US now calling China out as a superpower

O

ougoah

Brigadier
Registered Member
Sly, very sly. They are quite clearly creating a false dichotomy and trying hard to set China up for failure while talking it up on one hand and criticising it on another. The attack is mostly centered around China's economy. Once that falls, the CCP will have a harder time maintaining legitimacy and it'll make it easier for the US to fracture China. China can only truly be one thing, not occupy several conflicting states. It is a nation not a sub-atomic particle. This whole intentional manipulation through use of language is the classic western playbook method. Very cunning :cool:
 
A

AndrewS

Brigadier
Registered Member
ougoah said:
Sly, very sly. They are quite clearly creating a false dichotomy and trying hard to set China up for failure while talking it up on one hand and criticising it on another. The attack is mostly centered around China's economy. Once that falls, the CCP will have a harder time maintaining legitimacy and it'll make it easier for the US to fracture China. China can only truly be one thing, not occupy several conflicting states. It is a nation not a sub-atomic particle. This whole intentional manipulation through use of language is the classic western playbook method. Very cunning :cool:
Click to expand...

I agree that it currently isn't in China's interests to accept the label of superpower.

But thinking about it, I've noticed it in the NY Times, Washington Post, The Economist, London Financial Times, The Nikkei etc

So some opinion pieces from the relevant ambassadors to counter the superpower label would actually be useful.
 
O

ougoah

Brigadier
Registered Member
Bide your time, hide your strength. The people who matter know messing with China beyond certain points is suicide or will come at great costs to them so that is enough. It is better for the rest of the sheep to think a little low of China. Although hurting China's image is harmful. So that's exactly what those western elites are doing. Talking up China's threat on a global level and making it seem like China's taking over. All while they keep exaggerating and unfairly scrutinising every single scandal and incident related to China. They ignore all the more embarrassing and serious scandals that happen around the world from Ethiopia to Japan (there plenty Japanese scandals) and even their own.

So all this points to it being an intentional effort, designed for a purpose. We need to put in effort in injecting some truth, thoughtfulness, and empathy to combat that propaganda. China is NOT a superpower in the same league as the US so using that word is harmful because it can only create fear, jealousy, and loathing while also creating doubt of Chinese abilities and claims because of course China will fail to measure up to superpower status since it is absolutely not one at the moment or even near future... according to nominal size of total economy (not year on productivity) and living standards metrics. Chinese are not ones to call themselves superpower and certainly do not like others saying this when it is clear they have sinister intentions. Part of which is to put more pressure on China to "act" like a superpower and be "responsible" in such a way that the US would prefer. They can keep their false flattery because we want self-determination. Maybe they can try this garbage on India in coming decades.
 
Last edited:
A

AndrewS

Brigadier
Registered Member
ougoah said:
Bide your time, hide your strength. The people who matter know messing with China beyond certain points is suicide or will come at great costs to them so that is enough. It is better for the rest of the sheep to think a little low of China. Although hurting China's image is harmful. So that's exactly what those western elites are doing. Talking up China's threat on a global level and making it seem like China's taking over. All while they keep exaggerating and unfairly scrutinising every single scandal and incident related to China. They ignore all the more embarrassing and serious scandals that happen around the world from Ethiopia to Japan (there plenty Japanese scandals) and even their own.

So all this points to it being an intentional effort, designed for a purpose. We need to put in effort in injecting some truth, thoughtfulness, and empathy to combat that propaganda. China is NOT a superpower in the same league as the US so using that word is harmful because it can only create fear, jealousy, and loathing while also creating doubt of Chinese abilities and claims because of course China will fail to measure up to superpower status since it is absolutely not one at the moment or even near future... according to nominal size of total economy (not year on productivity) and living standards metrics. Chinese are not ones to call themselves superpower and certainly do not like others saying this when it is clear they have sinister intentions. Part of which is to put more pressure on China to "act" like a superpower and be "responsible" in such a way that the US would prefer. They can keep their false flattery because we want self-determination. Maybe they can try this garbage on India in coming decades.
Click to expand...

Well, what I see is a mainly a mixture of awe and fear in reporting, because the average intellectual in the West has so little knowledge about Asia.

Yet they are now being forced to write intelligent analyses about what is happening in China.

And when people talk about whether a country is a superpower, the main aspect they focus on is the military and I think this will remain so.

Over the past 20 years, China consciously decided to keep military spending low and field a significantly inferior military force to the USA, and therefore was disregarded as a superpower rival by many in the US.

In comparison, the USSR bankrupted themselves by trying to overmatch the US and its allies. Ironically China and the USA were quasi-allies in the latter part of the cold war against the USSR. The US was even operating a signals intelligence station in Xinjiang, which was aimed at the USSR. And I remember that China was actually regarded as a quasi-superpower back in the 1980s because it did have nuclear weapons along with a very large conventional military force.
 
A

AndrewS

Brigadier
Registered Member
So it's interesting when we see Mattis being very clear that he considers Superpower China a competitor rather than an enemy.

And that makes sense, because over the past 20 years, China consistently spent a modest 2% of GDP on the military because it didn't feel particularly under threat, whereas the USA spent an average of 4% of GDP.

But if China does start to think that the USA is treating China as an enemy, we would likely see a rapid increase in military spending.

Given that China has a GDP approaching 25 Trillion USD in PPP terms this year, an increase in military spending to 4% means an extra $500 Billion for the Chinese military every year. It also means China would be spending more on the military than the USA.

From the Chinese perspective, that money could be better spent elsewhere on domestic economic development, because the average Chinese person is still pretty poor.
And from the US perspective, they don't want China suddenly becoming a global military superpower.
And the rest of world would look on with alarm and fear, if the US and China become locked in a cold war mentality.

And in Beijing, there is now serious debate as to whether the USA will try to contain China and keep China poor and undeveloped.

If the Hawks in Beijing ever win that debate, then there probably will be an arms buildup by China.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top