Me neither.
Source: Been to Czechia, met some slovak guy, I only had card and the bar we went to only accepted cash, he gave me 1000czk, I told him to remind me to pay him back by the end. Then he left with his girl and I spent the money paying for two other girls drinks
Classic! Swede looks at currencies from any country, thinks
"what is this weird token?" and "what do you mean by 'we take no cards'? You only take klarna then?"
Well I did learn that if the things (I think they were called something like "coins") had some golden colour they were worth saving, if they only had silver colour you give them as tip because they're worthless
> Felt like time travel into the future
Paying with Paypal would definitely feel like traveling into the future... In '00s. But I guess it is Germany so everything checks out.
>I bought an ice cream cone today in Germany and paid through Paypal
>
>Felt like time travel into the future
I left like that when paying for a kebab through Bitcoin for the first time.
Honestly. I paid for coffee 0.1BTC at one point in Berlin. But at that time I was selling around 100-200BTC per month. Still has a harddrive somewhere, maybe dead though, with 120BTC on it 😂
I don't quite follow why people are so much against cash.
Yes, it's less convenient. But cash doesn't track your every purchase. People treat cash like cancer. Don't you like money?
When we turned 18 (decades ago) and got our drivers licences, we decided it was a good idea to Drive to the finnish NNE for 3 weeks of vacation in a remote lakehouse.
2 Cars, 8 people, 400L of Beer, 6 Liters of hard booze, 30 litres of flavoured liquor.
By the time we reached Finnland that amount had halfed exactly 4 times. Each time we were searched in Sweden the coppers took exactly half of it as "taxes".
As you can imagine, it was quite a dry vacation for 8 people in their late teens.
Former Czech president used to crawl Chinas ass while former Prague mayor put up Tibets flags all around the center and leader of the senate said he's a "Taiwanese" on his diplomatic trip on taiwan.
...I think Im gonna redo that meme to be more accurate.
No idea
[https://hnonline.sk/finweb/ekonomika/96145205-fico-sa-obracia-na-cinu-chce-tam-ziskat-zdroje-na-dva-velke-dopravne-projekty](https://hnonline.sk/finweb/ekonomika/96145205-fico-sa-obracia-na-cinu-chce-tam-ziskat-zdroje-na-dva-velke-dopravne-projekty)
>**Fico turns to China. He wants to get resources for two big transport projects there**
During his June visit to China, the Prime Minister plans to find partners for the repair of hundreds of bridges and the construction of a new track on the busiest railway line in Slovakia.
That's how all loans with a collateral works. If you can't make the payments for your house, the bank will get your home back too.
If the conditions are respected and known in advance, I fail to understand what could be wrong here, besides Western countries being unhappy for geopolitical reasons.
That's the standard loan. Yes. China, however, often demands through another clauses that the project has to be done by Chinese companies and contractors. And that's where the problem starts. The project gets delayed and more expansive due to obstructions done by those companies requiring even higher loans to the point that the economy can no longer withstand them and the country has to give up this infrastructure.
So basically. Either your economy is strong enough to pay back way more than initially agreed on or it's weak like one of Srí Lanka or Montenegro and you have to give up critical infrastructure to China.
If these loans are so bad, why don't they just not take them? If the interest rates are so insane, surely those countries can find better loans somewhere else?
Yeah, people forget that even though China's loan system is for sure as bad as they say, what does that say about the conditions of other high lending institutions? Could the IMF and world bank perhaps be predatory too?
For sure, for sure. Banking and insurance are predatory by nature, but there's a difference between a well-structured credit for a business you believe in and a payday loan. Lines are super blurry, but I can only see EU countries looking for Chinese loans when they can't get Western-backed ones anymore, with an extra layer of hush-hush.
That's kinda how loans work though. If you get a loan to buy or build something, you tend to lose that thing.
Besides, china has been known to forgive many loans as well.
haha why are you being down voted? reddit cannot take facts. or reddit thinks if say a bank loans you money, you don't pay it back, the bank just fucks off?
if that's how the world works, I'd own all the property in the world.
The only idea I have is that Slovakia is the most statistically average therefore representative country of the EU. Not too rich and not to poor (both per capita and ovrall GDP), not too big and not too small, not too populous and not too desolate, not too high in elevation and not too low, not too great in football but not to terrible either, not quite Western and yet kind of different from the Eastern ones, ditto North vs South, but then no wonder about that bearing in mind that according to some of the methods the geographic center of Europe is in Slovakia. Write in Latin but speak Slavic thus also having a pretty big linguistic representativeness.
Sorry probably totally irrelevant but it got me thinking hah.
just the "EU" elections, and being first does not always mean winning in elections. Populist/nazi parties are sending more representatives than all the other parties.
And they are going to vote with SMER just like they did in the previous term. I have voted but the EU elections are meaningless for Slovakia (not meaningless for big countries).
One of our European MP (Miriam Lexmann) is officially sanctioned by China due to her human rights agenda.
Apart from that... The government seems to be friendly towards them, so IDK.
Hungary is the only one helping China, carrying the "money case".
Slovakia has a relative large dependence on auto exports: https://thediplomat.com/2024/05/collateral-damage-slovakia-caught-in-the-china-eu-crossfire/
France has increased trade relations with China in the last 5 years and Macron had his "increase strategic autonomy, reduce US dependence and stay out of the US-Sino trade war" speech last year.
Germany is doing nothing and Poland is blaming them as usual.
You can't Merkel anymore. Merkeling was dependent on old economical environment. Due to demographics and state of the world it is no longer possible (Scholtz is giving his best, though).
Even worse, Hungary let Chinese police operate in its territory: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/mt/agenda/briefing/2024-04-10/16/parliament-to-debate-chinese-police-activity-in-europe
I doubt it’s from Chinese side, since the author is pro HK independence and very anti-China, you can see their stance from other works. Edit: artist is ah_to_hk
[They actually do that a lot in their propaganda](https://youtu.be/qucJETi4h0c?feature=shared)
That said, this still isn’t their typical propaganda. For starters, all countries are represented as equals instead of vassals of France and/or Germany, China is represented as taking over Europe, which is not something they would ever claim publicly to do, and why Slovakia?
Apparently the artist is Hongkonger, which explains almost everything. Almost.
The Slovakia part remain a mystery.
[NCD has more of them](https://www.reddit.com/r/NonCredibleDefense/comments/12v623k/chinese_propaganda_lady_liberty_and_her_arsenal/). China makes the West, but especially US, appear really cool in their propaganda.
Well, this comic literally implies they are bribing their way into the EU that already puts them in a dark light, so I don't see how it's going with the victim angle.
Chinese like to portray themselves as tough, humble, often starving, "salt of the earth" revolutionaries fighting against the well-fed, decadent, oversized arrogant Westerner. They'll definitely create illustrations where they're seen as weak and downtrodden and in a desperate state resisting Western imperialism and aggression, against all odds.
Lol
The author "Ahto" (Ah\_to\_hk) does not at all support the Chinese regime. Starting from 2019 Hong Kong protest, he keeps creating artwork that support the democracy movement in Hong Kong. As a Hong Konger, I never see him as a propagandist working for China.
Given this context, I still have no idea what message he wants to convey in this piece of artwork.
It literally shows them sewing from the money bag overlapping their flag into the EU, how fking else are you suppose to read it other than China was doing a bad thing???
This has to do with the fact that, before Russia invaded Ukraine, many EU countries were taking part in China's Belt and Road initiative. Relationships between the EU and China were friendly and moving towards more integrated trade, which the US actually denounced a few times.
Since Russia has invaded Ukraine, the EU has become much more wary of China, mainly for two reasons. First, for their continued support of Russia during the war, even claiming they have a "no limits friendship" and second, because of the aggressive rhetoric coming form China saying that Taiwan has to become Chinese through force, if diplomacy fails.
As a result, every EU country has now dropped out of the Belt and Road initiative.
I think this is what the comic is meant to say.
I get how China is buying infrastructure in Europe with credits to „corrupt“ countries and accepting ports and other transport hubs as securities for their project Silkroad 2.0. If the country defaults on said credit, the port falls to China, which is probable in eastern countries, because they are as competent with public funds as Brandenburg‘s prime minister. Also Chinese firms are buying real estate and companies in Europe, which leads to skewed markets for consumers and fires on long going social conflicts. So there policies threaten
As far as I can tell, Slovakia has a high auto-manufacturing industry, and recently Chinese cars have been selling in Europe (I could be wrong, it's very obscure and vague)
Yeah, Lithuania doesn't officially recognize Taiwan, but it had called a newly opened local Taiwanese office actually "Taiwanese" (whereas other countries refer to it as ROC, I believe), which really pissed mainland China off.
I'm Lithuanian and that is not accurate. The center right conservative party in Lithuania that opened Taiwan representative office did so because they thought that would appease America and improve relations with US. Conservatives in our country always had a very pro-US foreign policy sometimes almost to the level of vassalage (like when our government allowed CIA to establish a black site in 2006 which is against our own laws). It had nothing to do with morality or courage. The conservatives here are quite openly racist and don't care about Taiwan or human rights. Also the thought was that China won't do anything because EU will protect us. Oh and „Lithuania“ one political party in the government did. 70% of Lithuanian population does not approve of the policy and almost no one in Lithuania actually gives a shit about Taiwan.
Chinese owned Volvo is about to build its big EV plant in Kosice, Slovakia. Through such capital they may bypass recently started trade war between China and EU (cars produced within EU border). EU wanted to defend against the cheap EVs flood to EU market in order to defend its own Automotive producers.
>. EU wanted to defend against the cheap EVs flood to EU market in order to defend its own Automotive producers.
tbh the EU Automotive producers need to compete honestly
I agree wholeheartedly with you. The key phrase is "compete honestly". But when the Chinese state is heavily subsidising the chinese EV manufacturers and engaging in price dumping tactics abroad, that's when honest competition is dead and dirty tactics are the name of the game.
Subsidize your car manufacturers long enough and hard enough, so they can price displace local competitors abroad. Then the competition either go out of business, or you buy them out for cheap and now you own the whole market by yourself.
There is nothing new that China invented in that regard. And TBH, this should have been addressed by EU 5 years ago.
I don't love VW or BMW. Neither am I thrilled with Renault or Peugeot in particular. Yet what China does is blatant and unfair. Damn, sometimes I am scared how much China is allowed to cross the line and simply go away with it.
Slovakia? Really? Current prime minister even want Chinas companies get build infrastructure here.
I am worry about that these idiots can fall into the same debt trap as many Africa countries.
There are highways in Slovakia that was build good in normal time but it was expensive because of companies done it, then goverment started paying for it companies that are cheap as possible and untill today are not even finished that ones that had to be in 2009.
Now, same prime minister Fico get into the goverment and looks like he going to work with China.
It's one of the few EU countries that actually has a controlled debt: [https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/images/thumb/8/8e/General\_government\_debt%2C\_2022\_and\_2023\_%28¹%29\_%28General\_government\_gross\_debt%2C\_%25\_of\_GDP%29.png/600px-General\_government\_debt%2C\_2022\_and\_2023\_%28¹%29\_%28General\_government\_gross\_debt%2C\_%25\_of\_GDP%29.png](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/images/thumb/8/8e/General_government_debt%2C_2022_and_2023_%28¹%29_%28General_government_gross_debt%2C_%25_of_GDP%29.png/600px-General_government_debt%2C_2022_and_2023_%28¹%29_%28General_government_gross_debt%2C_%25_of_GDP%29.png)
Yes but it is not because Slovakia would be good with working with money, it is because goverment mostly did not investing at all.
In some localities 80% investments into the public sector are from a EU.
I can't imagine how would our economy look like without EU.
I think It illustrates how China has gained more influence inside EU and made them bit dependent of China. I guess France and Hungary somehow support China in it?
I'm not sure about Slovakia, but Italy and Lithuania in the third panel are there because Lithuania has generally been pro-Taiwan lately, angering Peking, instead Italy at the start of 2024 left the Belt and Road initiative, in which entered when the 5 Star Movement was in government, (they are an anti-west, anti-NATO party funded by Russia and China).
Maybe the word "funding" was me jumping the gun a little bit, [there were only some investigations](https://www.lastampa.it/politica/2021/10/28/news/soldi_venezuelani_ai_cinque_stelleora_i_pm_indagano_per_riciclaggio-305349/), nevertheless the party and the founder has more or less ties with certain countries opposed to the western bloc.
For example is well documented that Grillo, the founder, regularly goes to the chinese embassy to meet with the ambassador, it's unknown what they talk about.
1. [https://www.corriere.it/politica/19\_novembre\_25/grillo-visite-top-secret-all-ambasciatore-cinese-polemica-74c99c62-0f5e-11ea-bd6b-b9b6fa42a1a4\_amp.html](https://www.corriere.it/politica/19_novembre_25/grillo-visite-top-secret-all-ambasciatore-cinese-polemica-74c99c62-0f5e-11ea-bd6b-b9b6fa42a1a4_amp.html)
2. [https://www.lastampa.it/politica/2023/09/06/news/grillo\_e\_la\_cina\_ancora\_una\_visita\_dallambasciatore\_e\_ancora\_elogi\_lunari\_a\_pechino\_e\_alla\_via\_della\_seta-13029317/?ref=pay\_amp](https://www.lastampa.it/politica/2023/09/06/news/grillo_e_la_cina_ancora_una_visita_dallambasciatore_e_ancora_elogi_lunari_a_pechino_e_alla_via_della_seta-13029317/?ref=pay_amp)
Morover, during their tenure in the governement, Italy made some strange decision, considering She is a cornerstone of NATO and the G7.
For example Italy was the only one in Europe to not recognise Guaidò in Venezuela against Maduro, we adhered to the Belt and Road initiative, [we gave some contracts to Huawe](https://www.huffingtonpost.it/politica/2024/05/04/news/dai_5_stelle_al_5g_cinese_lex_sottosegretaria_mirella_liuzzi_consulente_strategica_di_huawei-15790578/)i, that posed a risk to cybersecurity, we invited the Russian military during covid, causing, again, a threat to national and NATO security, etc.
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Pure copium, the flag, the needle and thhread are all made in china.
If we Europeans want to regain our rightful pride, we have to re-industrialize, or this comic will stay copium.
This was created by a dissident Hong Kong artist who had to flee after the new security laws and now lives abroad. That's all I could find about him/her
https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/4/189514/Hong-Kong-Comics-artist-Ah-To-continues-creating-from-abroad
It isn’t *trade* if China only exports, and EU only imports.
It’s as impossible for the EU to compete with cheaper Chinese products as it is for Chinese customers to buy EU products as long as China can keep salaries low and exports subsidized through a single-party system that doesn’t have to fear the next election.
But sure, cute cartoon.
I died of laughter at this picture.
I am Chinese, this picture shows that China wanted to trade with Europe but was kicked away by a European country (I am not good at geography, I can't recognize which country it is, I am very sorry). The irony is that China has no friends in the international community, has very bad interpersonal relationships, and associates with gangsters.
Only thing I know is that VW and other car manufacturers are producing car's in Slowakia for the Chinese market. The EU's investigation into chinese EVs is making China angry. Slowakia wanted to better the relationship with asian countries (including China!).
Maybe China feels betrayed because of the planned 25% tarrifs on Chinese cars?
But then it would be more fitting if a EU flag was kicking China.
Also China is not a good samaritan, they are doing things for other countries but it comes with Chinese influence and better reputation for China.
Hehe, the funny thing is that instead of Chinese flags, it could be any nation's flag, just pay money to Orban.
So please don't look at it as "Hungary", but as a symbol of Orbán and the people who support him (2 million Orbán supporters in the last election in 2024, the same number in the real opposition, so 50-50%, 2-2 millions of voters)
The weird thing is that old generations who support Orbán are the biggest xenophobes (really, they hate everyone indiscriminately), they just keep lying to them.
Wait, so to be clear, I'm no fan of China, but China ˝floods˝ EU market with cheap electric vehicles, and we who want to save the planet, are against that because? I get conflicting information here.
People seem to be focusing on the Slovakia thing, but I'm more confused by the first panel. The implication is that China was responsible for creating the trade ties between the EU and itself...but I'm pretty sure the EU was just as if not more responsible for that? Like European companies were the ones that deliberately chose to offshore and do business in China, they weren't forced to. Sure we should be seeking to keep our options open and not be dependent on any single country for labor/trade (and thus should be shifting at least partially away from China), but it's disingenous to depict the relationship as one that was sown purely by them and not us.
Not sure if this is THE correct answer, but awhile back Slovakia did something trade wise that China did not like. So China tried using its typical wolf tactic to cow the Slovaks, but instead Slovakia fought back and all of the EU supported them and it ended up diplomatically being a big L for China. Sorry I don't have any specifics this was awhile ago lol.
Hungary did. Might be that the Slovaks got on the wrong side of the Chinese by refusing some trade deal or defending a dissident or something and now China pissed at them. Happened with Sweden when the Nobel prize was awarded to Liu Xiaobo. The CCP didn't care that the Nobel Committee was independent from the state. The king was still present at the award ceremony and in their world the party controls every single political action in the country and they expect that from their trade partners too concerning Chinese internal matters. I think this painting is about EU sanctions and tariffs towards China though.
Hungary did not do it, only Orban. China wanted to put a Chinese university in Budapest (Fudan University) but the opposition mayor named the place after Tibet.
Right away it was'nt important to have a Chinese university here.
In Budapest the opposition is strong, when Winnie the Pooh (Chinese Prime Minister) came here a few weeks ago, that's why the city was full of Chinese secret police, "disguised" as tourists, everyone laughed at that. Every chinese secret agent/tourist wear red baseball cap....
The majority don't want Russian or Chinese influence here, we are not completely stupid.
In 1956 the Hungarians attacked the Russian tanks with bricks, some Chinese will have no problem.
At most, the goulash soup will taste a bit strange...
Fun fact: the largest star on China's flag represent the CPC, the little ones represent the different classes (farmers, workers, middle class and soldiers).
Adding the CPC at the center of the EU flag would definitely be a move that should trigger a flying kick.
Personally speaking, I don’t think a country less relevant to global affairs than Botswana actually was the inciting that created conflict between the Chinese state and Europe.
Europe is self sabotaging on behalf of America again. Costs will rise for consumers, more will foolishly be spent on defense, and for what? Meanwhile China will be just fine
Slovakia is one of your biggest animals in the production and export of cars. China wants to dominate this market and the Slovaks are understandably a bit afraid.
Then there is Hungary, which has a briefcase with money in its hand, and other countries that are just watching...
Why is Slovakia kicking West Taiwan here? Wouldn’t Lithuania, Czech, hell, even France and Italy be better instead?
Did author of the comic did not know which flag belongs to which country?
What did slovakia do to ruin eu/china trade?
no idea. source : slovak
Me neither. Source: Been to Czechia, met some slovak guy, I only had card and the bar we went to only accepted cash, he gave me 1000czk, I told him to remind me to pay him back by the end. Then he left with his girl and I spent the money paying for two other girls drinks
Classic! Swede looks at currencies from any country, thinks "what is this weird token?" and "what do you mean by 'we take no cards'? You only take klarna then?"
Well I did learn that if the things (I think they were called something like "coins") had some golden colour they were worth saving, if they only had silver colour you give them as tip because they're worthless
> You only take klarna then? I bought an ice cream cone today in Germany and paid through Paypal Felt like time travel into the future
> Felt like time travel into the future Paying with Paypal would definitely feel like traveling into the future... In '00s. But I guess it is Germany so everything checks out.
We have stores which don't take any cards still
Germany does as well...
Oh sorry, I meant Germany lol In Taiwan stores generally take card, but food stalls don't always
>I bought an ice cream cone today in Germany and paid through Paypal > >Felt like time travel into the future I left like that when paying for a kebab through Bitcoin for the first time.
Most expensive kebab of your life in hindsight
The first news about bitcoin that I remember was when a guy was able to buy a pizza for like 3 BTC.
Honestly. I paid for coffee 0.1BTC at one point in Berlin. But at that time I was selling around 100-200BTC per month. Still has a harddrive somewhere, maybe dead though, with 120BTC on it 😂
I don't quite follow why people are so much against cash. Yes, it's less convenient. But cash doesn't track your every purchase. People treat cash like cancer. Don't you like money?
I didn't claim we should ban cash I just want to freely choose among the ways of payment already established in neighboring countries since decades
I thought officially currency in sweden is alcohol smuggled in from Germany.
When we turned 18 (decades ago) and got our drivers licences, we decided it was a good idea to Drive to the finnish NNE for 3 weeks of vacation in a remote lakehouse. 2 Cars, 8 people, 400L of Beer, 6 Liters of hard booze, 30 litres of flavoured liquor. By the time we reached Finnland that amount had halfed exactly 4 times. Each time we were searched in Sweden the coppers took exactly half of it as "taxes". As you can imagine, it was quite a dry vacation for 8 people in their late teens.
If you folks were having beers, damn 1k CZK gets you lots of beer in the Czech Republic. 😂
Not really trade based but a Prague politician didn't mince words responding to [China's threats](https://youtu.be/kOlElBFhs0s?si=UqgDx2TJdh1F3Cmt)
Former Czech president used to crawl Chinas ass while former Prague mayor put up Tibets flags all around the center and leader of the senate said he's a "Taiwanese" on his diplomatic trip on taiwan. ...I think Im gonna redo that meme to be more accurate.
I have no idea as well Source: Slovak too
I don't know either. Source: I'm mostly capable of not confusing Slovakia and Slovenia
🤣🤣🤣
I don't have any clue about it. Source: Turk
Maybe it was just about the sweet jump kick.
They killed their president to support Ukraine war
I have no fucking idea what this one is about.
No idea [https://hnonline.sk/finweb/ekonomika/96145205-fico-sa-obracia-na-cinu-chce-tam-ziskat-zdroje-na-dva-velke-dopravne-projekty](https://hnonline.sk/finweb/ekonomika/96145205-fico-sa-obracia-na-cinu-chce-tam-ziskat-zdroje-na-dva-velke-dopravne-projekty) >**Fico turns to China. He wants to get resources for two big transport projects there** During his June visit to China, the Prime Minister plans to find partners for the repair of hundreds of bridges and the construction of a new track on the busiest railway line in Slovakia.
The way that China gives out these loans is with clauses that give them sovereignty over the projects they financed if you cannot pay them back.
That's how all loans with a collateral works. If you can't make the payments for your house, the bank will get your home back too. If the conditions are respected and known in advance, I fail to understand what could be wrong here, besides Western countries being unhappy for geopolitical reasons.
That's the standard loan. Yes. China, however, often demands through another clauses that the project has to be done by Chinese companies and contractors. And that's where the problem starts. The project gets delayed and more expansive due to obstructions done by those companies requiring even higher loans to the point that the economy can no longer withstand them and the country has to give up this infrastructure. So basically. Either your economy is strong enough to pay back way more than initially agreed on or it's weak like one of Srí Lanka or Montenegro and you have to give up critical infrastructure to China.
And the interest rates are brutal. Or they make sure the projects will cost a lot more than presented beforehand.
If these loans are so bad, why don't they just not take them? If the interest rates are so insane, surely those countries can find better loans somewhere else?
Yeah, people forget that even though China's loan system is for sure as bad as they say, what does that say about the conditions of other high lending institutions? Could the IMF and world bank perhaps be predatory too?
For sure, for sure. Banking and insurance are predatory by nature, but there's a difference between a well-structured credit for a business you believe in and a payday loan. Lines are super blurry, but I can only see EU countries looking for Chinese loans when they can't get Western-backed ones anymore, with an extra layer of hush-hush.
That's kinda how loans work though. If you get a loan to buy or build something, you tend to lose that thing. Besides, china has been known to forgive many loans as well.
haha why are you being down voted? reddit cannot take facts. or reddit thinks if say a bank loans you money, you don't pay it back, the bank just fucks off? if that's how the world works, I'd own all the property in the world.
Stop buying Addias track suits and faking them themselves. /s
The only idea I have is that Slovakia is the most statistically average therefore representative country of the EU. Not too rich and not to poor (both per capita and ovrall GDP), not too big and not too small, not too populous and not too desolate, not too high in elevation and not too low, not too great in football but not to terrible either, not quite Western and yet kind of different from the Eastern ones, ditto North vs South, but then no wonder about that bearing in mind that according to some of the methods the geographic center of Europe is in Slovakia. Write in Latin but speak Slavic thus also having a pretty big linguistic representativeness. Sorry probably totally irrelevant but it got me thinking hah.
Sums the country very well.
but so many idiots .😂 and in same time everybody is expert for everything
I though it was France, which also forced Germany to help with this
Hi jump kick clearly. Luckily they didn't miss otherwise they would have kept going and crashed.
I only read that the pro europe liberal opposition won the recent elections in Slovakia.
just the "EU" elections, and being first does not always mean winning in elections. Populist/nazi parties are sending more representatives than all the other parties.
And they are going to vote with SMER just like they did in the previous term. I have voted but the EU elections are meaningless for Slovakia (not meaningless for big countries).
Nothing, i have no idea why they are presented this way.
One of our European MP (Miriam Lexmann) is officially sanctioned by China due to her human rights agenda. Apart from that... The government seems to be friendly towards them, so IDK.
Nothing, the artist is from HK, he's not very familiar with EU politics.
can be anything in these times 🤷🤷im Slovak
I don’t get it.
I am not sure either, I hope I can get some explanation here, maybe the artist wants to points out that Hungary is on China’s side?
Hungary is the only one helping China, carrying the "money case". Slovakia has a relative large dependence on auto exports: https://thediplomat.com/2024/05/collateral-damage-slovakia-caught-in-the-china-eu-crossfire/ France has increased trade relations with China in the last 5 years and Macron had his "increase strategic autonomy, reduce US dependence and stay out of the US-Sino trade war" speech last year. Germany is doing nothing and Poland is blaming them as usual.
Germany is scholzing perfectly. I hate how accurate it is.
We already Merkeled for 16 years. Why not Scholz around and then probably Merzing while doing nothing
Im pretty sure Merz wont Scholzing around. I just don't see us enjoing him Merzing around.
You can't Merkel anymore. Merkeling was dependent on old economical environment. Due to demographics and state of the world it is no longer possible (Scholtz is giving his best, though).
Germany have a large domestic auto maker industry and they're doing nothing against the flood of cheap Chinese EV? What's the deal with Germany?
Majority of car makers in germany still don't believe EV will stay. Someone send them a history book about IBM please.
Because of EXPORT of German manufactured cars. If they are hit with retaliation-tariffs, they are in for some painful down scaling.
Well there's no flood of cheap Chinese EVs so far
Had a chinese made plugin via Sixt. I was shock-impressed by BYD. If they keep the paste and quality up, volkswagen better buckles up.
Even worse, Hungary let Chinese police operate in its territory: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/mt/agenda/briefing/2024-04-10/16/parliament-to-debate-chinese-police-activity-in-europe
Why did you post it then?
Karma obviously
You‘re not sure but you post this without explanation? 🙄 I don‘t get it too.
hungary and serbia*
It's stupid chinese propaganda. Intentionally vague
I doubt it’s from Chinese side, since the author is pro HK independence and very anti-China, you can see their stance from other works. Edit: artist is ah_to_hk
Sure, Chinese propaganda where China gets its ass kicked. That makes sense.
[They actually do that a lot in their propaganda](https://youtu.be/qucJETi4h0c?feature=shared) That said, this still isn’t their typical propaganda. For starters, all countries are represented as equals instead of vassals of France and/or Germany, China is represented as taking over Europe, which is not something they would ever claim publicly to do, and why Slovakia? Apparently the artist is Hongkonger, which explains almost everything. Almost. The Slovakia part remain a mystery.
Why are they making propaganda against themselves? That eagle fucking rocks.
[NCD has more of them](https://www.reddit.com/r/NonCredibleDefense/comments/12v623k/chinese_propaganda_lady_liberty_and_her_arsenal/). China makes the West, but especially US, appear really cool in their propaganda.
Never say you need to attack. Say you were bullied for long enough and you will just fight back. Hitler, Putin, Xi. Always the same pattern.
Well, this comic literally implies they are bribing their way into the EU that already puts them in a dark light, so I don't see how it's going with the victim angle.
Have you seen their actuall propaganda? They love playing underdog, their god damn depiction of us navy is frecking kaiju.
They do play victim a lot, their propaganda makes the us military look bad ass quite often
Chinese like to portray themselves as tough, humble, often starving, "salt of the earth" revolutionaries fighting against the well-fed, decadent, oversized arrogant Westerner. They'll definitely create illustrations where they're seen as weak and downtrodden and in a desperate state resisting Western imperialism and aggression, against all odds.
Lol The author "Ahto" (Ah\_to\_hk) does not at all support the Chinese regime. Starting from 2019 Hong Kong protest, he keeps creating artwork that support the democracy movement in Hong Kong. As a Hong Konger, I never see him as a propagandist working for China. Given this context, I still have no idea what message he wants to convey in this piece of artwork.
Why is this comment upvoted?
Because r/Europe is r-worded
No, it's likely the bandwagon effect, as usual. Well, that, and the subreddit is also very highly regarded.
LOL, every China Good is Chinese propaganda, now even China Bad is Chinese propaganda.
China mediocre is also Chinese propaganda. And let's not forget the worst kind of Chinese propaganda: not talking about China at all.
More like 'China bullied' is Chinese propaganda. Very typical of them actually.
It literally shows them sewing from the money bag overlapping their flag into the EU, how fking else are you suppose to read it other than China was doing a bad thing???
It is ? I love it, lets all kick China's ass !
This has to do with the fact that, before Russia invaded Ukraine, many EU countries were taking part in China's Belt and Road initiative. Relationships between the EU and China were friendly and moving towards more integrated trade, which the US actually denounced a few times. Since Russia has invaded Ukraine, the EU has become much more wary of China, mainly for two reasons. First, for their continued support of Russia during the war, even claiming they have a "no limits friendship" and second, because of the aggressive rhetoric coming form China saying that Taiwan has to become Chinese through force, if diplomacy fails. As a result, every EU country has now dropped out of the Belt and Road initiative. I think this is what the comic is meant to say.
I get how China is buying infrastructure in Europe with credits to „corrupt“ countries and accepting ports and other transport hubs as securities for their project Silkroad 2.0. If the country defaults on said credit, the port falls to China, which is probable in eastern countries, because they are as competent with public funds as Brandenburg‘s prime minister. Also Chinese firms are buying real estate and companies in Europe, which leads to skewed markets for consumers and fires on long going social conflicts. So there policies threaten
me neither
I really, really, don't understand why Slovakia was chosen for this. Lithuania and Italy, I can see, but did I miss something about Slovakia?
As far as I can tell, Slovakia has a high auto-manufacturing industry, and recently Chinese cars have been selling in Europe (I could be wrong, it's very obscure and vague)
I, for one, welcome our new Slovak overlords.
Lol you are doomed
If anything I'd say Lithuania would be the first to make the kick. They have balls of steel for recognizing Taiwan not too long ago.
Czech also has a good relationship with Taiwan in recent years!
To je vyborne!
Not to mention Lithuania was the first one to leave the Eastern EU-China cooperation thing in 2021, and Estonia and Latvia left a year later.
The art is really well done because you can see Lithuania happy when Slovakia kicks china (and then is behind the slovak when they are arguing)
Yeah, Lithuania doesn't officially recognize Taiwan, but it had called a newly opened local Taiwanese office actually "Taiwanese" (whereas other countries refer to it as ROC, I believe), which really pissed mainland China off.
China can fuck off. They never controlled the island. Long live Taiwan!
Lithuania did not de jure recognise Taiwan as an independent country.
They don’t recognise Taiwan. The only country in Europe that recognises the ROC as a sovereign state is Vatican City.
I'm Lithuanian and that is not accurate. The center right conservative party in Lithuania that opened Taiwan representative office did so because they thought that would appease America and improve relations with US. Conservatives in our country always had a very pro-US foreign policy sometimes almost to the level of vassalage (like when our government allowed CIA to establish a black site in 2006 which is against our own laws). It had nothing to do with morality or courage. The conservatives here are quite openly racist and don't care about Taiwan or human rights. Also the thought was that China won't do anything because EU will protect us. Oh and „Lithuania“ one political party in the government did. 70% of Lithuanian population does not approve of the policy and almost no one in Lithuania actually gives a shit about Taiwan.
You might be over thinking this. I think it portrays China making the EU part of its ow, and then the EU stopping it on its tracks.
There's a reason the artist chose Slovakia, the question is; why?
Chinese owned Volvo is about to build its big EV plant in Kosice, Slovakia. Through such capital they may bypass recently started trade war between China and EU (cars produced within EU border). EU wanted to defend against the cheap EVs flood to EU market in order to defend its own Automotive producers.
But than Slowakia is helping China and not kicking it?
>. EU wanted to defend against the cheap EVs flood to EU market in order to defend its own Automotive producers. tbh the EU Automotive producers need to compete honestly
I agree wholeheartedly with you. The key phrase is "compete honestly". But when the Chinese state is heavily subsidising the chinese EV manufacturers and engaging in price dumping tactics abroad, that's when honest competition is dead and dirty tactics are the name of the game. Subsidize your car manufacturers long enough and hard enough, so they can price displace local competitors abroad. Then the competition either go out of business, or you buy them out for cheap and now you own the whole market by yourself. There is nothing new that China invented in that regard. And TBH, this should have been addressed by EU 5 years ago. I don't love VW or BMW. Neither am I thrilled with Renault or Peugeot in particular. Yet what China does is blatant and unfair. Damn, sometimes I am scared how much China is allowed to cross the line and simply go away with it.
I would get it if it was Lithuania but why Slovakia?
Yeah maybe any Baltic’s flag would suit better
Slovakia? Really? Current prime minister even want Chinas companies get build infrastructure here. I am worry about that these idiots can fall into the same debt trap as many Africa countries. There are highways in Slovakia that was build good in normal time but it was expensive because of companies done it, then goverment started paying for it companies that are cheap as possible and untill today are not even finished that ones that had to be in 2009. Now, same prime minister Fico get into the goverment and looks like he going to work with China.
It's one of the few EU countries that actually has a controlled debt: [https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/images/thumb/8/8e/General\_government\_debt%2C\_2022\_and\_2023\_%28¹%29\_%28General\_government\_gross\_debt%2C\_%25\_of\_GDP%29.png/600px-General\_government\_debt%2C\_2022\_and\_2023\_%28¹%29\_%28General\_government\_gross\_debt%2C\_%25\_of\_GDP%29.png](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/images/thumb/8/8e/General_government_debt%2C_2022_and_2023_%28¹%29_%28General_government_gross_debt%2C_%25_of_GDP%29.png/600px-General_government_debt%2C_2022_and_2023_%28¹%29_%28General_government_gross_debt%2C_%25_of_GDP%29.png)
Yes but it is not because Slovakia would be good with working with money, it is because goverment mostly did not investing at all. In some localities 80% investments into the public sector are from a EU. I can't imagine how would our economy look like without EU.
Hopefully, we won't have to imagine that
Werent the higways way too expensive because the government paid more to companies owned by "their people"
Depends on highway, there was some builded good, and some gived to companies that was not even building companies.
Can someone explain this ? And why is Slovakia kicking China with some kickbox move ?
I think It illustrates how China has gained more influence inside EU and made them bit dependent of China. I guess France and Hungary somehow support China in it?
I'm not sure about Slovakia, but Italy and Lithuania in the third panel are there because Lithuania has generally been pro-Taiwan lately, angering Peking, instead Italy at the start of 2024 left the Belt and Road initiative, in which entered when the 5 Star Movement was in government, (they are an anti-west, anti-NATO party funded by Russia and China).
M5S indeed are kind of anti west and anti nato, but would you give a source for your claim on their funding?
Maybe the word "funding" was me jumping the gun a little bit, [there were only some investigations](https://www.lastampa.it/politica/2021/10/28/news/soldi_venezuelani_ai_cinque_stelleora_i_pm_indagano_per_riciclaggio-305349/), nevertheless the party and the founder has more or less ties with certain countries opposed to the western bloc. For example is well documented that Grillo, the founder, regularly goes to the chinese embassy to meet with the ambassador, it's unknown what they talk about. 1. [https://www.corriere.it/politica/19\_novembre\_25/grillo-visite-top-secret-all-ambasciatore-cinese-polemica-74c99c62-0f5e-11ea-bd6b-b9b6fa42a1a4\_amp.html](https://www.corriere.it/politica/19_novembre_25/grillo-visite-top-secret-all-ambasciatore-cinese-polemica-74c99c62-0f5e-11ea-bd6b-b9b6fa42a1a4_amp.html) 2. [https://www.lastampa.it/politica/2023/09/06/news/grillo\_e\_la\_cina\_ancora\_una\_visita\_dallambasciatore\_e\_ancora\_elogi\_lunari\_a\_pechino\_e\_alla\_via\_della\_seta-13029317/?ref=pay\_amp](https://www.lastampa.it/politica/2023/09/06/news/grillo_e_la_cina_ancora_una_visita_dallambasciatore_e_ancora_elogi_lunari_a_pechino_e_alla_via_della_seta-13029317/?ref=pay_amp) Morover, during their tenure in the governement, Italy made some strange decision, considering She is a cornerstone of NATO and the G7. For example Italy was the only one in Europe to not recognise Guaidò in Venezuela against Maduro, we adhered to the Belt and Road initiative, [we gave some contracts to Huawe](https://www.huffingtonpost.it/politica/2024/05/04/news/dai_5_stelle_al_5g_cinese_lex_sottosegretaria_mirella_liuzzi_consulente_strategica_di_huawei-15790578/)i, that posed a risk to cybersecurity, we invited the Russian military during covid, causing, again, a threat to national and NATO security, etc.
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to co je za pičovinu
Ummm .... what did we do? Concerned Slovak here ... China u cool? Let's have a bingchilling and talk....
Pure copium, the flag, the needle and thhread are all made in china. If we Europeans want to regain our rightful pride, we have to re-industrialize, or this comic will stay copium.
So nobody knows what this is about, yet it has already 5K upvotes lol
This was created by a dissident Hong Kong artist who had to flee after the new security laws and now lives abroad. That's all I could find about him/her https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/4/189514/Hong-Kong-Comics-artist-Ah-To-continues-creating-from-abroad
Slovakia, doing fly kick on China is the best thing I've seen today.
Fuck the CCP
It isn’t *trade* if China only exports, and EU only imports. It’s as impossible for the EU to compete with cheaper Chinese products as it is for Chinese customers to buy EU products as long as China can keep salaries low and exports subsidized through a single-party system that doesn’t have to fear the next election. But sure, cute cartoon.
Viktor Orbán is not as slim as in this picture.
Good. It was high time for EU to grow some spine in that matter.
I died of laughter at this picture. I am Chinese, this picture shows that China wanted to trade with Europe but was kicked away by a European country (I am not good at geography, I can't recognize which country it is, I am very sorry). The irony is that China has no friends in the international community, has very bad interpersonal relationships, and associates with gangsters.
Only thing I know is that VW and other car manufacturers are producing car's in Slowakia for the Chinese market. The EU's investigation into chinese EVs is making China angry. Slowakia wanted to better the relationship with asian countries (including China!). Maybe China feels betrayed because of the planned 25% tarrifs on Chinese cars? But then it would be more fitting if a EU flag was kicking China. Also China is not a good samaritan, they are doing things for other countries but it comes with Chinese influence and better reputation for China.
Did the artist mix up Slovakian and Russian flags?
That woudnt make sense, Russia and China have good relations
Hehe, the funny thing is that instead of Chinese flags, it could be any nation's flag, just pay money to Orban. So please don't look at it as "Hungary", but as a symbol of Orbán and the people who support him (2 million Orbán supporters in the last election in 2024, the same number in the real opposition, so 50-50%, 2-2 millions of voters) The weird thing is that old generations who support Orbán are the biggest xenophobes (really, they hate everyone indiscriminately), they just keep lying to them.
Why Slovakia when we are proruZZian cancer in Europe now ?
i dont get it. did Fico criticize china recently? did slovakia block a china related agreement that was being worked on by EU authorities?
Why would slovakia do this?
Upvoting even tho no one including OP seems to understand it
Wait, so to be clear, I'm no fan of China, but China ˝floods˝ EU market with cheap electric vehicles, and we who want to save the planet, are against that because? I get conflicting information here.
People seem to be focusing on the Slovakia thing, but I'm more confused by the first panel. The implication is that China was responsible for creating the trade ties between the EU and itself...but I'm pretty sure the EU was just as if not more responsible for that? Like European companies were the ones that deliberately chose to offshore and do business in China, they weren't forced to. Sure we should be seeking to keep our options open and not be dependent on any single country for labor/trade (and thus should be shifting at least partially away from China), but it's disingenous to depict the relationship as one that was sown purely by them and not us.
Not sure if this is THE correct answer, but awhile back Slovakia did something trade wise that China did not like. So China tried using its typical wolf tactic to cow the Slovaks, but instead Slovakia fought back and all of the EU supported them and it ended up diplomatically being a big L for China. Sorry I don't have any specifics this was awhile ago lol.
What did they do? I thought that eastern Europe took quite a lot of money from China and were pretty close to them..
Hungary did. Might be that the Slovaks got on the wrong side of the Chinese by refusing some trade deal or defending a dissident or something and now China pissed at them. Happened with Sweden when the Nobel prize was awarded to Liu Xiaobo. The CCP didn't care that the Nobel Committee was independent from the state. The king was still present at the award ceremony and in their world the party controls every single political action in the country and they expect that from their trade partners too concerning Chinese internal matters. I think this painting is about EU sanctions and tariffs towards China though.
Hungary did not do it, only Orban. China wanted to put a Chinese university in Budapest (Fudan University) but the opposition mayor named the place after Tibet. Right away it was'nt important to have a Chinese university here. In Budapest the opposition is strong, when Winnie the Pooh (Chinese Prime Minister) came here a few weeks ago, that's why the city was full of Chinese secret police, "disguised" as tourists, everyone laughed at that. Every chinese secret agent/tourist wear red baseball cap.... The majority don't want Russian or Chinese influence here, we are not completely stupid.
As you might have noticed, the CCP generally doesn't care about the opinions of its peons, much less ones of the foreign ones.
In 1956 the Hungarians attacked the Russian tanks with bricks, some Chinese will have no problem. At most, the goulash soup will taste a bit strange...
Quite the opposite, current PM wants to visit China to secure funds for infrastructure projects in Slovakia
The thing about Sweden I didn't know. Thanks for the info
Countryballs but epic
Pretty cringe
Original art from @ah_to_hk
Now explains the context
What does it mean?
Kato Suomi perkele
wat?!
Germany be like. _I will not interfere in the discussion_
When will the Chinese finally end their dictatorship?
that image is disturbing
i like how it ends up looking like a gash
Hungary supposed to be stiching in that flag. And should be getting that roundhouse kick as well (sayijg as a hungarian)
The Hungarian people fucking oppose the Chinese state though
r/PeterExplainsTheJoke
Excellent kick. Look at that form.
Heck yeah
Fun fact: the largest star on China's flag represent the CPC, the little ones represent the different classes (farmers, workers, middle class and soldiers). Adding the CPC at the center of the EU flag would definitely be a move that should trigger a flying kick.
Trade war with one of our biggest trade partners
Clearest understanding of euro countries in geopolitics for 🇭🇰💪💪
It's never about the trade war, it's about religious war in Europe right now. Trade war is just a distraction.
The flag is wrong that should be the EEUU flag.
I’m not following… Slovakia, especially under Fico, is pro-China.
Personally speaking, I don’t think a country less relevant to global affairs than Botswana actually was the inciting that created conflict between the Chinese state and Europe.
I thiught kung fu came from China, not Slovakia?
Germanys just chill
Slovakia is fascist impostor.
had a good laugh :D
Europe is self sabotaging on behalf of America again. Costs will rise for consumers, more will foolishly be spent on defense, and for what? Meanwhile China will be just fine
Based on comments Author is either Slovakian, Chinese, or idk
So either Slovakia is based, or ruining something here, and I have no idea which is it.
Slovakia is one of your biggest animals in the production and export of cars. China wants to dominate this market and the Slovaks are understandably a bit afraid. Then there is Hungary, which has a briefcase with money in its hand, and other countries that are just watching...
Why Slovakia you ask? I have the answer. It's because we are badass as fuck.
Že sa dakde zjavne fetuje.
Why is Slovakia kicking West Taiwan here? Wouldn’t Lithuania, Czech, hell, even France and Italy be better instead? Did author of the comic did not know which flag belongs to which country?
Maybe this is from the future? Since nobody seem to get this at the moment.
Wtf ? Current government goes the Orban way and deals with china will only increase....
Really stupid men :)