This is so much giving them credit. They're driven by prestige, patriotism, expectations of being on top by 2049, and the fact that their students and researchers were banished by the anti-immigrant policies and hubris of the Trump regime, as the imperialists have taken themselves to destroy America in piecemeal fashion.

Also, I see that the 50-cent army has arrived in Lemmy.

[–] 4am@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Don’t you think it’s time we stop claiming China is bluffing?

Every time they do something, there is always some sinister reason for it. “Ghost cities”, “trains to nowhere”, aggression in the South China Sea towards Taiwan. And every time, it turns into a nothingburger.

Those Ghost cities? A few failed but most of them are filled and vibrant. Those people would be living in poverty a generation ago. High speed rail? They have more high speed rail than the entirety of the United States has of ALL rail.

It’s time to stop treating China as something we can lie away. They’re winning, and they’re winning big. America has been exposed as the “paper tiger” that it is. We could have kept going but between the crimes of our past finally catching up to us and the oligarchs seeing the writing on the wall and trying to cash out or capture what’s left; I’m afraid the ol red white and blue is actually cooked.

[–] Bloomcole@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

That is a welcome evolution for the world.
Unfortunately the US is doing violent desperate moves to cling to power and hinder China, like blocking their oil near the Straight.
Not that it works since many ships have passed and Russia is selling them more.

[–] lechekaflan@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

They’re winning, and they’re winning big.

I'm not buying it. There still remains an awful wealth gap and hence class conflict only skillfully hidden by state propaganda.

As someone living in a country so close to Mainland China, and having survived a fuckhat named Duterte who called himself a president but was also running a massive meth business while allowing Xi to "invest" and but Triad-wannabes mostly on offshore gambling, we are still being asked to exchange one hegemony with another, a hegemony demanding that their "nine-dash" BS be recognized as "legitimate and unshakeable".

[–] WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This is so much giving them credit.

Yeah. A large pay of their strategy is to make a rational long term plan, stick to it, and let their competitors do stupid things.

[–] lechekaflan@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Oh, sure, they're that confident. All the while their government go to insane lengths to hide their home-grown class struggle, you know, the gap between the haves and have-nots.

[–] DeathsEmbrace@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

We should give credit where its deserved. Also every country wants to be #1, nobody is at the end of the day.