Miscellaneous News

Crang said:

@escobar according to Wall Street Journal China already has more soft power than USA. USA is playing "Catch Up" to China.

What do you say @escobar

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manqiangrexue said:

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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AssassinsMace said:

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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escobar said:

Yep. like i said, they can't counter west PR because they are already enamored, charmed and captivated by it. Already defeated even before it begin. At least they no longer participate to the supercomputer TOP500 PR, lol

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manqiangrexue said:

If you you disagree, could you fellas define what you think is the difference between soft and hard power?

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xypher said:

Btw, the PR stuff aside, China should absolutely call WTA's bluff and tell them to pull out of China. We all know that they are not leaving China.

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Dolcevita said:

Shouldn't China just let WTA cancel all their events in China. They should not get China's money if they cannot respect China.

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AssassinsMace said:

Spin. China is the second most powerful country in the world and has the US worried about losing it's number one spot. What I pointed out is a problem that needs to be rectified and China will skyrocket further. What you try to spin is China should just give up.

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