Selections from Godfree Roberts’ extensive weekly newsletter: Here Comes China. You can get it here: https://www.herecomeschina.com/#subscribe
Further selections and editorial commentary by Amarynth. This will be a short one, as some links that are necessary cannot be used. This first video will give you an idea of why.
In a video by Daniel Dumbrill, the true hegemonic ‘other war with China‘, the one of propaganda, becomes crystal clear. He talks about the true intentions behind the anti-China propaganda campaign push, explains why it will soon increase, and further warning signs. He plays clips from an Australian think tank who clearly expresses that even in the very unlikely event that China accepts the full US Constitution today, they will gladly put China back to the stone age, as they ‘should not have a peer competitor’. A good video for everyone (not just those interested in China), on propaganda and power today.
Only one of the questions in the clip and I paraphrase: Can we get the American people ‘exercised’ enough that they are willing to fight in specific situations? The United States is so good at thread inflation and fearmongering that we have no problems with that issue.
Biden’s nuclear threat. President Biden and Japan’s PM Suga said China actions “are inconsistent with the international rules-based order peace and prosperity in the region. “The alliance between Washington and Tokyo has become a cornerstone of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region and around the world. Japan resolved to bolster its own national defense capabilities…The United States restated its unwavering support for Japan’s defense… using its full range of capabilities, including nuclear”. Read full article →
And to contrast the warmongering message in the previous two reports, Belt and Road Studies:
This is the overview of Belt and Road. The thinking that BRI is simply a trading mechanism, is not accurate. It is an alternative development path for the world that works in a multi-lateral and non-hegemonic framework and it is a Zone B initiative. Xi Jinping states that “the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a public road open to all, not a private path owned by one single party.”
This first link is a thorough overview, almost up to the minute as to the progress of this massive initiative.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/silkroad/english/index.htm
And here is a fact box style – where most questions can be answered.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/silkroad/english/factbox.htm
As some of us expect a sea change in the economics of the world, this is a not-to-be-missed reading from Asia Times, with the headline of China’s digital yuan displaces the dollar.
The economic penny is dropping. You will find comments by all the western self-styled ‘economic greats’. Although you should read the article, it can be summarized with this quote:
China’s dominance in digital currency will follow naturally from its position as the world’s top exporter. And because the digital yuan will be the largest currency in international trade, and China will have a market leader advantage in introducing CBDC’s, other exporters will use the digital yuan as a matter of convenience.
This would be of minor consequence to America’s world position, except for the fact that the United States now must borrow 15% to 20% of its GDP each year to finance its internal budget deficit, and also must attract about $1 trillion of capital inflows to finance its growing current account deficit with the rest of the world.
So no need to spell out where this is going. https://asiatimes.com/2021/04/chinas-digital-yuan-displaces-the-dollar/
A quick clip from a tweet to illustrate:
Watch economist Yanis Varoufakis school a clueless liberal worried about China’s rise
“Allow me to put your mind to rest. Don’t worry about it—very simple”
But in Africa, China’s doing “the same thing we’ve done!“
“No it’s not. They’re far more humanistic than the US ever was” pic.twitter.com/LWLtlyZ7xN
— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) April 24, 2021
And finally Sino-Serbian relations:
Sino-Serbian relations under the “microscope”: China’s footprint In Serbia
Cover Image: The “O” Tower – Danish architecture studio BIG has designed the O-Tower for Chinese smartphone manufacturer OPPO in Hangzhou.The circular skyscraper will surround an open courtyard. It will be built within Hangzhou’s Future Sci-Tech City and act as an “iconic landmark and gateway” to the business district. The tower will be built alongside a natural lake and a 10,000 square-meter park. Read full article →
This is but a fraction of what I gleaned from the Here Comes China newsletter. If you want to learn about the Chinese world, get Godfree’s newsletter here: https://www.herecomeschina.com/#subscribe
It would be much more accurate to describe the AngloZionist Empire’s historical antipathy to both Russia and China as being less about economics and more about the notion that Europeans were chosen by God to range around the planet displacing indigenous people, stealing their land and resources, and as was the case with the original Manifest Destiny folks in the USA, own them. Along with Zionism, European “chosenness” was always racist at its core. That’s why US Christian Zionists get along so well with the Ashkenazim who are currently occupying Palestine.
The advantage that both Russia and China have is that they’re much more communal and much less driven by the “rugged individualism” that drives the Empire. The new Belt and Road Initiative is based on cooperation and mutual respect rather than domination and exploitation. The rest of the world is so done with the Empire controlling everything and ready for it to go quietly into that dark night like all the empires of the past. What won’t let that happen, though, is that Zionism is a death cult that when backed up against the wall will avail itself of the Samson Option, taking the rest of humanity with it. It will be the challenge of both Russia and China to not let that happen.
Tommy Apeiron,
WWIII will definitely happen as it’s in the books off the 2most important monotheistic religions orthodox Christianism and Islam,
Islam gives us even more info this time around, it tells us they will fight and the winners of this nuclear war are orthodox Christians.
The pieces of the puzzle are falling into their places…
And as the Bible says, orthodox people will get back there glorious times and their leader will be Jesus pbuoh.
The biggest losers in this war are the western countries, Europe and US… So buccle up people its going to be a bumpy ride
My Lutheran faith informs me that we will not know the day or the time. This is very different from how Trump’s evangelical base sees end-times eschatology. Pastor John Hagee, Trump’s “spiritual” advisor and founder of Christians United for Israel, gave the following sermon when Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, “Jerusalem is the preordained capital of Christ’s 1,000-year empire, during which Christians and Jews (or at least some of them) shall live in peace, after the unsaved (Democrats, mostly) have endured seven years of unspeakable horrors.” Wow, what a glorious end-times scenario that figures in to all the murder and mayhem we’ve committed in the Middle East ever since 9/11.
Topic here is not Hagee and Trump. Is it at all possible that you can stay on topic here?
All the escatology nonsense is subterfuge for for the “Empire” to keep you distracted from their completely secular materialistic agenda of monopolizing all advantages for themselves. You cannot lump China and Russia’s motives and natures together they are 2 entirely different cultures. Russia is guided by a spiritual compass, CCP controlled china is officially atheist and guided by pragmatic, materialistic, cultural self respect, and practical considerations. This fantasy that Russia and China are allies is at loggerheads with the facts: they are not, they are temporary “strategic partners” in certain spheres, competitors in other spheres and even on opposite poles in yet other spheres. For instance China’s failed forays into central Asia (Kirghizstan) have been obviated by Russia. Russia’s policy regarding Vietnam also is diametrically opposite China’s goal. Russia’s goal is a multipolar global arrangement, China’s goals are either to settle for a dual pole arrangement (USA and China) or a Unipolar model with China as the apex power. The latter is a fantasy, especially in light of the debacle of covid, but the former may still be attempted.
Thank you for the comment.
To Tommy Apeiron
I could not have said it better my self ,your are right on the mark .The reason that most of the the world can
not under stand these families is that they can not invesion how EVIL this Death Cult is !!!!!
Tom
Without the still prevailing debt money system these evil people will be powerless. Bringing these worthless currencies down without major disruptions on a global scale is the task of the day.
I am pretty sure Winnie the Pooh laid down the law with weird buildings. That oppo building is truly obscene.
OK, for those that actually do not go and look and are stuck in children’s literature – I changed it to the full image. Perhaps if you look at the design now, and go and read the article, you’ll figure out that it is an infinity-loop. Yeah yeah, I know a massive concept to get one’s mind around. Some of us just fail. But go and look at the other pics – https://www.dezeen.com/2021/04/19/big-oppo-headquarters-hangzhou-skscraper-china/
So accustomed to seeing phallic structures.
Got a bit of a doubletake, seeing one that looked more………… feminine.
Look at this another way: i remember the days when the Chicago school of architecture was dominant and fascinating designs were popping up all over the USA…not all were attractive but there were many that added vigour to the landscape…
Today it is China which is the world leader in not only the number of tall buildings but also in architecture per se….with some extremely radical designs. Again, not all will meet your taste but it has to do with the sum total of the innovative spirit which pervades throughout the society and is demonstrated most notably in buildings. It is this external manifestation of the dynamic, which is relevant.
@ Analyst
‘Innovative spirit’ lol? Nothing architectural speaks volumes about the spirit of a people and a nation than what is found here:
https://vigilantcitizen.com/sinistersites/sinister-sites-irs-headquarters-maryland/
further scroll through this and you will soon be scratching your head at the in your face blatant idolatry
https://vigilantcitizen.com/category/sinistersites/
@Gerry
Thanks for these extremely interesting links.
I guess it does confirm my point in that the architecture is an outward ‘statement’ by that society (society being a group within, or the whole society)
Certainly explains why the Imperial spying apparatus built a giant Borg cube to house their super-computers
@Analyst: “it has to do with the sum total of the innovative spirit which pervades throughout the society and is demonstrated most notably in buildings”
Interesting point. One thinks of other iconic buildings which expressed the Zeitgeist of other civilizations when they burgeoned into full flower: the pyramids of Egypt, Greek Temples, Rome’s public buildings and aqueducts, the stately homes of England; and of course the Eiffel tower in Paris — prototype of the imaginative steel skeletoned sky soarer.
“Man fears time but Time fears the Pyramids”. — Arabic proverb
Chinese cities with their innovative architecture and LED and laser lighting make North American cities look tired, boringly functional, almost, dare I say, Soviet in comparison. Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hangzhou are particularly fantastic, but even second-tier cities have ultra-modern skylines,
In general, the majority of Chinese live in the new high-rise un-insulated pigeon coops, with one window which opens less than one foot.. The sound-factor in these buildings is similar to cardboard..
It is perfectly suitable for the majority who hail from rural agricultural regions, but not one which would please most foreigners, with or without flashing led lighting..
So glad to have recently escaped that unusual but oppressive environment..
I’ve only been in one such apartment, in Futian district of SZ and it was definitely better than any apartment I’ve lived in. The (friend of friend) lady who owned it had a business and was doing okay, but hardly rich.
I’m sure most are smaller and not as nice, but I sure wish I had bought one as an investment when you could have picked one up for a fraction of the current price.
@Yumcha – another pot of chinese tea while you write your correction letter? No need for that insult!
@White Whale – ‘O’ is also the symbol of Tao, meaning full circle, and this Tao does have a feminine bend (my read) but some will argue its masculine while others are poilitically correct to say Tao has no gender. But on architecture, china wants to show the world they can bend/twist the rules. Its a architect pride thingy.
@eddie – yes its ture but what can we do? It all comes down to how much we have in the bank. The property price in major chinese city are akin to NY Paris or those expensive places in the west. I am guessing you have not been to HK?
RE: insult – not referring to the building but CCP is v sensitive and defensive on the orange color character. mod pls take note. If anyone wants their freedom of speech to be heard, kindly pls take it to the dark web and you will be free-ier and ‘safer’ there.
Teapot building is great.
Pants building is great.
Coin building is great.
Taipei 101 is ok.
When people design genitalia and tell you it’s an O, it’s insulting.
I am tired of the sniggers and passing around of this building pic as if it’s some skin mag.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder – you agree with this Yumcha?
you see ‘genitalia’ speaks only your perception as the beholder
(and prob from your anti-CCP worldview and your pro-Taiwan independance? paradigm background maybe?)
but your views are nontheless valid… some chinese see it that way too when it first came out…
thats your level of ‘beauty’ we all see different…
thats the beauty of it – the building that is :) shows what kind of person you/we are
Thats some serious architecture magic and serious Tao there :)
You can also always look away from the ‘genitalia’ as not to distrub you too much and cause you much distress… since it does not vibe w you the right ‘O’
And some serious male adult fantasies which combined with Winny the Pooh makes something really scary.
This building to me looks like a calla lily. I’m not fond of modern buildings and my taste goes to the old. This one intrigued me because of the shape of a calla lily.
But it speaks volumes that we have these newbies here that cannot (will not) comment on any of the other content here, but only comment on a photo posted as decoration.
Yumcha, that OPPO building is only obscene to those with a mind that tends towards obscenity. That building reminds me of a very beautiful tropical flower.
For anyone who like to know more about the ‘O’… Invit to visit china too :)
BIG designs “infinity loop” skyscraper for OPPO in Hangzhou
https://www.dezeen.com/2021/04/19/big-oppo-headquarters-hangzhou-skscraper-china/
@Yumcha do visit china someday… maybe the OPPO HQ can also go on your personal fav list? Its quite spectacular and mind bending :)
be well be safe
Very nice article and interesting videos thanks.
I saw another good video recently, saying it all comes down to a US wish to “global dominance” in plan and work for at least one century, maybe several centuries.
The above video and the “Full Spectrum Global Dominance Doctrine” confirms this in full. For solution I still lean on the Vietcong way m2 per m2, but I am not Judo nor Sun Tzu expert so lets see.
So, a lot of suffering still in the horizon before Great Satan is neutralised.
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/522154-cynical-hypocrisy-propaganda-us/
America passes propoganda law with massive funding.
The video says it all….Westerners are so stupid when it comes to understanding China (or for that matter anyone else.
It’s hard to be “smart” when we, in the West, are bombarded 24/7 with anti-China, anti-Russia propaganda. As one academic said recently, it is actually dangerous to say anything good about China, no matter that it is true.
i suspect Godfree Roberts might enjoy the “”Don’t let them get their hands on this tech. They might cure cancer!” Vaccine makers say IP waiver could hand technology to China and Russia” article i posted in the newsfeed..
Interesting link on Sino-Serb relations.
We all know who is behind the sudden sprouting of “green” ecological groups in Serbia criticising Chinese investments. And not a peep about the environmental damage caused by depleted U from the West…lol what idiots!!!
Speaking about anti-China propaganda, gotta see Jimmy Dore showing those $300, 000,000 at work on BBC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVbshzeZo58
The Iroquois peoples of America, the first part of the *wording of their “Republic” >Iroquois honored a “Republic”
*Declaration of Independence, >wording originated. The “American Indians” (Iroquois, et al) are said to have migrated from China, before the earth’s land mass seperated. Taoists leaving corruption in China, seeking oneess w/ Nature.
Problem with political factions is monetary control.
Nature did not nor does not require money as a commodity to be wholly natural.
Definately interesting times as the yuan replaces the US$.
US Constitution followed, “Colonial Script” is for every American to live in the “free world” as wholly supported in living as thriving freedom.
John F. Kennedy was reinstating “Colonial Script”.
Digital Algorithms have changed the reality, “money”.
A modern colonial script that should not be usury debt nor social credit.
The 1215 Magna Carta (“Forest Charter”) was a quantum shift and the time is nigh for money once again to be universally understood as BS.
We need a JFK.
See this?
China yesterday commissioned three major vessels into the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN or Chinese Navy) fleet:
A Type 055 Destroyer (NATO designation: Renhai-class cruiser), a Type 075 LHD (NATO designation: Yushen-class) and a
Type 094 SSBN (NATO Designation: Jin-class).
All the big boys toys specs here:
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2021/04/china-commissions-a-type-055-ddg-a-type-075-lhd-and-a-type-094-ssbn-in-a-single-day/
And in the “whose got the biggest deck” competition?
It’s the Chinese:
§§The Type 055 destroyers are the largest surface combatant currently being built in the world with a length of 180 meters, a beam of 20 meters and a draft of 6.6 meters for a full load displacement of about 13,000t (compared to the US Navy’s Ticonderoga-class cruiser and the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer both at 9,800 tons or the Royal Navy Type 45 at about 8,500 tons).
Their official PLAN designation is “10,000-ton class destroyer.”
Here is the same story from a Taiwanese TV show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX8DhIQfblM&t=1166s
(16.45 onwards)
Crude translation: Type 094A sub has 12 missile silos; each missile carries 10 -12 nuclear war heads targeting different targets.
There are 5 Type 094A submarines so max number of war heads are 12x12x5 = 720 nuclear warheads.
Max range of the missile is 10,000 km.
Will hit New York if the sub parks itself off Hokkaido.
*Note that these are the new gear excluding DF intercontinal missiles and older stuff.
Western ‘intelligence’ claim that Chinese only have a maximum of 350 nuclear warheads…
In case you are not aware; PLA have just shown off their latest stealth bomber and picked up by same Taiwanese show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y_nxGFByAg&t=244s
(1.0 onwards)
It’s an AI controlled stealth bomber drone (B21 look-alike).
Cost 1/4 the price of the US B21 stealth bomber.
these chinese cruisers are unimpressive: their large size only makes them a bigger target. China is decades behind the United States in technology and even farther behind Russia; the only thing china has going for it is the utter hubris, incompetence, stupidity, corruption, lack of focus of the current bungling Biden Regime. As for this childish game of “Look how big our ships are!” it screams of insecurity and tactical details that have nothing to do with sophisticated game of strategy.
A good example of strategy winning over tactics is a shrewd commenters here commenting about an ugly building in china that clearly is a vulval symbol. It caused a triggered response and thread that completely neutralized any focus on the opinion pieces published as the main article. See how strategy trumps tactics? A small, albeit truthful, 4 line comment diverted everything away from from the article.
The collateral damage of Australia’s trade war with China
§§§…“When China’s President Xi Jinping was here, we actually supplied from this facility the lobsters for the official banquet that he had with the Tasmanian government,” he says.
Stock that would have commanded premium prices as a live export to China is now filling lobster rolls being sold at local sporting matches and in vans around the country.
§§§…Beef imports from the Northern Co-op were suspended by China for alleged labelling errors on some cartons of beef – the kind of technical breach that in the past has been resolved in a matter of months.
This time, nearly a year on, there’s been no progress – and Chinese officials won’t even pick up the phone.
§§§…Tony Battaglene, who heads the Australian Grape and Wine Association, says the 212 per cent tariff is having a “devastating impact”.
“We’ve got to find a new home for $1.1 billion worth of wine.”
§§§…Yet rather than buckling to the economic pressure, the Australian government has doubled down.
Last week, it cancelled deals the Victorian government had made with China under its Belt and Road initiative on national security grounds, a move that may spark more trade reprisals.
https://www.abc.net.au
“Yet rather than buckling to the economic pressure, the Australian government has doubled down.”
Sadly, that’s exactly what this idiot Prime Minister Morrison and his band of war-mongering ministers do – it’s all they know how to do, apparently.
Witness that walking atrocity, Foreign Minister Maurisa Payne – she was the one who kicked off the current open Australian conflict with China (although it had been festering for some years now) by accusing China of releasing Corona Chan on the world and demanding an international kangaroo court to drag China through the coals. This idiot is also the one who has now decided to torpedo Victoria’s participation in the Chinese BRI.
And let’s not overlook the PM Morrison himself, who had the stupid audacity to publicly demand apologies from Chinese officials who had the temerity to call attention to Australian war crimes in Afghanistan – war crimes for which Morrison himself had not even finished dribbling on about his sincere contrition amidst copious crocodile tears and much self flagellation and knashing of teeth.
And now we have a new player on the scene – creepy refugee from the Adams Family, Defence Minister Peter Dutton openly threatening military action against China over Taiwan, for crying out loud.
In a few words, if we don’t jettison this insane Team America fan-club masquerading as a government, Australia is f*cked – literally up sh*t creek for the next century or two.
Optimistically, not everyone in the Australian political class has their nose planted so firmly between Uncle Sam’s butt-cheeks. In the article’s linked video by Daniel Dumbrill, you can see Kevin Rudd on the pro-China side of the two-panel debate – as we all know, as Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd made a genuine effort to draw Australia into full economic and political engagement with China. Of course, PM Rudd was knifed in the back and replaced by a full-on Team America stooge, and the path has been downhill ever since.
Security or prosperity? …. Do we still have a choice? (2019)
A good 15min introduction by Hugh White (professor of Strategic Studies at the Australian National University in Canberra and author of Quarterly Essay “Without America: Australia in the new Asia” (November 2017).
The thematic links with the 1930’s is worrying.
“China debate: John Mearsheimer | Hugh White | Tom Switzer”
https://youtu.be/oRlt1vbnXhQ
The emptying “USSR” style shelves in major national harware stores tells which way they have chosen … but “Morrison from Marketing” (the PM) speaks with the “Creator of All and Everything” every weekend in his Pentacostal babbling, so we will be ok. Trust in MMM = Magical Marketing Methodology. (… or is it Methodone?)
When you have a clown like this as ‘Dear Leader’ and a non-escape national c-19 lockdown along the lines of North Korea in place then what can you expect? Certainly not respect!
https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/scott-morrison-calls-social-media-the-work-of-the-devil-during-christian-convention-on-gold-coast/news-story/be601983500f49d97917ac598134969c
As Benjamin Franklin once said: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Mission accomplished, … we have neither!
@Keep chewing those gumleaves, koalas…
Mate, that was bloody great debate!!!
I use to follow CIS religiously…
I have so much to say but I am on self-imposed ‘holiday’ :p
Just want to say thanks…
I am sure the china debate will come around again
will post more then… esp on human rights in china
my personal pref is to reside in Aust but its abit scary times now…
back to me ‘holiday’ mode
be well be safe
“Security or prosperity? …. Do we still have a choice? ”
This is a false choice contrived by John Mearsheimer and his ilk. China has no intention to invade Australia, has no fundamental or unsolvable conflicts with Australia, doesn’t threaten Australia (except in their dreams and movies). Australia can have BOTH security and prosperity. But their paranoia (and perhaps racist fear) about China is preventing them from arriving at a very logical and common sense conclusion.
I agree 100% that this is a false choice contrived by John Mearsheimer and his ilk. But that is what they do.
Yes, they shot Allende in Chile on 9 Sept 1973. Here they sacked Gough Whitlam (shooting is too ‘Latin’) for going his own way. They shut his budget down and then constructed a faux crisis when he tried to borrow outside the ‘normal channels’ (read London and New York — it was via Pakistan at the time from memory).
Hugh White’s “go it alone” my reflect a core Australian spirit (perhaps a few embers are left glowing) but it is not really possible when the national identity (of a population at 25m — hardly larger than Sri Lanka) still has London running the show via a “Governor General” viceroy and a flag that is basically the British flag with some blue sky and a few sotuher hemisphere star patterns as a lace border and background. Says it all really.
I can’t speak for the rest of the country, but the major value in the west coast resource industry flows overseas to London and New York (some estimates around 70% of overall value). State royalties from the iron ore dominated resources industry are paid in usd$ (basically the same petro-dollar deal as Saudi Arabia).
The iron and coal from mainland Australia may go to China or Japan or Korea — but the $$$$’s go to London and New York (minus pathetic state royalties in many cases set in the 1960’s under state agreements) and some setup development and operating labor costs.
The Anglo-Americans do not want to lose their Australian mines/energy investments.
So, I agree, it is strongly racist fear — just browse the main stream media comments sections on PRC stories. In many corners the country is still a dumping ground for UK pensioner’s living off the UK pension etc. Perhaps less attractive now that the pound stirling is fallen. Same principle as many Australians go and live in Bali or Thailand these days. And this aged voting cohort of English (Scot/Weslsh/Irish) expats is largely what is driving the current C-19 lockdown, lockout, and lockup policy (especially at the state/province level). They don’t want to die and the country’s economy can go to the dogs.
We are starting to see some push back. If there is any interest — here is an unusually acurate and telling media story in today’s online news. It must be starting to bite.
“It took us 233 years, but we have managed to turn Australia back into a penal colony.
This nation is all but shut to international arrivals and its citizens cannot leave without government permission. The fiat circumscribing overseas travel is, like all things in this pandemic, inconsistently applied, subject to arbitrary mood shifts and, of course, nowhere near tough enough for some.”
https://www.watoday.com.au/national/when-it-comes-to-covid-19-we-cannot-run-a-risk-free-society-20210427-p57mq7.html
So, yes the false choice dichotomy is a classic double-bind strategy — especially when there is a ‘no escape’ meta-condition applied. We are in a great socio-economic experiement at the moment. Who knows where it goes and why.
Tony Battaglene, who heads the Australian Grape and Wine Association, says the 212 per cent tariff is having a “devastating impact”.
“We’ve got to find a new home for $1.1 billion worth of wine.”
Why not ask South Africa for advice? Business Insider says they just found a new home for their wine.
https://www.businessinsider.co.za/south-african-wine-could-be-a-winner-as-china-slaps-australia-with-massive-import-duties-2020-11
It’s a slow death by a thousand cuts for the ex-convicts’ economy. That’s a very Chinese specialty.
It’s all highly absurd. The conservatives here in Australia are trying to get everyone to pretend they have never read a book and get on the China fear train. At the same time as they are doing this they are selling our extremely limited water supplies to the Chinese along with our ports.
We still haven’t fessed up to the genocide of the indigenous peoples nor the nuking the Brits gave them and the rest of Australia back in the 50’s.
Kevin Rudd is pragmatically attempting to reduce Murdoch’s influence. What would be great is if the Labor party could actually hold onto our best leaders rather than letting them get rolled by our beloved US allies.
“Kevin Rudd is pragmatically attempting to reduce Murdoch’s influence”
Kevin Rudd was supposed to be an expert on China. As FM and PM, he did his best to wind them up. What China does internally is of absolutely no concern to Australia. By the same token, Australia should not send troops to places like Afghanistan and the Donbass.
I am so glad to be out of Australia. It seems to me that average IQ in Australia has been dropping for generations. Your politicians are the ones you deserve.
“Kevin Rudd rejects China concerns on Australia-US ties”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-15786728
Anyone who thinks that the USA will ever help Australia is deluding himself. The Americans will always do what they think is to their advantage at any given moment. As Putin said – “not agreement capable”
I do not see why the USA and China cannot get along in the future: their actions in Africa, Asia and the Middle East complement each other.
China builds ports, bridges, railways, schools, hospitals and housing; and the USA bombs ports, bridges, railways, schools, hospitals and housing.
Even with an ostensible “celebration” of film awards, Western MSM cannot miss the opportunity to shit on China.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-26/chloe-zhao-academy-awards-nomadland-oscar-win/100095650
N Hanrahan says: “Even with an ostensible “celebration” of film awards, Western MSM cannot miss the opportunity to shit on China.”
Actually if you want to be skeptical, you could say the reverse, i.e. one of the reasons that Zhao receives the awards is exactly because she expressed some negative things about China in the past.
Being negative about China does have advantages in the West – that is the hard reality.
Excellent video. The ruling elite view the Russia-China–Iran axis as an unacceptable obstacle to US global hegemony. US corporate media (aka ‘ministry of propaganda’) are doing their part, with constant China bashing and fueling anti-Asian racism to prepare the American public for Biden’s upcoming nuclear confrontation with China/Russia.
My only surprise from the video clip is that the speaker is surprised. Mersheimer’s thesis, which he’s outlined extensively in his books and articles, is that great powers inevitably behave that way; that to ensure their own security they are inevitably in competition with any other great power that could threaten them. Which everything we’ve seen since WW2 supports, or even during, when we temporarily allied with Russia against Germany: “the enemy of my enemy is [temporarily] my friend.” Or even before, when between the world wars one of the War Department’s major contingency plans was war with the British Empire/Commonwealth; named “Plan Red” as I recall, to start with an invasion or Canada. For what little it’s worth, my take is the Mersheimer doesn’t particularly favor this, but considers it inevitable.
BUT – If, as you say, the USA is blowing all this wealth on anti-Chinese propaganda (at the expense of the American people) – what does the Deep State propose to gain from this…….if it proves successful? Smother domestic opposition to WAR? Not likely! By the TIME the elite has accomplished this dumbing down of the plebs, China will be far out of their league.
We are looking at what the US has done to the planet. It’s China’s turn at bat. Let’s see what they can do.
“It’s China’s turn at bat. Let’s see what they can do.”
There is a potential category error here in scales.
China (PRC) as a nation has a mixed (complex/braided) aspect:
Firstly, as the centre motherland of the Chinese people (mainly Han) and their 5,000+ year old culture and civilization. Secondly, this rising economic power (and inevitable hubris) will leverage the expat Chinese communities and networks. There is a reason they have been called the “Jews of Asia”. Nothing especially racial — simply clanish.
Should these two dimensions reienforce themselves at scale (within other national/cultural boundaries) then problems will develop.
Take Indonesia in the mid-1960’s as an example amongst the general chaos of post-colonial (Dutch) independance and US inspired Cold War reaction to communism etc (and again in 1998 to a lesser extent). They were generally seen by Indonesians to have a strangle-hold on commerce which naturally evoked envy and hatred. They were also accused of having a “swagger”…
“The Chinese in Indonesia have a long history of being harassed and discriminated against. The discrimination dates back centuries to the Dutch colonial era, when thousands were killed or forced into ghettos. Ethnic Chinese were also attacked in the Indonesian government’s anti-communist purges of the mid-1960s. A small businessman told the New York Times in the 1990s, “We should send all the Chinese men back. The woman can stay and marry Indonesians, and then the Chinese race here will disappear…And if they convert to Islam, then they can stay because they will change. Because Chinese who convert do not act like Chinese. They are not arrogant and they do not swagger.” A 36-year-old laborer in Surabay told the New York Times, “We should expel all the Chinese. If a politician said that, everybody would vote for him.””
http://factsanddetails.com/indonesia/Minorities_and_Regions/sub6_3a/entry-3994.html
The higher levels of regional anxiety with “Let’s see what they can do” goes far further and deeper than Anglo-American ‘whitey’ 20th century empires. It goes to the core of indigenous agency — e.g., Malaysia (Singapore was a Chinese community offshoot); but also extends to Indians in places such as Fiji. Birth rate has a lot to do with it.
The post-WW2 anti-Chinese hatred by their fellow citizens of other races in the various countries of South East Asia was fanned by the usual suspects after the Korean War of 1949-53 when the West suffered a setback.
Before that, it was fanned by policies of divide-and-rule, especially by the British.
The economic prowess of the Chinese in the various countries of South East Asia brought unprecedented economic wealth to those countries. The various other communities among which they lived benefitted from it.
The wealth and economic stability they brought were such that those countries with large Chinese populations did not suffer much or for long from the US-manufactured “Great Depression” of 1929 to 1939 – much like the stability that China wrought in the aftermaths of the US-manufactured Great Recession of 2008 to 2009. I have specific episodic evidence of this from my own ancestral history.
This time around, China is not going to rescue the US but to transit the world to the post-covid-19 and post-US dollar to the brave new world of the DCEP – Digital Currencies Electronic Payment. The US will have to fan for itself in this new world of Central Banks’ digital currencies.
william pesek has an article today on asiatimes about china & jack ma launching a digital yuan. you may have already it, i’d be interested in your take.
@emersonreturn, here is my take on William Pesek article:
1) Overall Willam Pesek (WP) showed, unfortunately, that he is still looking at the brave new world of the Digital Yuan-led CBDCs through the lenses and colour of the fast-fading world of international trade and finance-dominated by the USD and controlled by US banks and the US dollar-based international SWIFT payment system, not to forget backed by the guns of the Pentagon and augmented by the Saudi-led OPEC which required trade in oil and gas only in USD.
2) WP’s worldview of finance and banking is predicated on the very capitalist assumption that its objective is the same as any other business i.e. maximization of profit and therefore returns on shareholders’ funds. But this ultimately makes such a banking and financial system a parasite, especially when it moves beyond just making normal profits, on the real economy which generates real wealth in the production of goods and services. This flaw is made worse by the bank’s oligopolistic control over the banking system – the control of deposits, borrowings and its use, including the giving of loans and credit generation. Resulting from this, the world has seen financial crisis after wrenching financial crisis all originating, in one way or another, from the same epicentre – the USA.
3) But there is another view of the function of the banking and financial system, one which China seems to be implementing. And this is that the banking and financial system is to facilitate the real economy and should not make profits beyond the normal returns on equity through fair competition in an open market. That is why we do not see the big banks and SOEs of China making super-profits. But they do make steady and normal profits. Beyond this, they would really be parasiting off the real economy. Therefore the profits of the players in the Chinese financial system will be controlled, likely within a tight range and excess profits avoided.
4) So far the Chinese government have the banking system under control. It even has the shadow banking system, if not under complete control, has prevented it from going out of control.
5) The ‘sin’ of Jack Ma was not only that he severely criticised the Chinese Government regulators but also that through his Ant Finance’s method of doing business, will likely create a new parasite on the real economy. This is to say that Ant Finance is seen to be taking the new and massive fintech sector out of government regulatory control in order to make super profits and thereby rendering the fintech sector as a new and unacceptable parasite on the real economy.
6) There is also the likelihood that the payment system of Ant Finance will likely create a rival for the implementation of the digital payment, especially if Ant Finance effectively becomes a sort of a bank for its massive payment throughput due to its sales. It could also source for funds to lend out from the banks in China and from the shadow banking system. But this is another story.
7) It was likely that Ant Finance realised that it could not win against the digital yuan electronic payment system due to the power of the regulators and therefore seems to have been in a rush to list and lock in a windfall gain – at the expense of the real economy in the eyes of the regulators.
8) What happened is now so much water under the bridge. But the result is that the Chinese regulators are now in control of the fast-rising fintech sector and will ensure that it does its real job in oiling the real economy and not become a parasite.
9) But what about the world economy outside of China? The use of the digital Yuan will be powered by international trade outside of China. It does not need to use the USD -based SWIFT payment architecture. Therefore the extent of use of the digital yuan will depend on the need to trade with China and the volume, extensiveness and strength of such trade.
10) China’s trade with the world in goods and services is already 50% more than US trade with the world. China’s economy is now at least 30% larger than the US in actual output terms. The exchange rate with the US dollar is only nothing more than a financial fig leave that masks the size of the Chinese economy versus the US economy.
11) The growing real size of the Chinese economy and its trade will displace the US dollar. Nations need reserve currencies only because of their need to trade internationally. They, therefore, now need reserves in USD both because of the need to buy oil (traded in USD) and because it (used to be) is the currency of the world’s erstwhile biggest trading nation – the USA.
12) The nations of the world will increasingly need to trade with China, especially the BRI nations and and also South America, Africa, Europe and the US itself. The role of the digital yuan in easing this trade, the avoidance of the costs of converting to a foreign currency (now the USD) and the increasing need to trade in yuan due to the increasing need to trade with China will displace the USD.
How rapidly this process will take place will depend on how rapidly the economy and international trade of China grow and how rapidly the economy of the US implode. Both can be explosively rapid in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, the trading nations of the world will create their own sovereign digital currencies and will trade with China and with another using a pre-arranged currency swap instruments or with reserves of digital-yuan accumulated through their trade with China. Each CBDC will be backed by the goods and services produced by each country and/or gold.
The use of sovereign CBDCs by the trading nation of the world will hasten the demise of the USD as the world’s most-used reserve currency.
13) And what of the future role of the banks? At least in China, they will still have a role in lending but at a supervised interest rate, likely within a range set by the regulators. Where will they get their deposits from since all Chinese consumers will have an account with the Central Bank and keep their money in that account? The obvious answer is for the Central Bank to lend out those deposits to the commercial banks and for consumers to deposit some of their balances in their digital yuan account with the Central Bank with the commercial banks should they pay a higher interest rate or should it be more convenient.
14) Conclusion: Beginning in China, the world banking and financial system and the world trading-payment system and financial order that was dominated by the hegemon and the USD is coming to an end. Welcome to the brave new world of the digital-yuan-led CBDCs.
Contrary to what WP said, in China
I would like to finish the last para in my post.
Contrary to what WP said, in China, the banks has not become and will not become an “empire” within China. Much less will the Chinese state allows it to “strike” back using the internal politics of the CCP in the context of President Xi’s election to a third term as General Secretary of the CCP and President of China.
What happened to Jack Ma and previously to honchos of Chinese businesses who stepped out of line, should ensure this.
To make the conclusion clearer and sharper: Rest assure that the western equivalence of cold-blooded exploitative “Banksters” sucking the life-blood out of the economy will not arise in China, neither in the traditional banking sector nor the fast-rising, new-fangled fintech sector. The fall of Jack Ma and his apparent conditional rehabilitation should ensure no one will consciously or subconsciously attempt this type of self-transformation in China in a hurry.
Jack Ma was seen to be fast-morphing into a western-style “bankster”. The quick action, apparently by President Xi himself nipped the rapid banksterisation of Jack Ma in the bud.
my intuitive take leaned in this direction, wholly lacking your concise expertise, but seeing it as an awaited launch. thank you. my late husband, a mathematician, used to remind me…never forget america is china’s rounding off number. we visited china when it first opened, backpacking from chungking mansions through the south, north…it was clear the nation was about to burst open. we were welcomed with sincere hospitality every where we went. in restaurants we’d were led into the kitchens, immaculate all, to point at the array of ingredients & the chefs/cooks would create our lunch/dinner. from that visit onwards i have followed china’s rise with love & fascination. my husband collected yuan & ming porcelain, & bronze vases, from that small beginning we wove our way through china, remembering the names of leaders, battles & poems. thank you again.
You are most welcome. Glad to be of help.
For those who may yet harbour sympathy for what happened to Jack Ma or even conclude that he may have been treated rather unjustly, let me further emphasized that not only had Jack Ma shown himself to be rapidly being transformed into a western-style “bankster” but he embellished his new image with more than matching rhetoric to boot.
His generalised description of China’s regulators as being trying to force banks to operate like traditional pawn-shops (known for their exploitation of the poor especially before Mao’s time) indicated that he may want to do better (likely socially worse) than the super-profiting pawn-shops, especially when his business (profit) model was scrutinised.
In fact, to the Chinese mind, his rhetoric was worse than the western banksters. To my mind, the language used by Jack Ma on the Chinese regulators was comparable to the type of language/rhetoric normally used by the politicians of the country of descendants of ex-convicts Down-Under.
Well, Mr Chow, I’m not going to argue with your position. Time will tell.
Imo, Chinese are human and humans with power and civilizational dominance are generally assholes.
I’ve visited Vietnam (2013) and spoken with locals who hate the Chinese with whom they have been at borderland wars for 1,000 years (but you would blame the French I guess). I was in Sri Lanka in 2018 and saw first hand the ‘new American’ 6ft+ Chinese tourist with his big camera pushing his way around the locals at a festival in Colombo. I know personally reasonably well placed people in Pakistan who dislike (rather strongly) the Chinese doing ‘business’ there.
Based on a read of history and these personal glimpses I’d suggest your rose-colored glasses may be a little out of focus. The Japanese came as liberators and then were hated more than the Europeans. Something to do with the sun shining out of their god-king emporer’s backside I suspect.
As for your “The economic prowess of the Chinese in the various countries of South East Asia brought unprecedented economic wealth to those countries” — then why all the friction? Oh, I guess the poor little no-agency natives of SE Asia have so little intelligence that they just fall for the Yankee spin! Insulting I suspect and perhaps what is enfolded in the word “swagger”.
It is more likely that closed-shop Chinese triad networks brought unprecedented economic wealth to those Chinese communities with about as much ‘trickle down’ as Wall St in the 21st century … basically another largely historically despised parasitoid tribe at work on a far from level playing field claiming innate superiority.
What I find interesting is the clear and obvious difference between the ‘talk’ of Middle Kingdom and harmony-balance and the actual on-the-ground ‘walk’ of a 24/7 industrious ant colony mentality that seems to consider their wider social ecology largely as an externality.
At the moment the PRC and the USA are basically peas in the same pod as far as most other regional countries are concerned. I’m not anti-Chinese (love the food and my times in Hong Kong) but all too quickly the past 100 years of shame will become the next 100 years of Chinese swagger and hubris. It shows on the ground at the margins in small case studies; it shows in history (including Chinese attitudes towards Mongolia and the great wall); it shows in the tone of your utopian reply; and it shows in your somewhat demeaning attitude to the peoples of SE Asia who, you imply, have no history or agency other than to be passibely “fanned” by European colonialism. Caveat emptor!
Mr. same annon…,
I am going to be polite and give you a point-for-point reply.
1) In fact imo, all are (and I quote you, likely overlooked by the mod) “assholes” whether they have power or not. It all depends on whether one gives in and follows one’s “assholes-ness” or not.
2) I can find in virtually any country people who hate or love or both, the Chinese. Same as with Americans. This doesn’t prove anything i.e. whether the Chinese or Americans are loved or hated in that country. It all depends on the reasons for the love or hatred and whether those reasons could withstand scrutiny.
As for your 6ft+ Chinese tourist in Sri Lanka, he is likely a northern Chinese. The southern Chinese are shorter – not much over 5ft on average. And there is nothing wrong with a big-sized tourist “pushing his way around the locals” in a crowded festive environment. Your calling this out as something reprehensible indicates a certain prejudiced mindset.
3) The Japanese came as liberators in WW2. They were seen as such by the colonised residents and they cooperated with them, especially in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. It was the overseas Chinese, already integrated into their new homeland, who resisted the Japanese and paid a heavy price in blood.
4) When the British, Spanish and Dutch colonialists first came and subjugated the locals, they found that they needed the Chinese to come, engage in trade, open up the jungle-covered and malaria-infested interior, jump-start the economy and generate enough wealth and taxes to make the colonies economically viable and profitable.
In the Philippines and Indonesia, they were so successful that the Spanish and Dutch saw them as threats and massacred them.
In Malaysia and Singapore, the British controlled the Chinese by fanning the jealousy of the less successful ethnic groups against them – a classic divide-and-rule tactic. This also served to divert their attention from their (the colonialists’) plundering of the wealth of the country. The resulting poverty of the less economically capable was blamed on the Chinese.
But the Chinese produce their own wealth and multiplied their wealth by prudent and shrewd commerce and gave back through their taxes and philanthrophy – which made the country they live in rich. They did not exploit the country like the colonialists.
I witnessed the economic rise of the overseas Chinese from the economic ashes of WW2 with my own eyes. It was literally blood, sweat and tears.
4) Why the friction? The present ‘friction’ is due to the lingering effect of prejudices fanned by the colonialists “divide-and-rule” policies.
But, except in Singapore (Lee Kuan Yew being too capable for them), they also left behind a corrupt elite to carry on their policies in an attempt at neo-colonialism – which role was effectively taken over by the new overlord – the successors to colonialism.
5) You are right about some natives being without co-agency. In both the Philippines and Malaysia, their minds are still colonised. However, in Indonesia, a new independent national mindset free from vestiges of colonialism is apparently taking hold.
6) The overseas Chinese communities do not like the triads. The triads arose because the colonialists neglected their welfare. But the Chinese generally look upon them as, and I quote your colourful words, “largely historically despised parasitoid tribe…”.
But the Chinese communities create their wealth apart from the triads. Neither did the Chinese rely on (Hahaha!) “trickle-down”.
The triads were parasites and when the authorities finally cracked down on them, the Chinese just said “good riddance”.
7) I quote you: “What I find interesting is the clear and obvious difference between the ‘talk’ of Middle Kingdom and harmony-balance and the actual on-the-ground ‘walk’ of a 24/7 industrious ant colony mentality that seems to consider their wider social ecology largely as an externality.” Unquote.
As I pointed out earlier, the overseas Chinese were and are copious creators of wealth and payers of taxes. They are also very generous philantrophists.
It’s the corrupt ruling elites left behind by the colonialists who misused, abused and plundered the wealth created by them and the taxes paid by them. They also took a leaf from the playbook of the colonialists to divert attention from themselves and their corruption by blaming the Chinese for the resulting poverty of the non-Chinese in the country.
8) As for Chinese “swagger and hubris” – it’s a familiar accusation made by those who are jealous of Chinese success. But I don’t see the Chinese swaggering, writing and talking hubristically. But I do see that of the hegemon and its ilks, including you.
9) And lastly, if you think that it is “demeaning” to people to think that they can be “fanned”, you are very ignorant of history, including very recent history.
You forgot what Trump’s supporters did on 16/1/21 after being “fanned” by Trump. You forgot what Hitler did to fan the very intelligent Germans prior to WW2.
In fact, any people can be “fanned” including the Chinese – as can be seen during Mao’s Proletarian Culturally Revolution (1966 to 1976).