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Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

thehill.com

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Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#221

Post by knzhou »

_gccu wrote: post #218
knzhou wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've visited senators and representatives and they called me a threat to this country, to my face, knowing full well that I was a US citizen. Maybe you've had less experience with politicians. Maybe you look less Asian. Maybe you're just naive. I can't know which it is, but I'm sure they think the same of you as me.

You realize that you're the racist here for pulling the race card, right? I'm not on your side just because you're Asian. I'm interested in the general well being of ALL people, Asian or not, in the US. I'm sorry you were mistreated, but you made a wrong assumption that I am, or that I will, and you're trying to get me to be on your "side"? I don't like presumptuous people.

I don't have a "side". On one hand, I was born in mainland China. On the other hand, my parents were almost gunned down at Tiananmen square. We came to America to try to leave that behind, and yet still the senators presume I'm a CCP agent! All it took was the wrong kind of name and face.

I could go on with more of my sob stories, but I can tell you won't take bullshit. The point is: I don't know or care about the geopolitics of the South China Sea. All I know is, when xenophobia rises in the US, the CCP is not actually going to be hurt one bit. The only people that will be targeted will be us.

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#222

Post by jessaustin »

_gccu wrote: post #219
jessaustin wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, at this point you get a "relax, Nancy". No step in the process of manufacturing surgical masks involves anyone breathing on a mask; they have machines. Masks are never shipped by air; they're too bulky. Even items that are shipped by air take several days on the ground to be shipped from factories and to end users. Your innate fear of Chinese people has sent you off the deep end.

A flight is 12 hours. Considering it's a highly urgent need for a very unique circumstance... we're not shipping, IDK, keychains or something.

Bulky non-perishable packaged manufactured goods are not shipped by air! It would add quite a bit to the cost of this gesture to rent out three 747s for shipping it.

This is pointless. If the fastest shipping method available took a month, you'd be imagining crafty sick Chinese people stowed away, breathing on the masks for the entire journey. You have a sickness, but it may not be COVID-19...

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#223

Post by seanmcdirmid »

jessaustin wrote: post #194
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize that the MSM and current US administration are completely at odds right? Just by using that term, MSM, would get most people flagged as a Trump supporter. The US drama is mostly internal and has little to do with China.

You do realize that's all marketing bullshit, right? They're so at odds they agreed to give the Pentagon $100B more this year than last, in addition to loosening accounting rules so they can hide even more of their shenanigans from the taxpayer. They're so at odds that Gitmo is still open, we're still fighting in a dozen nations, we're undermining the democratic governments of several more, and they just gave the nex…

I really don’t think you understand how government works: the media is run by private industry and doesn’t have power to give the pentagon anything. They also don’t run Gitmo, they don’t fight wars, etc...

Yes, the American media isn’t perfect, but deriding it as “fake news” while CCTV a somehow put on a pedestal just seems really wrong. The fact is that it is at least independent of the government and doesn’t have to act in the interest in the ruling executive (and in fact, depending on who is president, there will always be plenty of media that isn’t friendly to their agenda).

The first thing authoritarians do when they gain power is to try and delegitimize the free press so they can get rid of it. That is exactly wha it is going on now, and whenever someone uses the term MSM, that is what I know their agenda is.

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#224

Post by [deleted] »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #223
jessaustin wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize that's all marketing bullshit, right? They're so at odds they agreed to give the Pentagon $100B more this year than last, in addition to loosening accounting rules so they can hide even more of their shenanigans from the taxpayer. They're so at odds that Gitmo is still open, we're still fighting in a dozen nations, we're undermining the democratic governments of several more, and they just gave the nex…

I really don’t think you understand how government works: the media is run by private industry and doesn’t have power to give the pentagon anything. They also don’t run Gitmo, they don’t fight wars, etc... Yes, the American media isn’t perfect, but deriding it as “fake news” while CCTV a somehow put on a pedestal just seems really wrong. The fact is that it is at least independent of the government and doesn’t have t…

[deleted]

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#225

Post by ardy42 »

incompatible wrote: post #95
jacobwilliamroy wrote: post #7

Wow. Chinese citizen sends humanitarian aid to the U.S. What a queer situation.

Seems strange that anybody would feel the need, given how the US is one of the richest countries, trumpets it's own abilities endlessly, and has an official policy of "America first". I.e., it's surely capable of making its own virus test kits and face masks, if it could be bothered.

> Seems strange that anybody would feel the need, given how the US is one of the richest countries, trumpets it's own abilities endlessly

Unfortunately, it's also a country where the rich like to keep their riches to themselves, and are averse to government action in general.

> I.e., it's surely capable of making its own virus test kits and face masks, if it could be bothered.

They're just outsourcing, like they do for everything.

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#226

Post by uranusjr »

Leary wrote: post #89

Masayoshi Son wanted to give his home country Japan 1 million tests, and suffered a huge backlash on Twitter from people who said too many tests would "overwhelm the health system". [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/masayoshi-son-breaks-twitter... No good deed goes unpunished, i guess.

The news feel under-informed to me. Much of the backlash against Son is carried-over from his other comment to send free masks to medical personnel. People are “wondering loudly” where on earth does he get so many masks when almost literally nobody in Japan can buy any. Doesn’t his move make the problem worse? The test tweet is under similar fire. How is he going to “provide” these tests? Japanese people are not getting tests not because they cannot afford them, but there is not enough medical resource to run the tests. He offering free tests does not move the needle much, but on the other hand may disrupt the already short-handed medical personnel.

Son has long been criticised in Japan of deception via selective facts. The reputation may or may not be justified (he might just not be good at expressing himself and never felt the need to clarify), but his recent tweets are very on-brand with a bold claim and little detail, and it’s understandable for the Japanese to express the same doubts based on his persumed track record.

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#227

Post by remarkEon »

soneil wrote: post #30
_bxg1 wrote: post #8

Seems like a power move to me. Painting a picture for the world of struggling U.S. institutions needing a Chinese billionaire's help to weather a crisis. I'm not even sure it's incorrect.

He also sent similar to Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and Spain - which makes it look a little less so, at least to my eye.

>Iran

Potential Chinese client state

>Italy

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47679760

Italy joins China's New Silk Road project

>Japan

Par East Asia competition and nose thumbing

>SK

Ibid.

>Spain

"Does the EU really mean anything to you in times of crisis?"

It's the usual astute PRC maneuvering.

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#228

Post by jessaustin »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #223
jessaustin wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize that's all marketing bullshit, right? They're so at odds they agreed to give the Pentagon $100B more this year than last, in addition to loosening accounting rules so they can hide even more of their shenanigans from the taxpayer. They're so at odds that Gitmo is still open, we're still fighting in a dozen nations, we're undermining the democratic governments of several more, and they just gave the nex…

I really don’t think you understand how government works: the media is run by private industry and doesn’t have power to give the pentagon anything. They also don’t run Gitmo, they don’t fight wars, etc... Yes, the American media isn’t perfect, but deriding it as “fake news” while CCTV a somehow put on a pedestal just seems really wrong. The fact is that it is at least independent of the government and doesn’t have t…

Re-read your Chomsky, and pay attention. You've fallen far behind. You're talking about authoritarians and the "trial-by-drone" guy left office years ago. I haven't mentioned CCTV. It is a pale imitation of the much more distracting Western news business. We are endlessly terrorized about bullshit, yet somehow nothing I mentioned above was even covered. They don't focus on the vast areas of agreement between the two faces of the status quo political party.

For all that they caterwaul about surface controversies like is it worse to arrange corrupt positions at foreign firms for one's children or is it worse to investigate such positioning, Fox and MSNBC agree about everything important to the rich bastards who own both the media and the government. For instance, China: we're told constantly by both (all) news firms to fear China. In this very thread there is evidence of a widespread derangement stemming from that constant gaslighting. ("What if the masks are pre-impregnated with virus?!%?") After all, China is an independent nation with a military! USA military-industrial complex might make a lot of money losing a war with China! They must all be evil bastards bent on destroying us! Oh but they're not as bad as Russia! Or Iran! Or Venezuela! Or some random goat enthusiasts in some desert somewhere! When the topic is a war into which we haven't yet blundered, there is unanimity in the war media. (Since you're language policing, tell me: is "war media" better or worse than "MSM" that you derided upthread? On the one hand, it's evocative and focused on the bottom line. On the other, it is one more syllable... I can't decide!)

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#229

Post by remarkEon »

meowface wrote: post #220
scotty79 wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's such amazingly american way of thinking. Like straight from cold war.

Is it? If the American government were doing this, I would think the exact same thing. And America has in fact done similar things many times in the past. Of course it's PR. It's always PR, probably regardless of what superpower's government is involved. The only difference here is that the Chinese government has more control over and knowledge of what private citizens are doing, so it can be difficult to disentangle…

>...so it can be difficult to disentangle private and governmental action.

It's near impossible to disentangle private and government[al] action in China. It's also not a uniquely American way to think about it. Every country uses private proxies where it makes sense in order to project power.

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