CHINA

[ootlg]

Up and coming threat to world peace?

Whatever. This latest Taiwan tantrum shows them up for what they are - stupid, childish, and completely out of touch - the new laughing stock of the world.

If we all stopped buying Chinese, they'd implode. 

[bertruss2]

It really doesn't matter if there is nuclear war because China is 'stupid' to challenge America. We'll be just as dead whether America is right or wrong to go to war to defend Taiwan.

[ootlg]

No-one wants nuclear war.

[voice]

China least of all I'd guess.

[bertruss2]

Aug 6, 2022 10:01:37 GMT ootlg said:

No-one wants nuclear war.

But they want the things that lead to nuclear war. Nuclear weapons for a start.

[perrykneeham]

Nuclear weapons lead to peace. There's a far better argument to be made there.

Maybe the argument is that a balance of a credible conventional force and nuclear capability lead to peace. Also, a credible stance.

[voice]

China, as a past imperial power, wants to re-assert its influence over its neighbours and make up for the humiliations of the late 19th C and early 20th C, its part of their national psyche these days to right what was done to them by Western imperialism and colonialism.

[bertruss2]

Nuclear weapons lead to peace.

Obviously not. As war rages in Ukraine.

But to say that nuclear weapons prevents nuclear war is daft. Nuclear disarmament is the way to go, as everyone (nearly) agrees. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty calls for nuclear disarmament. 191 countries are signed up to it.

[perrykneeham]

Nah. You don't get it. How many major conflicts since 1945?

None. A few local tiffs, bit of score-settling, a few police actions here and there.

[perrykneeham]

If you asked 191 blokes if they'd like a blow job they'd sign up for it. Doesn't mean they'll get it.

[voice]

For all of China's tantrums, they don't want a shooting match with the US, most of their tantruming is for domestic consumption and a warning to those not guaranteed US protection what might happen if they don't kowtow to China.

[perrykneeham]

Funny, it can seem like a continuation of the domino theory. Was the threat really ever communism or a choice of suzerainty?

[voice]

a mixture of both for sure, though the more I look at China the less communist they appear, its like a weird hybrid of uncontrolled capitalism and tightly controlled personal freedoms. In the end how much different to past dynasties are they?

[perrykneeham]

Quite. What the Chinese appear to like is just being allowed to get on with their lives. Stability is probably what they like. There doesn't appear to be anything communism offers the Chinese, except order.

[perrykneeham]

"The Chinese" is, I accept, a very broad brushstroke.

[perrykneeham]

Actually, there is a case to be made that "Chinese" describes a very wide set of cultural values that extend well beyond China.

[voice]

I saw this thing that Confucianism has made a big come back in the last 2 decades, and even the party higher echelons are dressing Confucianism up in a bit of communist rhetoric, a big change from Mao who destroyed monuments and temples dedicated to Confuses.

[mids]

Yeah, Mowlam was a right cow.

[happyhammerhead]

But Moe was a stooge

[mids]

Haha, yeah that's a better one.