Thailand cozying up to the Chinese over the past few days, with the South China Sea issue being discussed as well.
Absolutely! China is building a country of extraordinary magnitude. Hu Jintao, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Zeng Qinghong and Li Changchun are magnificent leaders! They forge their spirits in the same traditions as their ancestors. They have our gratitude. Let's all give them a great big hand!
China does not give a shit. They think, in Asia at least, that they are at the top and abuse their position in whatever way possible.
Actually that's a terrible negotiating strategy. What you need to do in a negotiation is ask for more than you want, but LESS than the amount that either makes you look stupid, or overtly aggressive. What happens if you ask for waaay too much is that the other side walks away and refuses to negotiate. Think about it. The last time you entered into a negotiation .... what did you do if the price was ludicrous? Did you start methodically working your way down to something sensible, or did you just go "what a joker" and walk away?Original Post Deleted
As someone who does negotiate (high value power contracts mostly) this is something I'm quite familiar with. So, I say again, I am very surprised that a country like China is this stupid.
No one is (at least not me) disputing this gritty and agree that this is purely negotitation skills and nothing else.
It remains ridiculous to claim that much - but as I said they don't give a shit cos for them the aim is to get as much as possible.