But, they are not very good to their own people and they are extremely distrustful of foreigners. Not just westerners but even in africa they've been caught acting with malicious intentions(the last example I read was how they backdoored the African Union's IT systems). Very hard to trust someone who trusts no one.
The primary fear should be wars and global instability instead of who gets to wear the #1 badge. It has not even been a century since WW2,the current chinese regime is operating as a response to WW2 and "running a marathon,not a sprint" to beat the west and russia. China dominating the west would usher in Cold War 2.0(or has it already,pentagon papers and all) except with higher stakes,in the end military dominance matters as much as economic.
You should checkout what the DHS, TSA and NSA have been up to...
>The US/EU will try to maintain their power because to do so is RATIONAL.
What you're getting at, I think, is true. ie - The US/EU are hypocritical. I could respond with, "Well, CHINA is hypocritical." But that wouldn't get us anywhere. The person who commented on nations acting in rational fashions made a comment that actually gets us somewhere.
No, there are no "good guys" here, just a lot of people acting rationally. When looked at in that fashion, the propaganda from both sides is completely understandable.
Also, a lot of it is true.
For instance, you didn't say that China WAS worthy of trust because x, or y, or z.
You said that the US is NOT worthy of trust because x, and y, and z. All likely true, but that doesn't make China any more of a friend to the world than is the US.
Without wars, but with mass internment camps
About 1/4 of prisoners are there because of drugs[1]. Because of the US's punitive drug laws many of these are not dealers but users. In addition, African Americans are much more likely to get "stop and frisked" and get caught with drugs even where whites possess drugs more often[2]. They're also more likely to be arrested for drug offences[2]:
> 16% of those who sold drugs were black, but 49% of those arrested for doing so were black
The disparity in prison population cannot be explained away by crime rate or poverty demographics. It's the result of selective enforcement and preferential treatment for one group over another.
[1] https://www.bjs.gov/content/dcf/duc.cfm
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_the_War_on_Drugs#Stop...
If you perceive the actions and policy of another nation to be very immoral, is it not a moral obligation to try and spread your own version of morality?
Of course, all morality is relative, and so I'm not arguing about whether Western vs. Eastern morality is "better" or "worse".
I do think mass internment camps, social points, and mass surveillance are horribly immoral - but that isn't "Eastern" morality, just the actions of the Chinese govt.
I'd strongly disagree! Maybe there is consensus within western nations, or nations with a high average living standard, but even those vary greatly.
Things like marriage equality are extremely recent, but so is the universal right to vote. There are nations who still practice child marriage, for example.
It's disingenuous to equate concerns over malign Chinese influence with some kind of neocolonial fear of the Global South.
It's because India is still too far behind. When one day India is about to be the next global leader, westerners will start to think otherwise. It's always possible to make a fuss about something. India's counterfeit drug, caste system, dispute with Pakistan and interference in Nepal are all going to be great concerns, just like how people are concerned about Chinese Belt & Road, IP theft and South China sea. It happened to Japan, is happening to China, and will happen to India or any other challenger.
Dispute with Pakistan - all the info I ever read (and it has been quite a bit since I visited those places), Pakistan was always the aggressor, India was defending itself against invasion on its own land. Pakistan loves to challenge Kashmir since it is predominantly muslim territory, but if we respect all treaties signed since India's independence, its simply part of India. The only reason there are issues is because Pakistan fuels the push for independence which wouldn't be there without this. People in the region would be actually worse off if they would be part of Pakistan. In this specific topic, I have 0 sympathy with Pakistan who is known to support terrorist cells in its neighbors via its secret service, and not event trying to hide it too much. India has something like 150 millions of muslims, overall less conflicts with them then ie in Europe so its not about hindus hating muslims. Also Rajastan territory has tons of muslims and no big issues there (who would fight for a desert). Its a shame that US supported muslim dictatorship instead of multicultural democracy defending itself in this conflict.
In the same vein China simply took some Indian territory in 60s by military, there wasn't a regular war since it was very mountainous region with little other value back then. These days they act like nothing happened. But this shows their general mentality - peaceful and avoiding conflicts. US would rather create WW III then give up an inch of its own land.
The rest of the points you mention are more controversial, but still, considering what a behemoth the country is, they are surprisingly peaceful.
In the end, in hand to hand combat in the trenches, Confucianism will win. It’s practical, it doesn’t care about “the Other”.
Whenever I read statements like that, it's as if somehow the EU/US think they have a right to be the dominant global economic and political power, and somehow it's their moral right to stop anyone else from ascending to that position.
China has over a billion people. So does India, so does the continent of Africa. They are all developing much, much faster than the vast majority of people realize [1]
Anyone who thinks the EU/US will remain the dominant global economic and political power in the next decades is severely deluded.
[1] Checkout the fantastic "Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think " by the master Hans Rosling, where he clearly demonstrates using irrefutable stats that the poorest countries in the world today are developing faster than for example Sweden ever did, at any point in history. https://amzn.to/2CXPdCu