IMHO, claims like this from them should be believed 100%, because to do otherwise invites complacency.
This is the sort of thing governments lie about, IME - big, sensational achievements that enhance their status.
During the Cold War the US and USSR made all sorts of tendentious claims about the superiority of their socioeconomic systems, their military prowess and mendacious things the other side was supposed to be doing and denied all sorts of things they actually did, but they didn't try to lie their way to the front of the Space Race.
We're talking about it, aren't we? I've also seen this news on Reddit. Propaganda doesn't have to be a one size fits all. Targeting armchair experts and tech enthusiasts can still be useful. The point is that people are talking about how awesome your country is. Real or fake, I'd call this news story a success for China.
I'm not saying this technology is vaporware or not, I don't know. I'm just saying that the argument I'm responding to isn't great. I'd also like to mention that propaganda doesn't even imply that something is fake. Sputnik was real and also a great propaganda machine because it got people talking about it but so were other niche things like Russian Chess players and Russian mathematicians. We have international math competitions, you think those aren't used by propagandists? The average person cares nothing about a math competition.
I’d argue that almost no claim like this is even remembered, let alone becomes ‘embarrassing’.
On the other hand when people see them it definitely creates the propaganda or marketing value of China being ‘ahead’ in some way.
Recent flood, one of the state media headlined an outright lie that US govt states that China earned respect from around the globe through its flood rescue effort. Lied about the amount of rainfall and the capabilities of their dams. Some TV news station just never show flood footage. Any challenge to the effort is branded as foreign influence.
For story like this if turned out to be vapor, the blame would be easily placed in thousands of places but themselves.
So no, this is not a lie, because it would be both obviously stupid, and obviously not in the best interest of China to do that; not even an amazingly shitty and disorganized government would be that stupid, and the Chinese government is quite coherent, and very good at acting I it's own interests.
“I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. We had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.”
-Mike Pompeo, former CIA director and U.S Secretary of State [1]
Didn’t know that was a thing.
No, I said "IME". Don't try to dismiss other people.
However, the dismissive response also has no evidence.
Blaming others, deflection, and dishonesty is a common tactic used by every nation.
Remember when the blackout in 2003 was caused by Canada?
"Canadian officials insisted a massive blackout Thursday across the Northeast and parts of Canada originated in the United States, though U.S. power workers denied that and American officials blamed Canada."
Remember how the 9/11 terrorists also came from Canada? Canada doesn't control entry to the US, and they never came via Canada at all but this was often quoted in the media, as a deflection.
"Not one 9/11 terrorist entered the United States via Canada"
I also think China has proven that it is willing and able to rapidly build infrastructure. That makes me think their timeline can be in the right ballpark, too.
They also seem to have been willing to sacrifice quality for speed in large infrastructure projects, though (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenzhou_train_collision, https://www.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-40638820090627, https://www.npr.org/2012/08/29/160231137/chinese-blame-faile...)
That’s something I would worry more about (disclaimer: China is huge, so it will have its share of disasters. It also probably will pay more attention to nuclear projects than to bread-and-butter concrete pouring for buildings and roads)
This moderator develops cracks during normal operation as seen in UK's AGR several other designs. And it burns in case of an accident (Windscale, Chernobyl). Since the TMSR-LF1 is an experimental project I also assume that it's a single fluid design? More detailed information on the TMSR-LF1 is quite hard to find but it says that it's based on the original Oak Ridge MSR design.
"Old proposed single fluid designs promising breeding performance tend to have an unsafe positive void coefficient and often assume excessive fuel cleaning to be economic viable."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_fluoride_thorium_reacto...
Hackernews styles itself of thoughtful discussion
Are you able to substantiate that claim?
Foreign journalists cannot freely report from within the country. If the government does not like your reporting, you are forced to leave the country.
Information controls ensure that communication with China & the western world is controlled and subject to scrutiny. People in China cannot legally access most foreign news, or communicate with foreigners on social media. You cannot even access hackernews legally in China!
This creates an environment where it's extremely hard to actually vet any information about China, as there is such a strong communications barrier. Both for professional journalists and regular civilians. There is this immense culture of secrecy and information control that does not exist on the same scale anywhere else in the world.
Unsurprisingly this creates a situation where people distrust the words of the Chinese government. They have created this apparatus that prevents foreigners from verifying Chinese information.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/18/china-covid-19-killed-h...
It is widely known that when the new coronavirus emerged in December 2019, the Chinese government downplayed the pandemic threat for several critical weeks. Less commonly known is those same authorities deliberately sacrificed health workers to maintain their lies.
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) calculated cover-up enabled the coronavirus to go global. By silencing doctors, Beijing not only fueled this pandemic but also compromised the world’s ability to spot the next one.
Taiwan started its lockdown procedures on people entering from China on December 31st, 2019.
Taiwan knew what was happening, and all governments should have had similar knowledge - they certainly should not have been waiting for China to tell WHO or whatever other lame argument that article makes.
I am sick of the same boring cliché arguments being trotted out about how we think China should act: how we act is what matters.
Sorry, off topic I know.
The CCP is 100 million people.
January 20th, 2020: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”
February 11th, 2020: “In our country, we only have, basically, 12 cases and most of those people are recovering and some cases fully recovered. So it’s actually less.”
February 26th, 2020: “When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”
March 10th, 2020: “This was unexpected. … And it hit the world. And we’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.”
This is hilarious. I wonder if there's a political group that benefits from attacking both these positions.
If you consider "america should be the number one power and do whatever it takes to stay that way" to be an unbiased and neutral statement, then sure, Foreign Policy is unbiased.
I wouldn't go to them for a viewpoint inclusive of American rivals, though.