Miscellaneous News

AssassinsMace

Lieutenant General
This Peng Shuai thing is all about the Olympics as usual. She's an unknown in the West. Why would they care? I could always bring up the Atlanta spa shooting. It was reported as a part of the wave of anti-Asian violence going on the US but it was about American men and their Asian female perverted fetishes which was hardly mentioned. Or how about the many serial rapists I hear of in the SF Bay Area where I live that target Asian women and the perpetrator isn't an Asian male. Where's #MeToo? If it were white women being victims of serial rapists, there would be rallies of support for the victims, politicians would come out and demand authorities step up their investigation, and it would be all over the news. You get none of that when Asian women are the victims... and it makes it look like it doesn't happen which is the point. And then the West thinks it has the moral authority to judge China on something they could care less about.

They want to ruin the Winter Olympics for China. That's what it's all about. Some members in here argue with me that China doesn't seek Western acceptance. Holding the Olympics or any other international sporting event is all about being accepted by the West. Beijing pursues these things because regular Chinese citizens see China as being up there with the elites of the West by holding these events therefore justifying the legitimacy of Beijing. Why do Chinese want Western brand name associations. Why do they buy products of luxury Western brand names? It's all about thinking they're up there with the West. And the irony is Chinese make many of these products for these luxury brand names.

If you don't value it, it becomes worthless and then they lose power over you. The problem I see is some Chinese see nothing beyond the West and Chinese progress is stuck at the level of the West meaning the West will always be seen as the top and there's nothing beyond. When China was pursuing to be a part of the International Space Station, Beijing thought just doing the basics of what the West did in space was enough for membership. Maybe the Chinese think like that but the US could care less. Chinese already acknowledge they're lesser than the West that they need Western acceptance to feel like they're up there with the West. Chinese who give them that power means the West has power over them. China is the second most powerful country in the world and has the US, at No. 1, worried about losing their crown by doing everything the West doesn't want China to do. Do the math!

China should end the WTA in China since they threatened it. China should stop participating in the Olympics. These are all Western prestige events that China should stop participating in because in the end it's all about the money and they're only in China because they want to make money. They're banking on China wanting the prestige more that gives them the power. Biden's advisor Kurt Campbell has all his anti-China strategies revolving around China's pursuit of prestige to get China to submit. Look at all these worthless prestige things that Chinese pursue that gives the West a lot of power. Their problem with China in general is they think China is disrupting the world order which really is the Western world order. Why not? They'll lie that it is a fair system but all you see is Westerners on top. They fear China will supplant the West. Did China do it through war? No, but they still have a problem with it because they expect China to help support a system that is geared to keep the West on top. They would rather have China do it through war because that gives them an excuse to stop it. They use China stealing intellectual property as making China's rise illegitimate. Like how they got to power by raping the world... and stealing others intellectual property along the way...? Some Chinese don't use that against them because they want Western acceptance and doing that will work against them getting that.
 
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Overbom

Brigadier
Registered Member
This is the core of the problem. Why is China even acknowledging this in any way, shape, or form? It should deal with America like a competent parent deals with an entitled child. If the child starts crying because it wants a candy bar and China gives it a candy bar, it'll learn that they way to get candy bars is by crying and screaming and making a scene. No candy bar.

The way to deal with this is not to say it's an internal matter or try to "reassure" or anything like that. That's giving the whiny brat a candy bar. The way to deal with it is not to acknowledge it, and to drive home that you're not acknowledging it. If people like Hu Xijin were doing their jobs right, they would say that the sequence of syllables "Peng Shuai" has no meaning and that China isn't going to discuss a topic - any topic - just because the US wants to discuss it.

For the people who really want soft power, this is how you go about getting it. I'd like to see useful suggestions like this from them instead of the usual waste of digital ink.
I agree. But can we also agree that China should start setting up its own international sport associations?

This is getting ridiculous. In every kind of western-dominated association, China is getting the short stick. The West is using its dominant position there to suppress China in all fronts

I sincerely hope that after the Beijing Olympics end, China will start creating its own international institutions/associations/competitions for sports

Also set up own versions of Olympics for the Global South, SCO, Central Asia, Africa etc

This is unacceptable. China can just give the money and subsidise these new initiatives. It could also create goodwill by having more developing countries host competitions, involve more local and exotic sports, fund sport development in the global South

Enough is enough. They keep using their racist sport associations to suppress China. This is unacceptable.
And yes, this "politics has no place in sports" is pure bs. Time to rip the bandaid off
 
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Cyclist

Junior Member
It's those countries who need to cooperate with China, not the other way around.

Exactly. What's the problem? Do you think Japan is with the US because it really likes hamburgers? My history might be a bit spotty, but I distinctly remember two nuclear weapons being involved somewhere in the process.

Proponents of "soft power" should answer a simple question: How? I want opinions of China in the US and EU to be at least 60% positive within the next 6 months. What's your plan to deliver that? Until you answer that question, all you're doing is uselessly inflating page counts.
These past 2 years had been a difficult years because of trade wars, Hong Kong protests, Covid-19, China-India conflicts. All enemies of China are lined up together and many of you probably realise too, that's when many Chinese or foreigners in China and overseas come out and try to defend China from all the wrong accusations against China.

If China has better image, maybe we can avoid Hong Kong protest altogether. Why are there Hong Kong people who hated people from Mainland China? IMHO, one of the reasons because many of their ancestors probably were rich people or at least had money/properties, when China became communist country, most of their wealth were confiscated or distributed to poor people in China and they fled to Hong Kong or Taiwan. My suggestion is national reconciliation with them. Same reason with some people in Taiwan.

Regarding trade wars, this as many of you pointed out, white supremacy exists that's why China need to become strong (hard power and soft power). Even when China was poor during the 19th/20th century, discrimination toward Chinese already exists. When Japanese become rich, the westerners do not like them too and mistakenly killed Vincent Chin (
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Covid-19 is not China's mistake and I think it handles nicely but with more strong public relations effort like making the vaccine or ppe or medical equipment very cheap or more donations toward poorer countries will benefit China's image. Rich and powerful and philanthropist. I would rather like billionaires who help the poor rather than the greedy billionaire, it's just my opinion. I think many of you agree that you will like Jack Ma who donate rather than the one who doesn't. Does China need to do that? No. But what is wrong with giving back a little and you will have great favor from them later on. The world is China's customer. As good seller usually you need to give back a little to your customer so they can become loyal to you.

As for China-India conflicts, I think all has been discussed in the recent Ladakh thread.

This thread has been out of topic because it specifically said no discussion. My earlier post was simply China needs to improve and it has been dragging until now.
 

Overbom

Brigadier
Registered Member
Shouldn't China just let WTA cancel all their events in China. They should not get China's money if they cannot respect China.
China should end the WTA in China since they threatened it. China should stop participating in the Olympics. These are all Western prestige events that China should stop participating in because in the end it's all about the money and they're only in China because they want to make money. They're banking on China wanting the prestige more that gives them the power.
Agree completely. After the Beijing Olympics, time for new sport (and other sectors) institutions. All these supposedly "neutral" sport organisations have clearly shown their true colours.

China should follow a simple formula. Whatever influencial western-dominated international institution exists, China should create its own with its allies.
 

manqiangrexue

Brigadier
I think there is a general tendency to confuse extended non-violent hard power with soft power. I see some people saying that when other countries are drawn to admire your culture because you are powerful, that that is soft power, but to me, it is not, because it is reliant on and is backed by hard power. To me, it is extended cultural, nonviolent hard power that comes naturally as your core hard power is built. If you you disagree, could you fellas define what you think is the difference between soft and hard power?

@Wangxi from your post, I can say that Hong Kong is not a matter of soft power. The British had a de facto stranglehold over it and controlled what the young people were educated with. The ROC media is also controlled by their government, the primary principle of which is to hug America's leg and antagonize China ever since Chiang lost to Mao. It is extremely unfair for you to suggest that China can overturn this with some PR or "soft power." It is the same as saying that the US has terrible PR and soft power because North Korea, Iran, Venezuela will not follow it. The trend is the same all over the world with very little difference to PR skill but correlated perfectly or nearly perfectly with political alignment. China is seen positively in the countries that are politically aligned with China and poorly in countries aligned with the US and these alignments are made by hard power, which is why the US has more followers. During the Olympics, Russia automatically added the ROC and Hong Kong to China's medal count saying that nobody can beat China giving China a PR boost in Russia not because China asked for it, but because that's what they want to see politically and because China had the hard power to deliver it. In countries that are politically aligned with the US, even when China wins outright, they say that China cheated or suggest that somehow it's cheating to train your children from too young an age or to work them too hard. You cannot win this bullshit with soft power, only with hard power. Your recommendation of a massive expensive drive that will lead to very marginal gains that are very easily combatted by Western nations in their own territories or spheres of influence is a terrible way to spend money with very little change for the heavy price tag. In the end, the results will be the same; countries that are politically aligned with China will like China and those who are politically aligned with the US will hate China. China will gauge what it spends on PR based on the benefits it continues to receive vs the cost as going down this path will encounter severe diminishing returns while investments in hard power will compound in effect as the balance tilts. This will give you not only the hard power to fight irreconcilable rivals as well as supply the secondary effects of hard power (that people often confuse with soft power) to win over countries that aren't invested into either side. Investments in image PR will encounter heavy resistance while investments in hard power is a rolling snowball killing multiple birds with one stone.

@xypher Let's not make assumptions about what happened with Peng, the man she accused, and how the officials handled it. The facts are not out (but we do know she's been dining just fine).

Chinese entertainment and gaming need to be regulated and tamped down. Just because you're getting some international viewers doesn't mean it's worth the cost at home to have people idolizing the wrong image and wasting their time doing the wrong things. Chinese hard power depends on young people getting their heads in the game (and that, ironically, means not a video game), studying and having the desire to serve the country instead of turning themselves into the soft cute boys seen on TV, so these regulations were made. Whatever international effects they have need to be sacrificed for China's hard power growth at home. Don't think that just because people like you more, you're doing the right thing.

As I said, countries like Japan, Korea, France, are often romanticized in the US-aligned countries because they are non-threatening and make people feel comfortable while just hearing China makes American's heart rate and blood pressure go up. You cannot compete with these countries in fuzzy feelings because China is, by nature, a nation that rivals their world structure and gives them nightmares in their sleep. This is natural, not due to any failure on China's part.

@escobar I like that new nickname ;) Thanks!
 
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