Scotland's historic referendum on independence
has resonated across the world, with many
countries watching its outcome closely.
BBC correspondents in Australia, Canada, India,
Spain, Italy, Germany, and Romania take a look
at how Scotland's "No" vote has been received
and what it means for the countries they cover.
Spain - Tom Burridge
Catalonia is probably the place outside of the UK
where Scotland's referendum had, and still has,
most resonance.
Why? Because the Catalan government plans a
Scottish-style vote on independence on 9
November, even though the Spanish government
has called it "illegal".
Waking up on Friday, pro-independence Catalans,
at least privately, cannot fail to be disappointed.
The Catalan president, who is expected to get the
green light from the regional parliament in
Barcelona to hold a similar vote, admitted to me
last week that he wanted a "Yes" in Scotland to
prove that there could be a successful referendum
for independence in part of a fellow EU country.
Catalonia's Foreign Secretary (a title that would
raise many Spanish eyebrows), Roger Albinyana,
told me that he was "not at all disappointed".
He is keen to point out that David Cameron
allowed the Scottish vote. Mariano Rajoy will
never give his approval to a vote here in
Catalonia.
And for pro-independence Catalans Scotland was
a "democratic success", a nation exercising "their
right to vote".
However Catalans who passionately want
Catalonia to remain part of Spain say the
situation here is more complicated than, in the
words of one activist, a "black-and-white, yes-
no" decision.
Canada - Lee Carter
The victory for the "No" vote will please many of
Canada's editorial writers, most of whom came
down firmly on the side of Scotland staying with
the union.
As the vote got closer, many other stories were
gently shoved aside by major TV networks, which
had correspondents on the ground in Scotland
providing minute-by-minute results. The interest
was not surprising.
Nearly five million Canadians identify themselves
as Scottish. And Scots have had a huge impact
on Canadian culture and history.
Many of those who migrated to Nova Scotia
(New Scotland), did so because they were forced
off their land by the English. Not surprisingly,
opinion in some of the communities there tilted
towards the Yes campaign.
The Canadian province of Quebec has voted
twice on independence, in 1980 and 1995
(pictured)
But as one reporter put it "the clans aren't
exactly clashing" over the question.
The Scottish debate seemed to have much more
traction in the French-speaking province of
Quebec. Referendums on separation from Canada
were twice held there (1980 and 1995) and twice
rejected, albeit by an extremely narrow margin in
1995.
A group of Quebec "sovereigntists" who'd made
the trip to Scotland to watch and learn from the
process said they were hugely impressed by the
precision and clarity of the "Yes" campaign.
But the group's leader, Alexandre Cloutier,
admitted that the next referendum in Quebec
could be a long way off. In April, the pro-
independence Parti Quebecois was swept from
power in the province by the federalist Liberals.
And support for separation in the province wavers
at around 40%.
And it's unlikely that the Scottish result will be
seen as particularly inspiring to the new
generation of Quebec separatists.
India - Andrew North
Demands for a referendum persist in Kashmir,
but the chances of it happening are remote
India's foreign minister didn't know Scotland was
considering divorce, until an aide whispered in her
ear. A more pressing concern for some Indians
was what it meant for the price of Scotch.
There's also been some schadenfreude in the air,
watching their former colonial master prepare to
"partition" itself.
For many, the idea that the UK was about to give
away some of its territory voluntarily - and
because the British prime minister himself had
allowed a vote - was hard to comprehend.
And if the Scots had voted "Yes", it would have
set an uncomfortable precedent in Kashmir. India
has never carried out its 1948 promise to hold a
referendum there, and Kashmiris were quick to
make the comparison with the Scots getting a
vote.
So it's not surprising Foreign Minister Sushma
Swaraj's initial reaction to the idea the UK could
break up was "God forbid". It would have just
made things too complicated.
China - Martin Patience
There is a long history of discord between
China's Uighurs and the central authorities
China's official reaction to the referendum's
result was "no comment" because it was an
internal matter for the UK.
But in the run-up to the vote, Premier Li Keqiang
stressed that he wanted to see a "united" United
Kingdom.
Privately at least, China's leaders will welcome
the "No" vote.
They will have worried that an independent
Scotland may have inspired China's own
minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang - and given those
in Hong Kong and Taiwan new ideas.
The narrative of the ruling Communist party is of
a strong, unified China rising in the world. Any
talk of separation or independence is crushed by
force here.
With that in mind, many Chinese were astonished
that London allowed the referendum to go ahead
- never mind that it would allow the UK to split
up.
Throughout the campaign, state media ran
articles about how "too much democracy" had led
to "instability" in the UK.
The message to Chinese readers was clear: China
needs to stick together - otherwise it is inviting
chaos.
Germany - Jenny Hill
"Scotland stays British!" proclaims Germany's
most popular newspaper. For Bild - like every
other paper and TV news programme here - there
is only one top story this morning. And - on the
whole - only one response.
"I'm hugely relieved," said a senior member of the
Green Party. "It prevents further fragmentation of
Europe."
As yet there's been no official government
response. But last week Foreign Minister Frank
Walter Steinmeier admitted he'd rather see Great
Britain remain united.
German politicians fear a UK referendum on EU
membership without Scottish voters could
make its exit more likely
Why? Politicians are looking ahead to a possible
UK referendum on EU membership. Without
Scottish voters they think a Brexit would be far
more likely.
But there are other concerns too. The broadsheet
Sueddeutsche Zeitung ran a leader two days ago.
It sympathised with Scottish frustration, but was
concerned about the economic viability of
independence.
On Friday morning the language was somewhat
bolder. According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine,
the nationalists had been "promising the moon".
There has been intense interest in the Scottish
referendum here. Perhaps that's no surprise.
Mention the Mel Gibson film Braveheart to any
German and you're likely to elicit an enthusiastic
response. It's a popular film here. Even so I've
yet to find someone who supported independence.
Take Edgar. Every day he stands on the bank of
the river Spree in Berlin, leans on his stick and
shepherds tourists on to his sightseeing boat.
"Better together," he told me, "of course they're
better together".
Italy - David Willey
The final result of Scotland's independence
referendum missed the early editions of Italy's
morning papers, but Italian shares hit new two-
year highs at the opening of Milan's stock
exchange.
The "spread" between the price of Italian and
German 10-year treasury euro bonds hit a three-
year low - signifying increased confidence in
Italy's financial credibility.
The leading daily Corriere Della Sera's headline
ran: "UK remains united but will still change".
Former Prime Minister Enrico Letta tweeted (in
Italian): "Scotland has decided. Good for us and
for Europe. Now let's not ignore the intolerance
and fears which encourage separatists."
"South Tirol is not Italy" - The Scottish
referendum serves as an inspiration for
German-speaking separatists in Italy's South
Tyrol region.
Italy's Northern League separatist party, which
dreams of setting up a republic called Padania in
the Po River Valley, is currently in the doldrums
after losing heavily at the last elections.
Meanwhile a nascent movement for the
independence of Venice, in times past a powerful
European nation-state, is not taken seriously in
Rome.
Newspapers in the German-speaking South Tyrol,
which passed to Italy after World War Two, said
that the Scottish referendum had been an
"incredible success" simply because it had been
allowed to be held.
Listeners calling in to a leading radio talk show
complained that in contrast to what happens in
the UK, Italian politicians seem unable to carry
out long-desired constitutional changes and
electoral reforms.
Romania - Nick Thorpe
Ethnic Hungarians in Romania's Transylvania
region have welcomed the Scottish referendum
result.
"This will help our striving for autonomy," said
the president of the Szekler National Council,
which is campaigning for an autonomous
Szeklerland - a region in eastern Transylvania
comprising largely Hungarian-speaking territory
with roots going back to the Middle Ages.
Szekler National Council is campaigning for an
autonomous region in eastern Transylvania
"The world has changed. The Scottish
government and parliament will certainly have
more autonomy in the future. Romania should
learn from this to engage in debate with us, as
we are asking for much less than the Scots,"
Balazs Izsak added.
Approximately 800,000 Hungarians live in the two
counties of Hargita and Covasna and a part of
Mures county. Until the Treaty of Trianon in 1920,
the whole of Transylvania was under Hungarian
jurisdiction.
But Hungarians in Romania today are divided
over the autonomy efforts, and Romanians on the
whole reject any debate about the possibility.
The Democratic Union of Hungarians (UDMR),
who form part of the current Romanian
government, this week published their own plans
for Szekler autonomy, based on the model of
Italy's South Tyrol province.
Leader Hunor Kelemen stressed the difference
between the plan and Scotland's referendum.
The number of Hungarians living in Transylvania
is falling by about 20,000 each year, and
champions of autonomy argue that this is the
best way to preserve the Hungarian community.
Ethnic Hungarians also fear a new regionalisation
plan for Romania, which would administratively
divide their region further.
Australia - Jon Donnison
A substantial proportion of the Australian
population has Scottish heritage. As in Scotland,
the issue of independence has divided that
community.
The "No" victory will be welcomed by Australia's
conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a
staunch unionist and royalist who was born in
London to English parents.
The result has seen the pound strengthen against
the Australian dollar as well as a host of other
currencies.
The referendum has received widespread coverage
here.
There is no real equivalent independence
movement here although some in the mineral rich
state of Western Australia have argued they
should one day break away from Australia as a
whole. But such a split is unlikely.
Analysis - Bridget Kendall, BBC diplomatic
correspondent
The news that Scotland is not going to leave the
UK will mean many governments are heaving a
sigh of relief.
Some feared that Scottish independence might
encourage other separatist movements. Others
worried that it would turn the rest of the UK into
a weaker and distracted partner.
But has Britain's global standing been affected
nonetheless?
There is an argument that the UK, along with the
rest of the West, is already in decline - its clout
eroded by the rise of emerging giants like China,
India, Russia and Brazil.
And the very fact of this referendum shows its
power and prestige is on the wane, and its
reliability as a partner has been undermined.
There is a worry too that new devolved powers
promised to Scotland, and further constitutional
change being called for elsewhere in the UK, may
mean that the government in London will be too
distracted to pull its weight on foreign affairs.


source-http://m.bbc.com/news/world-29272728

Voice of the majority.