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EU China Ties

—A Discourse Beyond Empires

You come to Beijing in polished shoes,
Wearing history like a crown of thorns,
António and Ursula—names carved from conquest,
Eyes soaked in the smoke of fading empires.

For fifty years, you called us rivals—
Now you call it friendship.
But friendship built on suspicion
Is nothing but diplomacy’s ghost.

We are not like you—
You measure greatness by how far your flag flies,
We measure it by how deeply we understand ourselves.
You conquer others.
We conquer the self.

Why do you enter our halls
With the tone of spoiled kings,
Telling us to condemn
When your own hands drip with silence?

You mourn Ukraine in white silk,
Yet you clothe genocide in Gaza
With golden indifference.
Do you not hear your hypocrisy
Howling through your noble speeches?

You demand that we kneel
To your morality—
While your bombs speak your true tongue.

You speak of business,
Yet you enter our gates with prejudice.
Can trade survive when trust has died?
Can partnership grow
When one partner still believes he owns the map?

Europe, you are not Rome—
Though you dream as if you were.
The days of dictating to China
From across seas and centuries
Are dust now,
Scattered in the wind of rising civilizations.

You say modern philosophy was born in your soil—
Then where is your wisdom?

A world awakens,
And you still sleep in glory long expired.

Copyright © Chanda Katonga

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