The Situation with China

[spireite]

Sorry for the Daily Fail link - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...S-spy-plane-disputed-South-China-Sea-CNN.html

It basically looks like China is laying claim to areas of international/disputed waters in the South China sea and militarising them. I can see them and the US doing a fair amount of posturing and muscle-flexing in the near future. Do people think the time will ever come where we need to be seriously concerned about China?

 

[Stagat]

Do people think the time will ever come where we need to be seriously concerned about China?

Militarily, I don't reckon so, no. They're all about peaceful expansion. Investment rather than invasion. Have never really been any different, for millennia I reckon.

No matter the rights or wrongs, these islands are being built in waters they believe to be their own. They are in Tibet because they believe it to be Chinese, no different to Xinjiang, Hong Kong, or even Beijing really. It's a civilisation state. They believe Taiwan is theirs and will one day return to China without the need for force too.

(That link there is a good article into the Chinese psyche btw, might help to understand a bit more.)

They're not building landing strips to launch attacks from here; more defending what they consider to be theirs. That's what they do.

There might be skirmishes if the US gets involved in the South China Sea, and it will of course be blamed on what China is doing (in our media anyway, the Chinese will say they're defending their territory), but China aren't going to kick off or fire first.

What they will do though is keep investing globally until they have more power in those terms than most people in the West might feel comfortable with. Personally, I wouldn't even be seriously concerned about that either. There are a lot worse people who could have that power.

Compared to what's going off in other places at the minute, China are veritable good guys.

 

[Bottega Don]

I will be the Survivor of course, no situation at all.

 

[mnb089mnb]

China is investing a remarkable amount in Africa. It seems that most countries on the continent have a stadium built by the Chinese - massive infrastructure investment roads etc. too.

 

[spireite]

What I find interesting is that the US military invited CNN to come along to record the exchange with the Chinese. Strikes me as odd. It's almost like the US 'expects' escalation and is laying the groundwork to say 'look, it wasn't our fault'

 

[Stagat]

China is investing a remarkable amount in Africa. It seems that most countries on the continent have a stadium built by the Chinese - massive infrastructure investment roads etc. too.

Yep. Stadiums are small fry too for the Chinese but a big gesture for the locals. I remember reading (but can't now find) an article detailing Chinese investment in the South Pacific. Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, I forget. IIRC they pretty much just built a really poor quality town hall and paved an airstrip for them, and now have them onside for such things as UN votes.

As you say, roads, railway investment in Europe even, airports (including Manchester), and even having Huawei blocked from investing in the States by Obama himself for dubious reasons.

What I find interesting is that the US military invited CNN to come along to record the exchange with the Chinese. Strikes me as odd. It's almost like the US 'expects' escalation and is laying the groundwork to say 'look, it wasn't our fault'

It's almost like they're trying to create a narrative, isn't it?

I've just looked back at that Mail article (cheers mate) to grab this quote:

'This is the Chinese navy ... You go!'

What's with the broken English? Don't parentheses [such as] these normally get added to make non-English speaking officials sound less like foreign savages?

 

[liu]

What China are doing in South China Sea is no worse than what the other countries involved such as Viet Nam and Philipines. Building islands is not a Chinese thing either. This area is disputed among a lot of countries for a reason. It's hard to tell right from wrong.
Being a Chinese myself, I can assure you that China won't be a military threat to the west. Most Chinese Politicians sent their children and assets to America and Europe.

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

building islands is a pretty controversial, new move internationally. do believe the un guidelines in terms of territorial recognition are that ships, oil processing refineries AND artificially created landmasses (and coral) all fall under the purview of 'not actual territory fuck off'. ofc recognition hinges more on the range of your guns rather than the hilariously incompetent un. so china have it, obvsly. who else can challenge them in their lake lol

if u think chinese claims are bad u should see taiwan's though for real. not only do they claim in the ENTIRETY two sovereign countries mongolia and the prc (obvsly), they also claim areas in india, tajikistan and one (or both) of kazakhstan and burma. also russia fo sho and maybe nepal? it's a fucking ridic map but those are genuine fucking claims

 

[SUTSS]

China is investing a remarkable amount in Africa. It seems that most countries on the continent have a stadium built by the Chinese - massive infrastructure investment roads etc. too.

Investment is fantastic soft power. It's one of the reasons that we should be preserving our foreign aid bill.

 

[HertsWolf]

Investment is fantastic soft power. It's one of the reasons that we should be preserving our foreign aid bill.

Our approach is a little more subtle and cheaper...... it's called foreign students at universities. If you are in any country and you speak to any graduate from a British university, they are unashamedly pro-British, and odds are they will support a big British club like Orient or Bury too.

 

[SUTSS]

That works too. As do things like BBC Worldwide.

 

[Stagat]

*Mods - how about a change of title and we have some sort of catch-all China thread?*

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For now - how awful is this?

 

[johnnytodd]

The Chinese authorities have killed millions of there own people down the years absolutely millions.

Wouldn't like them as an enemy.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Them further arming Argentina is probably the biggest problem they're going to cause us.

 

[Conker]

Arming them with what?

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Jet fighters so far.

 

[spireite]

And this sounds a bit mental...

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

clever little bastards