Miscellaneous News

[Serb]

Undisputed superpowers don't, but that is not China. China is a rising and secondary superpower and as such, tact and time-biding are useful tactics rather than blunt aggressive and machoism.

China should have already passed that points of tact and being on the defensive.

China is a rising superpower, but it will never become a fully risen one, if it doesn't reclaim Taiwan. It is the last step it needs to take to become a real global superpower in the eyes of the entire world.

China could grow 5% for another 50 years, but the rest of the world won't start treating it as a real, developed super-power unless it takes Taiwan under its control. They would always point their fingers to that.

I mean how embarrassing is it to have an US vassal that's blocking your whole entrance to the open sea, which is your territory by the UN, but at which you can't even park your ships or do nothing about while they entertain Lithuanian politicians who treat it as a real country. I mean from Lithuania to America, they treat it as a separate country nowadays de jure.

 

[solarz]

The fact of the matter is, if you grow up being told by the education system and the media that you're not Chinese, that Chinese/Han identity is fake, that you're actually a colonized minority who was oppressed by the Chinese, then that's the identity you will take as an adult. To erase Taiwanese political brain washing, you have to go to the source - their control of the education system and the media.

It won't be the first time a regime has tried to erase Chinese identity, and it won't turn out anymore successful than the previous attempts.

Look at HK. The only thing that it took to start counter indoctrination is to pass the NSL. The moment Taiwan reunifies, their entire education system will get overhauled.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

Polls can't reveal this, but I've wondered, for those Taiwanese who are not total idiots, surely they must ask why their "country's" formal legal name is Republic of China if they have nothing to do with China. Ok I can imagine the answer is "those nasties from across the straits force us to call ourselves Chinese". Then, surely the response to that would be "why?"

The answer to your response has already been given to them by their rulers. "We are a colonized Taiwanese peoples, rising up to free ourselves of both red China and blue China. Taiwan independence is anti imperialism, since China is imperialist too."

I bet you didn't see that one coming, because the logic is absurd. Yet here it is.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

There is of course no intrinsic reason why Taiwan should not be part of China, if that’s what the population want. But equally there’s no reason why Taiwan must be part of China—the reality is that Taiwan has been repeatedly colonized by different imperial powers, of which China was the most successful.

 

[BoraTas]

China should have already passed that points of tact and being on the defensive.

China is a rising superpower, but it will never become a fully risen one, if it doesn't reclaim Taiwan. It is the last step it needs to take to become a real global superpower in the eyes of the entire world.

China could grow 5% for another 50 years, but the rest of the world won't start treating it as a real, developed super-power unless it takes Taiwan under its control. They would always point their fingers to that.

I mean how embarrassing is it to have an US vassal that's blocking your whole entrance to the open sea, which is your territory by the UN, but at which you can't even park your ships or do nothing about while they entertain Lithuanian politicians who treat it as a real country. I mean from Lithuania to America, they treat it as a separate country nowadays de jure.

I agree. If Taiwanese trolling will be let continue, Chinese credibility as a power will be opened to questioning. Power ultimately only exists if its wielder is willing to use it. The existence of the will must be demonstrated. I don't think we are currently at that point. But we are close.

 

[emblem21]

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Mayor Of Seoul Calls For South Korea To Develop Nuclear Weapons​

South Korea should develop and build nuclear weapons as a means to defend itself from the growing nuclear threat from North Korea, the mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-hoon, said in an

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

with Reuters published on Monday.

South Korea doesn’t have a domestic nuclear weapons program, but the recent tensions over increased threats from North Korea have intensified calls from some politicians in South Korea that the south needs to be able to defend itself.

“North Korea has nearly succeeded in miniaturising and lightening tactical nuclear weapons and secured at least dozens of warheads,” Oh told Reuters in an exclusive interview.

“We've come to a point where it is difficult to convince people with the logic that we should refrain from developing nuclear weapons and stick to the cause of denuclearisation.”

Oh and other members of South Korea’s ruling conservative People Power Party have been advocating for a domestic nuclear arsenal in the increasingly heated debate over whether South Korea should have nuclear weapons.

According to the most recent opinion polls among South Koreans, a majority of them

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

the development of nuclear weapons in the country.

“Taken together, the data suggests that the support for a domestic nuclear weapons program is robust, long-standing, and unlikely to dissipate,” Karl Friedhoff, the Marshall M. Bouton Fellow for Asia Studies at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs,

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

last month.

Meanwhile, North Korea

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

on Monday that it would “mercilessly punish” the United States, just ahead of the largest U.S.-South Korea military drills in years. North Korea has also launched two cruise missiles from a submarine.

South Korea’s Joint Chief of Staff on Monday confirmed it had detected a launch from North Korea, adding that the “The detailed specifications are being analyzed precisely by the South Korean and US intelligence authorities,” per the statement cited by Bloomberg.

Isn’t it a little too late to develop nuclear weapons when the biggest source of uranium comes from Russia and the time it takes to develop the tech is literally in the decades. By the time South Korea gets even part of the work done, North Korea would’ve with the help of Russia and China take back South Korea with ease. Of course this is contingent on the USA falling to mad max levels but anyone can make that conclusion when the USA is now reduced to bank runs and endless money printing with no end in sight along with how they spread so thin and any retreat would amount of a cut off from the resources in the region along with a major cut in world wide credibility along with yet another free win for China. In the future, the west may indeed be reduced to sticks and stones but Russia and China will still have guns and missiles so it’s going to be quite obvious given how small South Korea is that well, on borrowed time given how they only have so much land for manufacturing and weapons development (if they even have that) so really small time bullsh!t has no place in a world where power and sustained supply chains matter, no one where the supply can easily be cut off. If I was these silly people making silly comments like that, I would be careful because any of these anti China and Russia people will be easily replaced and disposed of when the future dictates who has the Mandate of Heaven and it certainly isn’t the west and the west will not be given any more time to complain unless they wish to be liquidated for other more reasonable people to take their place. This includes any and every US senator who makes money gaming the system that is rapidly failing even now

 

[Serb]

I agree. If Taiwanese trolling will be let continue, Chinese credibility as a power will be opened to questioning. Power ultimately only exists if its wielder is willing to use it. The existence of the will must be demonstrated. I don't think we are currently at that point. But we are close.

That point is another 4 years away. To develop nuclear based carrier 004, submarines type 095 and 096, H-20, and China is a complete superpower with its strenghts and weaknesses but a global superpower nonetheless. At that time the last stamp for its status to gets verified is to get back Taiwan. If it, however, doesn't get Taiwan back, then all is meaningless. They would still, in perception around the world, be under the US instead its equals in a bi-multipolar world.

Let's explain it this way, China doesn't reclaim Taiwan under its control in 2050, but they have a fleet large enough to achieve true global projection, which country would them ask them for protectiom, instead of the US, despite the same capabilities? One can't solve a problem 100km from its borders, how will it then solve a problem at Latin America for example? Then despite the sam capabilities, Latin countries would still chose the US just because they are more assertive.

 

[Deleted member 23272]

If China's cultural exports were strong, a lot more people would be weirded out by the notion of the Chinese threat. So their governments wouldn't be able to increase military spending and activity this easily. That would be a net positive for China in WESTPAC. So yes, animated films or dancing girls can have a real impact on the military balance in a region.

Promoting Chinese culture is important, but I really have to put my foot down and speak out against this notion diasporic Chinese still seem to have in thinking entertainment products have an actual role to play in diplomacy.

I mean if entertainment products is everything, why didn't Turkey negotiate the rapproachment between Iran and Saudi Arabia? In recent years Turkish dramas about the Ottoman Empire have reached Game of Thrones level of popularity in those countries, while most people in the region can't name a single Chinese actor outside of Jackie Chan and Jet Li. And yet it was ultimately China that brokered the groundbreaking deal. But if we were to go by the reddit Asian school of diplomacy, there need not to have been any complex talks about mutual interest, investment, economics, and security. That stuff is "boring," all Turkey had to do was go, "You like Ertugrul, you like Ertugrul, we made Ertugrul, we all love Ertugrul, let's make peace!"

Ironically, for all the talks about using entertainment to condition other country's citizens to change their foreign policy's, I think its only due to the years of conditioning Overseas Asians have been suscepted to with respect to the "importance of representation" that leads to such inane discussions about the impact of entertainment in geopolitics or even domestic politics. Like yeah, I'm happy that an Asian American movie won Best Picture at the Oscars recently and that many Asian diaspora actors who have been long robbed finally got their dues. Does it change anything though? The fact that many 1st Gen Asians in major cities still have to look over their shoulder when walking down the street? The fact that the government is all hellbent on banning Chinese companies and their subsidiaries? The fact several states want to bar people of Chinese heritage from owning propety and attending university?

No it does not, nor would countries out of the blue change their foreign and domestic interests on a dime, just because they suddenly went gaga over a Chinese soap opera.

 

[Feima]

I mean how embarrassing is it to have an US vassal that's blocking your whole entrance to the open sea

I dunno. My view of China's position is they see Taiwanese as Chinese and they don't want to get into a Chinese-killing-Chinese situation, especially when it is exactly what the global hegemon is baiting them into doing. I don't see that as an embarrassment for China at all.

Now, how easily the Taiwanese, who have so-called freedom of speech, easy access to "uncensored" material on the Internet, allow themselves to be brainwashed to becoming a foreign vassal, now, that's embarrassing.

 

[BoraTas]

Promoting Chinese culture is important, but I really have to put my foot down and speak out against this notion diasporic Chinese still seem to have in thinking entertainment products have an actual role to play in diplomacy.

I mean if entertainment products is everything, why didn't Turkey negotiate the rapproachment between Iran and Saudi Arabia? In recent years Turkish dramas about the Ottoman Empire have reached Game of Thrones level of popularity in those countries, while most people in the region can't name a single Chinese actor outside of Jackie Chan and Jet Li. And yet it was ultimately China that brokered the groundbreaking deal. But if we were to go by the reddit Asian school of diplomacy, there need to have been to complex talks about mutual interest, investment, economics, and security. That stuff puts people to sleep, all Turkey had to do was go, "You like Ertugrul, you like Ertugrul, we made Ertugrul, we all love Ertugrul, let's make peace!"

Ironically, for all the talks about using entertainment to condition other country's citizens to change their foreign policy's, I think its only due to the years of conditioning Overseas Asians have been suscepted to with respect to the importance of representation that leads to such inane discussions about the impact of entertainment in geopolitics or even domestic politics. Like yeah, I'm happy that an Asian American movie won Best Picture at the Oscars recently and that many Asian diaspora actors who have been long robbed finally got their dues. Does it change anything though? The fact that many 1st Gen Asians in major cities still have to look over their shoulder when walking down the street? The fact that the government is all hellbent on banning Chinese companies and their subsidiaries? The fact that states are going to bar people of Chinese heritage from owning propety and attending university?

No it does not, nor would countries out of the blue change their foreign and domestic interests on a dime, just because they suddenly went gaga over a Chinese soap opera.

Well. I am Turkish Don't pull my sentences to meanings I never even implied. I didn't say soft power is everything. I said it is important and lacking it has real consequences.

 

[manqiangrexue]

China should have already passed that points of tact and being on the defensive.

Why should it have? Is it comprehensively more powerful than the US already? Is it dominantly more powerful? Coming out of defense and acting like you own the world too early vs at the right time (after solidly surpassing the US) is the difference between WWIII with uncertain outcome and a successful transition to a Sino-led world order. Leave a margin of error.

China is a rising superpower, but it will never become a fully risen one, if it doesn't reclaim Taiwan. It is the last step it needs to take to become a real global superpower in the eyes of the entire world.

That is the last step. The step before that is becoming stronger than the US and whatever "allied" forces it can muster up by a margin that makes the US fear war.

China could grow 5% for another 50 years, but the rest of the world won't start treating it as a real, developed super-power unless it takes Taiwan under its control. They would always point their fingers to that.

I don't think so. The Western world is in a panic over China's rising power as it is. Those 2 things are not connected; Taiwan matters to China; it matters to the US because it matters to China. It pretty much doesn't matter to anyone else.

I mean how embarrassing is it to have an US vassal that's blocking your whole entrance to the open sea, which is your territory by the UN, but at which you can't even park your ships or do nothing about while they entertain Lithuanian politicians who treat it as a real country. I mean from Lithuania to America, they treat it as a separate country nowadays de jure.

It's embarrassing but it's going to be much more than embarrassing if China jumps the gun. "I'm embarrassed so I'll go to war now, possibly lose, possibly start WWIII, definitely get things incredibly messy," has no place in strategic planning when staying calm and growing can lead to a clean and decisive victory further down the road. @tamsen_ikard is completely right that China, rising at the speed it is, has every interest in putting this off into the future where the power balance is much more in its favor to the point of total domination. Why do you think the US is trying to embarrass China into acting now?