Is this how Americans are coping with their civilizatory down fall and vanishing hegemony?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-strait_relations#Deterio...
It doesn't change the fact, that as an European I really wish we had a better relationship with China and ditched US and their backward policies. It's OK to point out atrocities made by big empires, they are all guilty anyway.
China has only state media and little internet overlap with the west.
From the POV of your typical western internet denizen, The US elected a dictator to burn the country to the ground, while China is building a utopia where the fruits are free for everyone.
I certainly don't see our european media to be pro-China. The Uyghur issues are major criticism. Also the way they treated their citizens during the pandemic and the protests.
Imagine for a minute that Trump were a lot smarter, and also ran the supreme court and congress, and you'll basically have Xi.
Why as a European be more afraid of a country that whilst you wouldn’t want to live in and which has supported Russia is quiet and selling you cheap stuff vs a country who used to be a friend who is now wanting you to grovel for a bad deal and is also supporting Russia?
Does anyone have any insight into how we could potentially counter China’s propaganda? This comment right here showed the danger of ignoring it.
On your last point abour “causing instability on the internet”, for example, I could point out we are in a discussion about America wanting to restrict LLMs into haves and have nots and if that isn’t destabilising the internet by preventing non-American companies from defending themselves or paying American companies to defend themselves against them protection racket wise then what is?
All Americans are given a social credit score. Trump can decide any transgender sympathizers are unruly citizens, unworthy of a good score. They are banned from taking out loans. They are banned from buying plane or train tickets. If you call them, a warning informs you they are actively bad people. If you are spotted speaking to them, your friends are encouraged to report your behavior in an app, lowering your score as well. Going down is easy, but going up is nearly impossible. You’ve outed yourself as a problem.
In the meantime, Trump has also decided to round up and forcibly sterilize every Jew. They’re pretty destabilizing to the nation as a whole and don’t really fit in, so it’s important for the stability of the nation. They are disappeared, sent to prison colonies, and given mysterious injections. International news organizations sneak in to try and get ideas of what you’re doing to them.
Online, you never speak of this of course. Not only are your comments tracked (affecting that citizen social score I mentioned), the propaganda you need to hear is tuned to you harder than ever before. It is designed to have a perfect answer to every complaint you have. If you fight too hard, a quick reeducational visit can do wonders.
There are like ten million more things I could complain about, but let’s just keep it to the most obvious, well-known stuff for now.
All of this stuff is actively happening in China right now. So, I apologize, but I cannot accept that you are “a careful follower of politics”. I don’t hold it against you, but it’s insanely concerning.
Can a country trust a trade deal with the US? Whereas when has China ever not honoured a trade deal?
China also creates incredibly bad deals meant to use debt to capture nations. The US traditionally is not this aggressive.
But let’s answer your question directly, Mr. “Politically aware”
1. The US-China trade deal, where China agreed to purchase $200 Billion in goods. (Inb4 we explain away how breaking this one is justified and therefore doesn’t count) 2. China randomly placed a shitload of tariffs on Australia because they’re friends with the US. They admitted this was a really foolish choice and walked it back in the following years. 3. China blocked Lithuanian imports because they had a Taiwanese office 4. China gets their ass kicked in the WTO regularly (as do many countries) for reneging on trade deals.
So, Mr. Very Politically Aware, what’s the next goalpost?
Rebuilding trust and foreign relationships is going to take a long time after Trump is gone.
There are no Chinese military personnel and bases in Europe. The Chinese have not tried to take European land by force and China is also quite stable. It won't change it's mind every 4 years and negate international treaties that have been signed. I also don't recall China invading another country and/or kidnapping leaders of a foreign state in recent history. China also does not control the global reserve currency and can not unilaterally impose debilitating sanction on countries such as Cuba causing the death of thousands of innocent people because of some historical beef.
Yes, China does not have a good human rights record, they imprison a lot of political dissidence but then who are we comparing them too? The US has a 5x worse per capita prison population than China and a horrific human rights record.
What exactly bothers you so much about China that the US does not?
What did US do? Are you referring to Kosovo?
For context, I am European using both US and Chinese models, not rooting for one side or the other (but prefer openness of Chinese models).
Once China can twist your arm you can be sure they will. Just mention democracy to them and you will see what comes next.
Also FYI: the CCP has officially adopted the designation "socialist democracy" for themselves*, so I don't think you're going to bother them much by using that term. You'll have to get more specific about what you think their "democracy" should look like for them to start giving you the side-eye.
* Many places that are not really recognizable as democracies from a western POV do this. People, we have democracy at home!
They are far from anything remotely communist except by the one and only thing that defines communist? "Communist" has only ever referred to a political party.
Are you confusing "communist" with "communism"? The latter has held dual meaning, both referring to a nation under rule by a Communist party and an imagined sci-fi world where post-scarcity has taken hold. Obviously we remain far from achieving post-scarcity. However, nobody has ever claimed China has. In context, we know that the political party is the point of focus.
No, but perhaps you are now confusing communism with Marxism? Long story short, Marx and Engels hypothesized that capitalists would effectively withhold the technology necessary to realize post-scarcity. They suggested that the only way to bring post-scarcity into reality was to have the public take control of the means of production — a.k.a. socialism.
You are right to point out that being the foundation of the Communist party. Their efforts (on paper) revolve around the belief that they need to take action to see us find post-scarcity, believing, like Marx, that vested interests will stonewall the transition.
> China has adopted a capitalistic economy
You might say that is a move away from the Marxist underpinnings, but is not at odds with the Communist agenda. We nearly have post-scarcity in the area of food, and that has been primarily driven by American and European advancements, so today we have come to accept that Marx's ideas have not proven themselves. That does not diminish the quest to find post-scarcity, however. Communists (on paper) still have the same goal. If you look closer, while their system is capitalistic, the Communists still hold the reins to prevent autonomous capitalists from stonewalling post-scarcity.
You know, like as is seen in the original article. We have a purported transformative technology that can lead us towards post-scarcity being withheld by a small guild for their own benefit. Marx may have not gotten the exact mechanics right, but his underlying fear is playing out right before our eyes.
The irony is that the US is currently getting so much flak because it's leader is trying (and failing, EOs only go so far) to become what Xi Jinpeng is to China.
So if you want to put all your eggs in Xi's basket alone, go ahead. But if he has a stroke tomorrow and thinks China would be best off making pool toys, all your eggs will be smashed in one instant.