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".