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Thursday 20 September 2012

Summer and the Senkakus

Preparing to start the new term and get down to work after teaching on the pre-sessional programme at the University of Leicester ELTU. The students were mostly Chinese, but there were also a number of Iraqi Kurds, Saudis and Turks. Planning to stay in the Midlands/ Leicester area after offers of teaching hours came in from Warwick and Nottingham Trent. I wouldn't have had to do this if the promised term-time teaching at Kent had actually materialised but, as always, this has gone to new PhD students in their mid-twenties who have never taught before. So, rather than banging out the draft of a chapter on power in London over the summer, I'm going to be doing it this Autumn while teaching in the Midlands.

The spat over the Senkaku/ Diaoyu dispute provided an interesting discussion point for the Chinese students at Leicester. Simply setting it in the context of the phenomenon of nationalism through a mini lecture and providing a comparison with the Falklands Islands dispute and other nationalist-inspired bones of contention around the world opened their eyes to the thinking behind territorial disputes and sovereignty issues. A couple of the more thoughtful students saw the dispute in the context of the upcoming PRC leadership changeover - a chance for the leadership to look strong. Another way of looking at it might be in comparison to the British Silly Season - it'll die down once the legislatures in China and Japan get back down to business in the Autumn. These are bright postgrads, most of whom are going on to study Business and Finance-related subjects. They are the Chinese business class but (and) their education and training (much like that of British students in these fields, I guess) does not really equip them to think critically about the news. 

Michael Turton's ever-useful blog on Taiwan has continued to provide insightful and critical, if somewhat partisan,  analysis of Taiwan's position re: the Senkakku/ Diaoyu dispute. It does go to show, though, just how entwined the sovereignty position of the CCP and the KMT is.

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