211–220 of 611 posts
China long-term strategizes while the US often twiddles its thumbs and belatedly responds (it's waking up with the export controls on chip manufacturing tech, but it should have done that a decade ago).
The ship massively changed direction with Xi. He literally made his own term limit forever 5 years ago.
China 10 years before is way different.
"China is estimated to hold an about 84% share of the global market in neodymium magnets and an over 90% interest in samarium cobalt magnets. Japan, meanwhile, has about 15% of the neodymium magnet market and a less-than-10% share of that for samarium cobalt. If China bans the export of such technologies, it would be difficult for the United States and Europe, which do not traditionally manufacture rare earth magnets…
plenty of people have been warning about this for years with regards to the push towards renewable energy and electric cars. China makes 70-80% of the components of solar panels globally. the idea that manufacturing is somehow low value and "services" are what developed economies should focus on is one of the dumbest concepts in human history. It will take the US decades to rebuild their manufacturing base
Which means you unlearn how to make anything whilst the other party gets ever more advanced at it. And then takes over the thinking too. You end up with a select few Excel managers, a decimated middle class, and a layer of poor local service workers.
The destruction of the middle class in the West has been ongoing for decades now and almost every single problem can be traced back to it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given it has been so long and they are now so different, why is reunification even necessary at this point? (Other than the CCP wants to control Taiwan based on historical lines) Why is the CCP so intent on controlling the land of another country? Most people practically consider Taiwan independent, even if the "agreements" around it say something else. They have their own government, flag, military, trade agreements…
> Why is the CCP so intent on controlling the land of another country? The way you frame the question already suggests that you're not interested in why China (not just the CCP - this is a broad sentiment inside China) sees things the way it does. Taiwan is not seen as "another country" in China. It's seen as a Chinese province that is temporarily separated from China due to the civil war. This was also the view of s…
I read "Rare Earths" are nor really rare. But the article did say extracting these elements cheaply causes a lot of environmental damage, which as we know, China is perfectly fine with. I also read the US is close to opening a "mining" site for Rear Earths, but not sure where or for what elements.
> environmental damage which China is perfectly fine with “China has outsourced much of its rare earth mining industry to Myanmar’s Kachin state” https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/toxic-rare-earth-mines-fue... (maybe overstated, but definitely a real issue).
Remember, China insists this is good for society
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What does China actually stand to gain by invading Taiwan? Any kind of real analysis based in anything other than nationalistic fervor or fear mongering seems to indicate that they're better served by the status quo.
Face. As an East Asian myself, the amount of stupidity that goes on in all of the East Asian countries at all levels because of “face” is astounding. Call it “honor” or “nationalism” or “XXX Pride” - ultimately all the same thing.
In China tens of millions watched the live stream Pelosi's plane flying to Taiwan, expectantly waiting for it to be shot out of the air like their leadership insinuated. Those people believe in face saving efforts, while those in charge buy homes in Japan and send their children to American universities.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is not normal decoupling, we're in a full on economic war. In the short term that's terrible. In the long term, pain now will help minimize pain later when China invade Taiwan and US-China trade drops to zero overnight. It's coming sooner or later and the longer you leave your investments in China the more you risk the door slamming shut on your hand.
What does China actually stand to gain by invading Taiwan? Any kind of real analysis based in anything other than nationalistic fervor or fear mongering seems to indicate that they're better served by the status quo.
- TSMC: I'm not sure I need to cite the chip wars as there's an article on the front page probably every week and has been so for the last 4 years.
- Territoriality control: It gives them a greater vantage over territories, especially into the ocean. Though reference first point.
- Political: Taiwan and Hong Kong (not so much Macau, considered "resolved") have represented the antithesis to the CCP's way of thinking and propaganda. Xi and the CCP have long been touting the line that democracy is not possible in Asia and specifically in China[2,3,4] noting that "the fruit looks the same but the taste is different." Taiwan specifically demonstrates a counter to their claim that the people can be free AND prosperous at the same time. But so do other surrounding countries, but there's a larger gap and these people see large gaps between cultures where us Westerns may not see any (tensions have long been high between China, Japan, and Korea and they've been warring for centuries. Particularly bad in WW2 btw). I should also note that which ever Chinese leader "passifies the dissenters" will go down in history as doing something that no previous leader could and be a great show of strength. So there's internal politics as well that may be far less important to those of us on the outside.
I'd say these are the major aspects but each one is far deeper than this comment would lead you to believe and there are of course other factors as well.
[0] https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:115.7/cent...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-dash_line
[1.5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuril_Islands_dispute
[2] https://www.reuters.com/article/china-politics-xi-jinping/xi...
[3] https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3142130/xi...
[4] (this one responds to [3] but is also funny) https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3180490/why-xi-...
> The answer to this puzzle might lie in the confusion between two different Chinese expressions which are pronounced exactly the same: “concentration of power” (集权, or jiquan in pinyin) and “autocracy” (极权, also pronounced jiquan)... Therefore, “concentration of power”, not “autocracies”, should be what Xi referred to in his call with Biden.
I think many will even question if the distinction is meaningful here. There is also a link [5] that quotes Xi about how to describe a democracy:
> Whether a country is democratic or not should only be judged by the people of that country, and there is no place for a small number of outsiders to point fingers at this or that
Which again, feels off since his argument would conclude that the DPRK is Democratic and I think few would agree. We have a long history of watching autocracies and dictators refer to their systems as "democratic"
[5] https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3152389/xi-...
"China is estimated to hold an about 84% share of the global market in neodymium magnets and an over 90% interest in samarium cobalt magnets. Japan, meanwhile, has about 15% of the neodymium magnet market and a less-than-10% share of that for samarium cobalt. If China bans the export of such technologies, it would be difficult for the United States and Europe, which do not traditionally manufacture rare earth magnets…
China long-term strategizes while the US often twiddles its thumbs and belatedly responds (it's waking up with the export controls on chip manufacturing tech, but it should have done that a decade ago).
Even with recent measures against China, the U.S. is far more open to China than China is to the U.S.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What does China actually stand to gain by invading Taiwan? Any kind of real analysis based in anything other than nationalistic fervor or fear mongering seems to indicate that they're better served by the status quo.
From what I understand, it is an affront to their regime. It’s an island of free, prosperous and democratic Chinese people. It’s a repudiation of everything the CCP stands for. In a very real sense, Taiwan is not a separate country, but a unconquered territory from the Civil War, the last bastion of the pre-1949 Republic of China, and a symbol of what could have been for all of China. Sure there are geopolitical reas…