion and modernisation.
Bettine, how ignorant do you think your readers really are and how long do you plan to keep writing your nonsense?
Below my response to Bettine Vriesekoop’s article that once again has been censured.
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[...] read now part 3, published on April 28, [...]
Haha this is brilliant. Yes there are so many China specialists nowadays and the ones that also become think tank guru’s are the most laughable ones. Journalists usually try their best but with time pressure and limited knowledge they are still required to produce pieces.
This whole navy blabla is just a way for many in the West and for the Chinese military apparatus to pump up expenditures. Why else do you think the US always needs enemies somewhere. Without a perceived threat why would tax payers spend tons of money on military hardware? So some threats might be reasonable but many are made up. Some actually become self fulfilling prophecies. North Korea is a nice point where all the speculation and BS instead of finding a proper way to dismantle the Kim apparatus resulted in a midget state that is arming itself at the expense of its own people and you bet that many a bottle of Champagne must have been emptied when they launched their missile.
Yet another round of missile shield expenses against the evil Koreans for the lobbyists and arms industries to work on. I expect a journalist to go beyond the obvious and explain the workings of the Chinese weapons industries, the lobbyist and think tanks that fuel the expenses and also tell me how it has grown. In other words do a hell of a lot more research but lets face it, this is a blog entry so if she would write about the hot pot restaurant she had dinner then that is fine.
LOL at your remark on her site. I hardly see any comments being approved there. Why not send your comments to the Editors of the newspaper.
@Johnny glad you like it!
@David, thanks for your advice, I just sent the editors of NRC an email, where I obviously kept a copy of (for future publication) if they also choose to ignore me…