311–320 of 372 posts
A sad day for HK. I hope the world does not let him be detained indefinitely, like what has happened to Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo.
As an expat living in Hong Kong, I've noticed a clear change of mood since the ramming-through of the National Security Law last month. Protests have all but died, and people are genuinely aware of having lost their relative freedoms of speech and assembly. Businesses on the "yellow" (pro-protest) side are distancing themselves from their support of the movement. Politicians are quitting opposition parties because th…
Hundreds of thousands of HKers have been migrating out of China for decades.
I'm unclear why people expected HK to ever be autonomous permanently?
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I don’t think you have read the National Security Law of the United States, which is broader and stricter than China... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jdp2JviTDA
Guess what? I don’t agree with many of the recent infringements on constitutional rights in the US either. I can criticize my country because I’m not a blind nationalist. And the US doing something wrong doesn’t excuse what China is doing to a formerly free society. Further, it’s impossible for anything to be more vague than the HK national security law - there must be some level of maximum vagueness and China has ac…
Are you sure you aren't? Let's see those comments criticizing your country.
> And the US doing something wrong doesn’t excuse what China is doing to a formerly free society.
Why doesn't it, when the US is the "leader of the free world", as you like to call yourselves? Seems to me you are holding China to a higher standard than the US. Why is that?
As an expat living in Hong Kong, I've noticed a clear change of mood since the ramming-through of the National Security Law last month. Protests have all but died, and people are genuinely aware of having lost their relative freedoms of speech and assembly. Businesses on the "yellow" (pro-protest) side are distancing themselves from their support of the movement. Politicians are quitting opposition parties because th…
While the timeline was accelerated this year, it's hard to imagine that there could have been a different outcome. It's been decades now since the UK formally handed over HK to the Chinese central government, and the Chinese have always said they would integrate it slowly into mainland China. Hundreds of thousands of HKers have been migrating out of China for decades. I'm unclear why people expected HK to ever be aut…
No one did, but the treaty said it would semi-autonomous for 50 years. These actions are 27 years early, so they didn't even keep their end of the deal for half the time they promised.
Also, a lot can happen in three decades, and one could have held out hope that the PRC could have undergone some kind of liberal reforms before the treaty expired.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Airplanes are so expensive and non survivable these days that IMO the next war will be a massive air battle with whoever loses unable to replenish and therefore forced to surrender or be picked apart from the air or escalate. America currently has 10x the aircraft China has and the logistics to back them up (China is catching up). A 2m man army will likely be irrelevant except for fighting regionally, if their enemy…
Looking from a defense perspective. Won't an anti aircraft system be effective here? It is cheaper to build an anti aircraft system that can be deployed everywhere vs the aircraft itself.
We've only really seen Russian systems in action and they've mostly failed, however it's very easy to argue this is due to poor training. One notable (alleged) engagement in Syria involved a Russian operated s400 battery (the latest and greatest) attempting to shoot down some of the 70+ tomahawks trump launched. Whilst some didn't make it to their targets there's no evidence the s400 hit them rather than them operationally failing. It's unlikely anyone would be better trained than the Russian military itself so if this indeed did happen it is damning for currently fielded IADS's.
Another reason for the apparent ineffectiveness of IADS's could be the west's proficiency at dealing with them:
Jets like the EA-18 growler are designed purely to entice systems to reveal their position (switching on their radar) so another jet can launch an anti-radiation air to ground missile (AGM) at it.
It's very likely the B2, f35 and f22 can't even be targeted by any IADS due to their low radar cross section.
Stand off weapons give the ability to destroy targets without being inside the range of any IADS. These could be used to strike important targets before the IADS is down or to pick the IADS apart itself (if you know where its assets are).
Given all this information I still can't say an anti aircraft system wouldn't be effective.. but I think the fact China is investing heavily into its air force implies that they have the same concerns about IADS effectiveness that I do.
Sorry that was so long, had a Pringles moment!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Guess what? I don’t agree with many of the recent infringements on constitutional rights in the US either. I can criticize my country because I’m not a blind nationalist. And the US doing something wrong doesn’t excuse what China is doing to a formerly free society. Further, it’s impossible for anything to be more vague than the HK national security law - there must be some level of maximum vagueness and China has ac…
> I can criticize my country because I’m not a blind nationalist. Are you sure you aren't? Let's see those comments criticizing your country. > And the US doing something wrong doesn’t excuse what China is doing to a formerly free society. Why doesn't it, when the US is the "leader of the free world", as you like to call yourselves? Seems to me you are holding China to a higher standard than the US. Why is that?
I’m going to very briefly reply to your second point, because I don’t think you’re discussing in good faith. Whether or not the US does something wrong is irrelevant to the rightness or wrongness of China’s actions, because I don’t think the US is some sort of Platonic ideal of a perfect state. My thought process is not: US good, China different, therefore bad.
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You'd think? The US is the only nation that is in a position to do anything about it. While sanctions won't compel the CCP, it could hurt them enough to prevent further cementing their hegemony.
> Just try US sanctions and pushing the EU, Australia, Japan, Canada not to conduct any business with China. You dont to sanctions to countries that provide most of your goods without a viable alternative. Sanctionning Iran does not change your daily life. Sanctionning China would suddenly make a large impact as to what you can actually buy and at what price.
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>If China lets HK go independent.. But HKers aren't even asking for full independence. They want to retain the democracy and freedom they've had so far. And the parallels with Soviet Union's collapse is debatable. At that point Soviet Union was on the brink of economic disaster, while China is at the height of their military and economic power.
I have to point out that under British rule, there was no democracy. If they want things exactly like they have before, the central government would send a governor to HK instead of having their own governor. China wanted HK to be special and successful, to use it as a showcase for the 'one country two systems' model. Now China just want to not lose HK. Huge change in thinking.
You miss out the last part, the British governor would actually listen to the people.
HK had almost 95% of what defines as democracy, freedom of assembly and speech, inclusiveness and equality, membership, consent, right to life and minority rights. It is only missing some part of voting.
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I don't see this comparison. PRC has total control over mainland China. There is 0 risk of fragmentation. HK is a separate entity in every sense, so is Taiwan. USSR collapsed because its economic and political system crumbled from the inside, enabling Poland et. al. to get out from under their thumb, which is what they always wanted to do. If China had economic turmoil, mainland would stay intact in one way or anothe…
The CCP might look stronger than it actually is. Due to the restricted flow of information, a lot of the conflicts are not well publicized. If the CCP were to collapse, it'd be from the inside. Xinjiang, Tibet, Taiwan always wanted independence. It's difficult enough to unify a small group so just imagine with 1.4 billion people.
Taiwan is independent.
This is crazy. First the Muslim concentration camps, now this. Why won't the Western world impose any serious sanctions against China? We have invaded others countries for less
Going further with sanctions only make sure sanctions will no longer work, for there is nothing valuable to sanction with.