Naval divers working to clear fishing nets from the HMAS Toowoomba's propellers were forced to exit the water when a Chinese warship began operating its hull-mounted sonar, in an incident labelled "unsafe and unprofessional".
You know 20 years ago I lived there and everyone was so kind, hopeful, and excited for the future. They saw their lives improving and their freedoms growing. When Obama was elected people would stop me in the street, give me a thumbs up. They knew enough that it was a big deal for Americans. They felt a part of the world and hopeful for the future.
Then Xi comes to power, locks down everything, youth get fucked, 24/7 propaganda against the west. Last time I was there for work before the pandemic and people were stopping me in the street to tell me how much more powerful China was over America. Shout nasty things to me in Chinese randomly. He really is a dictator and fucked those people over. My friends are extremely cautious on what we discuss over the phone or by email now. We don’t need our own Xi rising to power again here.
Xi Jinping hasn’t been much more radical than Hu Jintao, who, in case you forgot, gained popularity through his crackdown of Tibetan dissidents.
There’s always white people who claim to know how China works, but they don’t because at the end of the day it’s not their culture, it’s not their people, and it’s not their history.
I think he came off as a bit of a jerk. And I think he isn’t giving Xi quite enough credit. But they aren’t wrong, and they aren’t defending Xi. Xi like trump is a culmination of a toxic culture of concentrated power and ignorance.
Tiananmen square happened in 89. Long before Xi came to power. China has practiced oppression on it’s own people for decades. Much like every country that took their cues from leninism. Many Chinese tolerated it because despite their leadership things were improving at large. Much like how Americans generally ignore the plight of the poor, minorities, and immigrants. As long as they have their bread and circuses.
Problem is China has been projecting their oppression for some time now under Xi and saber rattling like western powers often get a pass on. But decades of bad decisions are coming home to roost. And their growth is finally slowing. That’s more responsible for changes in attitude than anything Xi in particular has done.
On the Chinese political scale, Xi would be seen as right-moderate. His rhetoric is in line with a good chunk of Chinese citizens, but ostracizes Shanghai and some of the southeastern coastal elite.
Famously, Xi Jinping said “houses should be for living, not for speculation.”
The notion that China’s growth is slowing is true, but I think it lacks context. For the past decade or so, Chinese economic growth has been buoyed by a burgeoning construction sector. With changes to economic policy a few years back, that sector is seeing contraction and regressing back to replacement rate. Real estate shrank from nearly 30% of GDP to less than 20%. Yet, China is still reporting GDP growth in excess of 5% this year. Eventually the real estate industry will plateau, but nobody really knows where or when.
Famously, Xi Jinping said “houses should be for living, not for speculation.”
And in that he’s 100% right. And you’re also correct about the context. Belt an road is a post rebranding of wasteful infrastructure spending to prop up the countries economics. Not that governments shouldn’t spend on infrastructure. But the way China has been doing it has been a method to prop up a very unstable house of cards. Literally just throwing around money all over the place with very little return. In the end, just making things worse really.
IIRC China denominates their loans in USD because they have a massive USD surplus due to the US-China trade imbalance. It’s aligned with China’s policy today of rapidly shrinking US Treasury holdings.
Which is only going to cause them more problems long run. In a state capitalist society, or any other capitalist society for that matter. Worthless debt is worthless. Capitalism is unsustainable. But if it was sustainable it would require healthy trading partners. So they’re really shooting themselves in the foot on that front. And none of the giant fancy ghost stations or high speed rail lines built out to the rural parts of China. The party has largely ignored and failed to benefit for most it’s existence is going to change that. Especially with the population disparity.
If they were truly socialist/communist, at this point they’d be pretty secure. Instead of slowly heading for an inevitable crash. It isn’t just them though. The west is getting ready to crash again soon. And we can’t be bothered to mitigate it.
You know 20 years ago I lived there and everyone was so kind, hopeful, and excited for the future. They saw their lives improving and their freedoms growing. When Obama was elected people would stop me in the street, give me a thumbs up. They knew enough that it was a big deal for Americans. They felt a part of the world and hopeful for the future.
Then Xi comes to power, locks down everything, youth get fucked, 24/7 propaganda against the west. Last time I was there for work before the pandemic and people were stopping me in the street to tell me how much more powerful China was over America. Shout nasty things to me in Chinese randomly. He really is a dictator and fucked those people over. My friends are extremely cautious on what we discuss over the phone or by email now. We don’t need our own Xi rising to power again here.
That’s sad to hear. I hope it gets better but I can’t say I’m optimistic
It’s gonna get worse.
That’s because dude’s making shit up
Xi Jinping hasn’t been much more radical than Hu Jintao, who, in case you forgot, gained popularity through his crackdown of Tibetan dissidents.
There’s always white people who claim to know how China works, but they don’t because at the end of the day it’s not their culture, it’s not their people, and it’s not their history.
How’s work going buddy?
https://graphika.com/reports/spamouflage-breakout
I think he came off as a bit of a jerk. And I think he isn’t giving Xi quite enough credit. But they aren’t wrong, and they aren’t defending Xi. Xi like trump is a culmination of a toxic culture of concentrated power and ignorance.
Tiananmen square happened in 89. Long before Xi came to power. China has practiced oppression on it’s own people for decades. Much like every country that took their cues from leninism. Many Chinese tolerated it because despite their leadership things were improving at large. Much like how Americans generally ignore the plight of the poor, minorities, and immigrants. As long as they have their bread and circuses.
Problem is China has been projecting their oppression for some time now under Xi and saber rattling like western powers often get a pass on. But decades of bad decisions are coming home to roost. And their growth is finally slowing. That’s more responsible for changes in attitude than anything Xi in particular has done.
On the Chinese political scale, Xi would be seen as right-moderate. His rhetoric is in line with a good chunk of Chinese citizens, but ostracizes Shanghai and some of the southeastern coastal elite.
Famously, Xi Jinping said “houses should be for living, not for speculation.”
The notion that China’s growth is slowing is true, but I think it lacks context. For the past decade or so, Chinese economic growth has been buoyed by a burgeoning construction sector. With changes to economic policy a few years back, that sector is seeing contraction and regressing back to replacement rate. Real estate shrank from nearly 30% of GDP to less than 20%. Yet, China is still reporting GDP growth in excess of 5% this year. Eventually the real estate industry will plateau, but nobody really knows where or when.
And in that he’s 100% right. And you’re also correct about the context. Belt an road is a post rebranding of wasteful infrastructure spending to prop up the countries economics. Not that governments shouldn’t spend on infrastructure. But the way China has been doing it has been a method to prop up a very unstable house of cards. Literally just throwing around money all over the place with very little return. In the end, just making things worse really.
IIRC China denominates their loans in USD because they have a massive USD surplus due to the US-China trade imbalance. It’s aligned with China’s policy today of rapidly shrinking US Treasury holdings.
Which is only going to cause them more problems long run. In a state capitalist society, or any other capitalist society for that matter. Worthless debt is worthless. Capitalism is unsustainable. But if it was sustainable it would require healthy trading partners. So they’re really shooting themselves in the foot on that front. And none of the giant fancy ghost stations or high speed rail lines built out to the rural parts of China. The party has largely ignored and failed to benefit for most it’s existence is going to change that. Especially with the population disparity.
If they were truly socialist/communist, at this point they’d be pretty secure. Instead of slowly heading for an inevitable crash. It isn’t just them though. The west is getting ready to crash again soon. And we can’t be bothered to mitigate it.