As a Chinese, we are schooled from a young age about the century of humiliation China suffered at the hands of the colonial powers, first the Europeans and later the Japanese.
In history classes, every school child learns the unequal treaties and vast war reparations the Qing Dynasty was forced to accept after humiliating defeats in the two Opium Wars and the Sino-Japanese war in 1894/5 when Taiwan was ceded to the Japanese until end of WW2.
Little have we thought to witness a replay of such humiliations, in the absence of a lost war, falling on the colonizers themselves. This time, the unequal treaties are what the Europeans are forced to sign with the US as “an ally”; and the war reparations are in the form of the $750 billion European purchase of overpriced US natural gas, additional hundreds of billions in purchase of US weapons, and further $600 billion promised European investment in the US.
Ursala von der Leyen, sitting like an obedient concubine next to a victorious and orange-colored Trump, signed over any residual European dignity and sovereignty.
She happily reported “we are doing something about the trade imbalance…at least we can continue to do business with the US” when Europe is obliged to offer the US zero tariff in exchange for a 15% blanket US tax against European imports and a pharmaceutical carveout where even higher tax is expected.
Going back a month, we have witnessed the sad and hilarious spectacle of Mark Rutte, the NATO head and former Dutch prime minister, affectionately calling Trump “daddy” and writing fawning love note about how the US is successfully pushing the Europeans to spend more on war preparations, unceremoniously screenshot by Trump and exposed to the world. It makes one wonder what makes a Dutch, usually a proud people, debase himself like this.
Even earlier at the start of Trump 2, we saw a servile Keir Starmer bootlicking Trump in the Oval Office with naked servitude (and touching Trump’s arm like a gentle lovebird). It makes my skin cringe just writing about it. There are some things you cannot unsee and this is one.
Trump coarsely described how leaders from other countries came to “kiss my ass…please sir please” when he launched the tariff war. Now we know whom he was referring to.
The vassalization of Europe is complete.
The US has succeeded with a wholesale subversion and subjugation of Europe. Its agents, carefully groomed through Atlantic Council and such, have taken over leadership of Trojan horse organizations such as NATO and EU. Europe is simply the latest victim of a bloodless decades-long color revolution, waged against it by its own lord and master.
With a pretension of “shared values” and ideological zeal that makes religious fundamentalists blush, Europe has given up its agency and national interests without firing a shot back. The colonizers are the colonized now.
Von de Leyen, Rutte, Starmer, Macron and Merz are functionally US agents like Trump, Wolfowitz, and Cruz are Israeli agents.
Such vassals are met with contempt and brushed aside in the affairs of states. Beijing’s cold reception of von de Leyen and her minions last week tells the world what a lowly place Europe occupies in the world now – there was no welcome ceremony, there was no joint statement, there was no agreement of any substance, and the European leaders were bussed in and out like the unwelcome guests that they are.
Europe is like the late Qing Dynasty of 170 years ago. It is technologically backward and militarily a weakling. It still clings to a sense of cultural superiority and glorious past but doesn’t seem to realize its reduced status in the world.
Europe still thinks the rest of the world as barbarians (or the Jungle as its last foreign policy chief put it) but the rest of the world thinks of Europe as just another sick old has-been and an emperor without clothes.
Unlike the Qing Dynasty, who at least tried to fight with the invaders and folded only after repeated defeats, Europe seems to embrace its vassal status with enthusiasm.
There has never been an equal partnership between the US and Europe after WW2 but a façade of sovereignty and independence has been pretended, even if only half-heartedly.
Now the fig leaf is gone and a naked spineless submission is for all to see.
