Comments by "Persona" (@ArawnOfAnnwn) on "How China Punishes its Enemies - VisualPolitik EN" video.

When America sanctions countries - sometimes for literal decades - no one bats an eye. When China does it, it's 'wolf warrior diplomacy' lol. And no, America doesn't merely sanction for 'democracy' or 'peace' or other high-minded ideals. It literally sells weapons to countries waging war (KSA for example), as well as wages wars itself (so much for diplomacy lol, while China hasn't been to war in decades). Meanwhile, that Pew poll measured just a handful of western nations plus their allies in Korea and Japan. It was also explicitly focused on China. There was a Gallup poll (ironically also an American polling agency) a few years ago that asked the whole world a more open-ended question - who is the greatest threat to world peace? The US won by a landslide lol! It wasn't even close, the second place was literally a quarter of their score lmao!
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When America sanctions countries - sometimes for literal decades - no one bats an eye. When China does it, it's 'wolf warrior diplomacy' lol. And no, America doesn't merely sanction for 'democracy' or 'peace' or other high-minded ideals. It literally sells weapons to countries waging war (KSA for example), as well as wages wars itself (so much for diplomacy lol, while China hasn't been to war in decades). Meanwhile, that Pew poll measured just a handful of western nations plus their allies in Korea and Japan. It was also explicitly focused on China. There was a Gallup poll (ironically also an American polling agency) a few years ago that asked the whole world a more open-ended question - who is the greatest threat to world peace? The US won by a landslide lol! It wasn't even close, the second place was literally a quarter of their score lmao!
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That's one way to look at it, but there's an even clearer thing that happened in 2017, or rather end 2016. Trump won the presidency in America and went on an anti-China crusade. Which has continued since, as it was one of his legacies that caught on with the American public. The CCP has plenty of public support fyi - you don't need Chinese propaganda to know that. Harvard, an American university mind, even did a study showing it. You can find it online easily, it's called 'Understanding CCP Resilience'. It clearly shows that they enjoy more public approval than Biden or any other US president for that matter. Good luck arguing that those results are wrong because Harvard of all places was secretly working with the Chinese govt. Hence a far more likely explanation is that this is a response to America becoming a lot more aggressive with them. But Americans will have a hard time ever believing that. Much more convenient to just keep painting the Chinese boogieman black and assuring themselves that they're always the good guys.
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Btw, Xi came to power in 2012, so you can't argue that it's cos he's overturned everything either. And China is still growing, just not as fast as before. That's a difference in degree, not kind. The most notable shift hasn't been in China, but America.
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Ever wonder WHY China began asserting itself in 2016/17? Cos Xi came to power in 2012. So why then and not as soon as he won power? Cos in 2016 Trump came to power in America and proceeded to go on an anti-China crusade. They asserted themselves in response to that. The west is pushing against China, and then wonders why China is pushing back lol.
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The 'Understanding CCP Resilience' survey was conducted by Harvard a few years ago - that's an American university, so good luck arguing their results can't be trusted cos they're somehow Chinese propaganda or something. And the results? The CCP enjoys more public support than pretty much any western leader. The only significant discontent was targeted at local govt., as well as billionaires. You can look up the study yourself online. But basically the Chinese people are still broadly supportive of their govt.
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Ever wonder WHY China began asserting itself in 2016/17? Cos Xi came to power in 2012. So why then and not as soon as he won power? Cos in 2016 Trump came to power in America and proceeded to go on an anti-China crusade. They asserted themselves in response to that. The west is pushing against China, and then wonders why China is pushing back lol.
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@TitusAzzurro Sure, apparently you're privy to the internal workings of a highly secretive state. Not to mention that whenever some info comes out of China, the first reaction is mistrust it. But if that information plays into our own beliefs about China, it'll be accepted without question. Like I said to your other response, you're just assuming whatever explanation you can think of to play into your own pre-existing conclusions. The timeline matches quite well with Trump and his campaign is also very well known. Whereas your explanation handwavy, with nothing pointing specifically to that time period and the explanation itself being just a vague idea tossed out as an excuse. You remind me of a post I saw a couple years ago, during the height of the pandemic. Everyone was doubting China's pandemic numbers. The prevailing ethos was 'don't trust any figures from China'. Then social media was abuzz with a bigger number from some hack who no one had heard of before. And suddenly everyone jumped on it as gospel. It was so hilarious that before long there were memes made about it, mostly of this format (you can replace 'Reddit' with various other social media sites, there were memes for each) - Reddit: 'Don't trust any numbers from China' Bad numbers come out Also Reddit: But we'll believe these! That's right, you're basically a living meme!
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When America sanctions countries - sometimes for literal decades - no one bats an eye. When China does it, it's 'wolf warrior diplomacy' lol. And no, America doesn't merely sanction for 'democracy' or 'peace' or other high-minded ideals. It literally sells weapons to countries waging war (KSA for example), as well as wages wars itself (so much for diplomacy lol, while China hasn't been to war in decades). Meanwhile, that Pew poll measured just a handful of western nations plus their allies in Korea and Japan. It was also explicitly focused on China. There was a Gallup poll (ironically also an American polling agency) a few years ago that asked the whole world a more open-ended question - who is the greatest threat to world peace? The US won by a landslide lol! It wasn't even close, the second place was literally a quarter of their score lmao!
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When America sanctions countries - sometimes for literal decades - no one bats an eye. When China does it, it's 'wolf warrior diplomacy' lol. And no, America doesn't merely sanction for 'democracy' or 'peace' or other high-minded ideals. It literally sells weapons to countries waging war (KSA for example), as well as wages wars itself (so much for diplomacy lol, while China hasn't been to war in decades). Meanwhile, that Pew poll measured just a handful of western nations plus their allies in Korea and Japan. It was also explicitly focused on China. There was a Gallup poll (ironically also an American polling agency) a few years ago that asked the whole world a more open-ended question - who is the greatest threat to world peace? The US won by a landslide lol! It wasn't even close, the second place was literally a quarter of their score lmao!
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Ever wonder WHY China began asserting itself in 2016/17? Cos Xi came to power in 2012. So why then and not as soon as he won power? Cos in 2016 Trump came to power in America and proceeded to go on an anti-China crusade. They asserted themselves in response to that. The west is pushing against China, and then wonders why China is pushing back lol.
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Ever wonder WHY China began asserting itself in 2016/17? Cos Xi came to power in 2012. So why then and not as soon as he won power? Cos in 2016 Trump came to power in America and proceeded to go on an anti-China crusade. They asserted themselves in response to that. The west is pushing against China, and then wonders why China is pushing back lol.
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@smith9824 Actually they did. First off, Libya fell, so that's neither here nor there. But Turkey has become far more assertive in recent years, it's just that their main enemy isn't America. Venezuela has openly defied the US. They can't sanction anyone simply because they're not a large economy to begin with. And Iran has resisted US attempts to have it simply ignore their betrayal and go back to being a good little stooge wrt their nuclear programme, likely at least in part because of what happened to Libya after they did that and also how Israel gets a free pass for the same. They've also been aggressively expanding their influence over the ME. Again you only don't consider that 'wolf warrior diplomacy' because the primary loser in that is Saudi Arabia, not America. China only seems unique to you because you're defining 'wolf warrior diplomacy' in order to make it so. Indeed even that term should give you pause - does that sound in the least bit like a neutral, unbiased descriptor to you? Nope, it's a politically charged term for a politically charged accusation. It was never a mere descriptor without an agenda. And playing limp is silly. China didn't drive Australia away from itself, it already was. Did you forget that the Chinese reaction was, you know, a reaction? Australia's policy shifted under Scott Morrison, who picked a side. Or do you naively buy into the idea that his supposedly innocuous demand for an independent inquiry into Covid had no subtext? If so, you forget that there already had been prior investigations into the virus - Morrison dismissed them, making it clear that he didn't like their conclusions. That is a clear message to China, and they knew it. Nor does it matter, because Australia was never a Chinese ally. They tried to play in between before finally picking a side, while increasingly getting angry about Chinese immigration and property investment. China has other places it tried to foster positive relations with, which aren't part of the west or its regional rivals and have been more receptive. It's telling that this video entirely focuses on two western nations plus Korea. That Pew poll similarly only asked in a dozen or so western nations, plus Korea and Japan (neither of which have ever liked China, or each other for that matter). Did you know that there was a slightly older Gallup (also an American polling agency btw) poll which didn't name any country but rather just asked the whole world, literally countries on every continent, who it considered the greatest threat to world peace? Do you know what the result was? A landslide 'victory' for America. It wasn't even close - the second place was literally a quarter of America's score. And no, that wasn't because of Trump. Trump, ironically, likely improved America's standing in that regard simply because he was one of the least bloody American presidents ever - don't underestimate how many conflicts America has been involved in, Trump stands out for simply for NOT starting any more wars, a rarity for the US. And I can give you a long list if needed, all of which precede Trump. All verifiable online, even just with Wikipedia lol! Your understanding of Biden meanwhile, makes it clear you're another of those idealistically naïve liberals. You think this is about human rights? Lol. The US has a terrible human rights record, especially thanks to all its wars, and has happily let go of the human rights abuses of its allies (KSA, for a current example) as needed, sometimes maybe with some 'stern words' to please the camera. You can find dictatorships supported by the US (Chile, for example), and plenty of huge human rights blind spots (Ethiopia, for example). Oh, did you forget that Ethiopia and Yemen exist? You were meant to. Human rights is a convenient way to attack America's enemies, as well as provide moral cover for its own actions. For an example of the latter, consider how much the US crows about how much it uplifted Afghan women during the occupation - did it ever strike you as odd that that narrative came out just as the US was losing ground to the Taliban? And wasn't the war for terrorism, not women's rights? And did they mention the death toll of the war much? Cos here it is - over 300,000 people. How often have you heard mention of that, versus your heroic story of helping Afghan women? Btw, Russia's wars pale in comparison to that - the war in Donbass has around 13000 deaths, and no that's not a Russian figure. While China hasn't even been to war in 40 years. The US doesn't even recognize the jurisdiction of the ICJ lol. Nor is any of this new - providing a moral cover for oneself or morally demonizing one's enemies has a long history with not just the US, but plenty of other nations too. China may have poor human rights, but geopolitics is a cold game where that matters little. Besides, what does that have to do with the South China Sea? Why is the US involved in that to begin with? They're involved in the Mekong river disputes too, despite no connection to the river. Does that not strike you as odd? Cos it should. The west takes American hegemony entirely too much for granted. Biden does what he does because it's politically popular with the people - a legacy of Trump - and with the US establishment, which hardly wants to see its hegemony wane. AJ+, a non-western, also non-Chinese, media has a nice recent episode showing how far back this tendency goes. Try looking it up. Consider this - the US also maintains its sanctions on Cuba to this day. Do you think that's for human rights, or democracy? Hardly lol. The sanctions were punishments for Cuba defying the US, but here's a history refresher - Cuba's previous dictator i.e. before Castro, was loved by America. His name was Batista. Look him up. The Cuban sanctions have also been consistently condemned at the UN for decades now, including by most of the US' allies (with the notable exception of Israel), much like the Iraq war was condemned btw. Even a lot of Americans don't care for it anymore, so why do they continue? Cos it's popular in Florida, a key swing state. Yep. As for the Democrats inheriting something from Trump, have you checked the opinion polls? Anti-China sentiment is literally one of the elements of Trumps' agenda that managed to win over both sides. Even if the two hate each other wrt other things, being against China is one of the few things they agree on. But that's an issue of American domestic politics. The Democrats are a political party, not some holy angels from on high. They'll follow through with that regardless of who started it. To not do so would be stupid. Meanwhile your alternative topics are not mutually exclusive with China.
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@smith9824 The North Korean example was a blatant invention and you know it. There hasn't been an assessment of the DPRK's public sentiment, you're just imagining it in order to equate the two. The comparison is also ludicrous - as you say, NK has people starving, while China has raised literally around three America's worth of people out of poverty in a handful of decades, and that's internationally recognized so don't bother dismissing it. That's the majority of global poverty reduction in that period. That you can't imagine that an achievement like that could arouse genuine support for a govt. only reveals your own blind spots, a fundamentalist and universalist concept of liberty that's a pernicious quality of people in the west in my experience. Most places tend to be more pragmatic, weighing freedom against other priorities. Singapore is also autocratic, but the people accept it cos it works. Brunei is even worse than China, but the people go along with it cos it's fabulously wealthy and so gives them everything for free. South Korea is oligarchic, Japan has been ruled by the same party for over half a century, and India recently backslided from democracy - all with people's approval. The world isn't as puritan as you people are - they make choices based on more than empty idealism. Even the west does - contrast the folks accepting pandemic restrictions with those protesting them. I'm sure you hate the latter, but have you ever considered why you're okay with curbing your own freedom? Cos it serves a greater cause, in this case public health. It's funny how you people can't then imagine people elsewhere making similar choices, but more long term. "Both do so for the same reason - both are autocracies. Both have no independent media. Everything people hear, read and know comes from gov run agencies." - alongside demonization, this is another common tendency that serves to, ironically considering what you were arguing for, dismiss people we consider enemies - infantilization i.e. they're not evil, just ignorant and misled. Liberals tend to be especially susceptible to it, as they like to imagine themselves as compassionate. But the result is the same - you dismiss the opposing viewpoint, insisting that your own view is the correct on. The irony is that you were talking about America having opposing viewpoints - I wonder if you've ever caught yourself doing this with those opposing viewpoints? It plays to your egos, to use whatever excuse to pretend the other sides' perspective isn't valid or justified. Here's a shocker for you - the Right does the same when they pretend LGBT people are 'merely' psychologically compromised. Yep, you're doing the same thing your hated enemies do - refusing to entertain views that go against your beliefs, and finding every excuse you can to justify doing so. Did you know you can easily find plenty of Chinese Youtubers? And not merely govt. mouthpieces either, but ones who simply make a living with their cooking, music, dance, etc. channels. Have you noticed how often the phrase '50 cent army', 'CCP troll', etc. etc. is paraded out in the comments on videos like these? That's the demonization. But then, that surely also means that there are plenty of Chinese people seeing this stuff, right? But that utterly undermines your contention that they're as ignorant as you want to pretend. The wests' own rhetoric is contradictory, because it was never meant to make sense, just shield their egos. Just as you're doing. Which really hints at a much broader tendency the west has - to see itself as the model or peak of human civilization, and understand everywhere else through that lens (the most infamous example of this was the bestseller The End of History and the Last Man, which was hilariously wrong lol). In that sense, China was a betrayal - you expected them to turn into a western style democracy as they developed, which they didn't. The same is done in foreign policy, where the phrase 'rules-based order' is so often used by westerners, but few ask whose rules those are. Not to mention you've never let any such order constrain you - the Iraq war was not only condemned, it was also highly destructive (literally hundreds of thousands dead), but not only did the west go through with it, but to this day it never strikes them to wonder why there's never been any sanctions placed on America for it. Contrast this with Russia, responsible for about 13,000 deaths, and sanctioned relentlessly for it. Or Iran, sanctioned without even going to war. So here's why the Chinese conduct 'wolf warrior diplomacy' - cos you call it that. It isn't unique, trust me. Saudi Arabia and its allies, to use a non-western example, literally blockaded Qatar recently. Did you call that 'wolf warrior diplomacy'? Nope, it was just diplomacy. Bad maybe, but not strange. China's tactics are imagined to be unique so they can be a unique enemy, a supposed outlier to the global norm. They aren't. The west just likes to treat it so. Because the west likes to imagine that they ARE the global norm. Which hints at an even broader irony that you people - liberals in this case - tend to display - you celebrate 'diversity' without having the slightest appreciation for what that truly means. But that is a whole other issue that I won't get in to here, but to say that the world is diverse. Truly, deeply diverse. Not your superficial kind of 'diversity', but real actual diversity.
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They didn't choose this timing, America did. Ever wonder WHY China began asserting itself in 2016/17? Cos Xi came to power in 2012. So why then and not as soon as he won power? Cos in 2016 Trump came to power in America and proceeded to go on an anti-China crusade. They asserted themselves in response to that. The west is pushing against China, and then wonders why China is pushing back lol.
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@eyob8969 What would you have them do? Bend over and give in? Gaddafi did that with his nuclear program, to use one example, and a few years later he was killed. No wonder Iran isn't so willing to give in, never mind that their rival Israel already has them. What does giving in do for China? You could argue that Lithuania was unnecessary, but both Australia and South Korea were pretty clearly issues for them. In the case of South Korea, those missiles are still American, a Chinese rival with forces just beyond their borders. Russia alarmed the west by putting its forces close to Ukraine, even though they were still in its own territory. The US lost its shit when Russia put missiles in Cuba. But somehow China protesting America putting missiles next door is uncalled for? As for Australia, there had already been investigations into the origins of Covid. But dismissing them and continuing to prod China about the issue, it was clear what they were implying.
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@eyob8969 Btw, China knows they'll never be liked by the west, so why bother trying? That Pew survey you saw mentioned in this video literally only polled a handful of western nations, plus their allies in Korea and Japan. And only asked about China, nothing open-ended. No shit it found the results it did. Contrast this with a Gallup, another American polling agency mind, survey that ran a few years ago. It was a global poll that asked people a simple question - who is the greatest threat to world peace? That's an open question, they didn't make it about a certain country. And it polled people from every continent. The result? America 'won' by a landslide. It wasn't even close - the second place was literally a quarter of their score lol! That flies in the face of the narrative being spun on the basis of that limited Pew poll you hear about nowadays.
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@eyob8969 America is already committed to war in the case of Taiwan, which is literally just off China's coast. And America has a long history going to war, including right next door to China in Korea. By contrast, Russia didn't go to war when the US pushed for them to let go of Cuba. And speaking of Korea, they are not a 'sinosphere' nation. Sure a lot of their culture is derived from China's, but all three nations of China, Korea and Japan have hated each other since long before the west now became alarmed by China. China also props up North Korea, which is a problem for the South (ironically cos the South is a problem for China, since it's US-aligned). As for Hong Kong, it isn't being prioritized. It's being slowly worn down. The protests caught them by surprise, but ultimately they're just aiming to slowly win over the territory in much the same way that Israel is doing it in Palestine (and with similar results lol). Taiwan meanwhile has been largely left alone for 70 years! China has always claimed it, but they haven't actually struck and today Taiwans' largest trade partner is China. Contrast that with the US and Cuba. They have more to gain from trade than from a costly invasion, and they know it. But there's one thing China will not tolerate, and for that matter neither will Russia - having an American staging ground right outside their borders. When the US began upping the ante on China, that also made Taiwan more of a security risk. That is something they might go to war for. As for growth, did you forget that this all started with the launch of a trade war? You expect them to keep growing fast while simultaneously surrendering to economic actions that seek to undermine that growth?
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@eyob8969 No, I'm not. I'm Indian, ironically. We have our own grievances with China (and, unlike America, we have actually fought them before, and that despite being weaker at the time). We simply don't trust America either, as their history with us, as well as with a lot of other places for those more informed, is very uneven and hypocritical (claiming us as allies when it suits them, going against us and/or working with our enemies when that suits them). China, by contrast, is a more consistent adversary.
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@eyob8969 Pew poll? That's the smaller one this video is using which only asked about China, not the one I mentioned. That's from 2020, at the height of the pandemic. It didn't cover the ME or Africa or even most of Europe (Eastern Europe finds no mention). It was literally just about a dozen nations, from western Europe and North America plus Japan and Korea. The global poll I mentioned was from Gallup. It's a bit older, something like half a decade ago or something. You can look it up. Their results were widely reported too, and of course they were embarrassing which is why afaik Gallup never re-ran it. Just search for 'greatest threat world peace poll' or something and it'll show up.
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@lUnknovvn China doesn't want revenge lol. That makes it sound like they have no reason to be upset today. China, and Russia, are literally surrounded by American forces. And subject to American global institutions. They're pushing against that, which is very much a current issue. When America briefly had Russian forces on its doorstep in Cuba, it flipped out and has punished poor Cuba ever since - literally for over half a century. You just take that for granted, while getting mad about China and Russia feeling the same. America literally invades countries across the world, and takes no sanctions in punishment. How is that fair? Stop taking American hegemony for granted to see the world more clearly.
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@lUnknovvn The US fleet isn't there to protect Asia lol, and nor does it need to be. First off, countries like Korea and India have some of the strongest militaries in the world. And secondly, they've literally used that fleet against some of these Asian countries as suits their interests. For instance, it was used to intimidate India during the 1971 war that created Bangladesh, cos the US was allied with Pakistan at the time. America's fleet serves America's interests first and foremost.
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When America sanctions countries - sometimes for literal decades - no one bats an eye. When China does it, it's 'wolf warrior diplomacy' lol. And no, America doesn't merely sanction for 'democracy' or 'peace' or other high-minded ideals. It literally sells weapons to countries waging war (KSA for example), as well as wages wars itself (so much for diplomacy lol, while China hasn't been to war in decades). Meanwhile, that Pew poll measured just a handful of western nations plus their allies in Korea and Japan. It was also explicitly focused on China. There was a Gallup poll (ironically also an American polling agency) a few years ago that asked the whole world a more open-ended question - who is the greatest threat to world peace? The US won by a landslide lol! It wasn't even close, the second place was literally a quarter of their score lmao!
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Ever wonder WHY China began asserting itself in 2016/17? Cos Xi came to power in 2012. So why then and not as soon as he won power? Cos in 2016 Trump came to power in America and proceeded to go on an anti-China crusade. They asserted themselves in response to that. The west is pushing against China, and then wonders why China is pushing back lol.
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@angrydragon4574 Let's see now - the CCP flies planes provocatively in Taiwanese airspace, while the US literally already invaded Cuba and then sanctioned it for over half a century (while Taiwan is still China's largest trade partner). The CCP threatens Vietnam, while America literally invaded it for 2 decades killing over 3 million people (by contrast, the Sino-Vietnamese conflict was short and killed about 60k people combined). The CCP 'debt traps'? Lmao! Even western academics have called that narrative a meme (yes, it's literally been called a meme, lacking any basis). There's plenty of studies on it upon which they've come to that conclusion. Polymatter has a nice video on it. Meanwhile you should look up the sordid history of the IMF's 'Structural Adjustment Programs' in Africa. As well, France literally prints a quarter of Africa's money.
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@angrydragon4574 Also, you can't understand China's behaviour, or for that matter Russia as well, without looking at the behaviour of their rival America. Even the very topic this video is about came about bang on target in line with a change in America, not China. If you willingly blind yourself to how the west acts, you'll never be able to understand why other parts of the world act supposedly differently. Of course, you people aren't interested in understanding anything, just pandering to your own worldview that always conveniently panders to your egos by being the heroes that you love seeing yourselves as.
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Ever wonder WHY China began asserting itself in 2016/17? Cos Xi came to power in 2012. So why then and not as soon as he won power? Cos in 2016 Trump came to power in America and proceeded to go on an anti-China crusade. They asserted themselves in response to that. The west is pushing against China, and then wonders why China is pushing back lol.
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@alvinchan5934 Bruh you aren't Chinese, you're American (or whatever country your life is in). I've seen your kind of entitled attitude before, in our own Indian diaspora. It seems diasporas everywhere always try to have the best of both worlds, claiming their traditional culture while also claiming the one they've chosen. And they always act like they know better than either - lecturing the people of their new homeland about their people (who they chose to abandon) AND lecturing the people of the country they left behind about how they should be. They're basically spoiled brats who cling to every self-serving view of themselves as allows them to indulge their egos. You chose another country, so embrace it. Stop trying to claim both identities. As for your 'argument', how much more 'my way or the highway' can you get than literally invading nations for not giving in to your demands? China hasn't done that for 40 years, America has done it aplenty right up to the present day. And if you're going to claim ye olde 'two wrongs don't make a right' tactic, see below. You don't get to have your cake and eat it too all the time. Much like your self-identity, that argument is also self-serving.
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@forcexjr1566 The problem is the wests' 'mistakes' (as you call them) lead to nothing done to them, whereas the actions of other nations are hounded. That's a blatant double standard. You people can claim 'two wrongs don't make a right' all you want, but ultimately that you go along with the wests' 'mistakes' (even if you make some minor grumbling about them) while going after everyone else's just reveals how self-serving your position really is. When, pray, is it ever going to be time for the wests' comeuppance? When do they get sanctioned? Silence. Deafening silence. That's what you people do, crow for justice for everyone else, let it slide for the west. Saying both sides are bad is meaningless if you only ever seem to punish one of them.
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@forcexjr1566 If you don't want that to happen, they're the ones who need to de-escalate. China has claimed Taiwan for 70 years now, and done nothing about it. They've mostly left well enough alone, content with maintaining the ambiguity that previous western leaders superficially granted. Today China is Taiwans' largest trade partner - they have everything to lose from an invasion, and little to gain from a bombed out wreck with a restive population, and they likely know it. Even Xi didn't change that - he came to power in 2012, the recent tensions started only in 2016. Nothing changed in China, but it did in America - Trump got elected and went on an anti-China crusade, which caught on with the public resulting in his successor continuing it. Even Taiwan isn't to blame here - their own surveys show less than a tenth of the population favoring an immediate declaration of independence, something you'd never know going by the way western media reports on it. They don't like China sure, but they also know what risk is cos, unlike America that can run away from any of its foreign conflicts that don't go its way, their own necks are on the line here (the US hasn't faced war on its continental homeland in literally over 150 years, hence their foreign adventurism and recklessness). As a result they're far more cautious. They're content to play the long game as well. But not the west. The west has no skin in the game, as Nassim Taleb would put it. They have everything to gain, and little to lose. As such, support for Taiwanese independence is WAY higher in the west than even in Taiwan itself. For them it's just a childish game of idealism, with no stakes and a clear villain. If a war with Taiwan is to be avoided, it's the US that would need to pull back from its aggressive posturing. But Biden is already seen as so ineffectual by his own people that if he ever did that, Americans would just vote en masse for someone 'stronger' to keep carrying the torch of a president - Trump - that half their population claims to loathe, and yet dutifully follows his agenda. Because I can guarantee you that China will not back down. For them it's not just a matter of pride, but also security - much like with the missiles in Korea, they already have American forces just off their shores. They'll never let Taiwan become another American staging ground. That is likely worth going to war for for them. Just look at how America reacted to the Russians doing that to them in Cuba - they flipped out, and have punished poor Cuba with sanctions for literally over half a century now for it, even against global condemnation, including from most of their own allies. Expecting China to be different is both a double standard, and an unrealistic one. We're already seeing this play out with Russia over Ukraine, with them saying over and over that they're not interested in a war with Ukraine - and their list of demands having almost nothing to say about Ukraine either. Instead it's all about NATO, and was even directly presented to the US, making it clear that it isn't even about Europe. The more you keep advancing closer to them, the more likely they're going to lash out. Neither China nor Russia has enough conventional capability to hit America. As such, they're never going to be okay with America having its forces close to them. Same reason why Iran is adamant about its nuclear program - they saw what happened to Gaddafi after he gave his own nukes up, as well as how Israel is given a free pass to maintain their own nukes by the west.
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@dandaintac388 Trump is the whole reason WHY the CCP is doing this in the first place. Ever wonder WHY China began asserting itself in 2016/17? Cos Xi came to power in 2012. So why then and not as soon as he won power? Cos in 2016 Trump came to power in America and proceeded to go on an anti-China crusade. They asserted themselves in response to that. The west is pushing against China, and then wonders why China is pushing back lol.
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@dandaintac388 The idea that strength comes from "character and integrity" is a cute little story. That's why America spends not just the highest gross amount on its military, but also the second highest PER CAPITA (which accounts for economy size differences) on it (China is 58th on that metric btw, behind Azerbaijan lol!). That's why America has over 800 foreign bases, while China has one. That's why America has the dubious distinction of having been in more conflicts than any other nation in modern history. Yes, very much about 'character'. As for integrity, that's why America unilaterally pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, abandoned the Kurds, dumped the Afghan govt. it set up, assassinated Soleimani, and so on. And even before Trump, the US has plenty of coups and interventions to its name, as well as literally allying with (KSA, for example, which is also using their weapons to wage a war) and even propping up autocrats when it suits them (Chile, for example, which was taken over by a US-supported dictator - all while claiming for itself the mantle of 'champion of democracy'. That's why it threatened India during the Bangladesh liberation, when it was allied with Pakistan. That's why it supported Indonesia against the freedom fighters in East Timor. That's why it killed over 3 million Vietnamese simply for not choosing the right ideology to follow. Indeed it's ironic that you choose to demonize Trump since, simply by not launching any new wars, he's already miles ahead of your average US president. But of course he says nasty things, boohoo. So obviously he must be bad. Lol!
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@johnfrancisco1851 The US' popularity has been measured actually. Ironically by an American polling agency, Gallup. They asked the world who they thought was the greatest threat to world peace. Had participants from every continent, unlike the Pew poll this video uses that only asked a handful of western nations plus their allies in Korea and Japan. The result? America won by a landslide lol! It wasn't even close - second place was literally a quarter of their score. Which I'm sure you'll dismiss with your usual '10 cent' army ad hominem nonsense. But the fact remains that the US' image is none too popular. And it's easy to see why, as they have the dubious distinction of having been in more conflicts than any other nation in modern history.
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@balbla3156 The US isn't the world true, but the world isn't even being represented, only the US and its allies. The Pew survey shown in this video for instance only polled a handful of western nations plus their allies in Korea and Japan. And it only asked about China, not an open-ended question. No shit those were the results. Contrast that with Gallup, also an American polling agency, which did a much more global poll a few years ago, asking people who they considered the greatest threat to world peace (i.e. an open-ended question). The US won by a landslide lol! It wasn't even close - second place was literally a quarter of their score. You don't get to unilaterally decide which countries' opinions are valid and which aren't. The fact is the world doesn't just echo western preferences, the west just likes to pretend it does.
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@chinesesparrows Ever wonder WHY China began asserting itself in 2016/17? Cos Xi came to power in 2012. So why then and not as soon as he won power? Cos in 2016 Trump came to power in America and proceeded to go on an anti-China crusade. They asserted themselves in response to that. The west is pushing against China, and then wonders why China is pushing back lol.
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@brianaguila6925 Lol, you're naïve if you think Australia didn't point any fingers. There already had been an investigation into Covid. Two, in fact. By disregarding them and calling for yet another one, it was plenty to clear to all what Australia was saying. You're just choosing to be willfully blind in order to keep up the facade that it was an innocent statement.
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@AeneasGemini Ever wonder WHY China began asserting itself in 2016/17? Cos Xi came to power in 2012. So why then and not as soon as he won power? Cos in 2016 Trump came to power in America and proceeded to go on an anti-China crusade. They asserted themselves in response to that. The west is pushing against China, and then wonders why China is pushing back lol.
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@karankapoor2701 You can find plenty of Chinese Youtubers, and yes ones living in China. So that narrative seems to be grossly exaggerated. And no, they're not all some govt. mouthpieces, plenty of them are completely apolitical just serving their own type of content (music, cooking, dance, etc.). Plenty of Chinese gamers on Twitch as well. And so on.
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@TitusAzzurro "better research" lol! Does it ever strike you how self-serving your assumptions are? While in the west they see govt. as incompetent, apparently the Chinese state is this lean, mean efficient machine that manages to carry out such wide-ranging operations without issue. I won't tell you to do better research, because no amount of research will get to you. You already have a conclusion, and will merely interpret everything you see in order to cater to your own preexisting biases. All of it to cater to your own worldview. You remind me of a post I saw a couple years ago, during the height of the pandemic. Everyone was doubting China's pandemic numbers. The prevailing ethos was 'don't trust any figures from China'. Then social media was abuzz with a bigger number from some hack who no one had heard of before. And suddenly everyone jumped on it as gospel. It was so hilarious that before long there were memes made about it, mostly of this format (you can replace 'Reddit' with various other social media sites, there were memes for each) - Reddit: 'Don't trust any numbers from China' Bad numbers come out Also Reddit: But we'll believe these! That's right, you're basically a living meme!
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When America sanctions countries - sometimes for literal decades - no one bats an eye. When China does it, it's 'wolf warrior diplomacy' lol. And no, America doesn't merely sanction for 'democracy' or 'peace' or other high-minded ideals. It literally sells weapons to countries waging war (KSA for example), as well as wages wars itself (so much for diplomacy lol, while China hasn't been to war in decades). Meanwhile, that Pew poll measured just a handful of western nations plus their allies in Korea and Japan. It was also explicitly focused on China. There was a Gallup poll (ironically also an American polling agency) a few years ago that asked the whole world a more open-ended question - who is the greatest threat to world peace? The US won by a landslide lol! It wasn't even close, the second place was literally a quarter of their score lmao!
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Ever wonder WHY China began asserting itself in 2016/17? Cos Xi came to power in 2012. So why then and not as soon as he won power? Cos in 2016 Trump came to power in America and proceeded to go on an anti-China crusade. They asserted themselves in response to that. The west is pushing against China, and then wonders why China is pushing back lol.
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@zakaryloreto6526 The west has been industrialized for a century now, and nationalism is still very successful. Jingoist politicians have either won power or are the primary opposition leaders in nations all across the west, including America. It isn't just a phase, as if populaces are teenagers.
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Ever wonder WHY China began asserting itself in 2016/17? Cos Xi came to power in 2012. So why then and not as soon as he won power? Cos in 2016 Trump came to power in America and proceeded to go on an anti-China crusade. They asserted themselves in response to that. The west is pushing against China, and then wonders why China is pushing back lol.
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@acosorimaxconto5610 Lol, China hasn't been to war in literal decades. The US just pulled out of one just last year, and has been in more conflicts than any other country in modern history. The US has hundreds of military bases around the world, China has 1. The US is not only the highest military spender, it's even the second highest spender PER CAPITA (which accounts for economy size). China is 58th on that measure, behind Azerbaijan lol! Sure, China is militarist and US is not lmao!
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When America sanctions countries - sometimes for literal decades - no one bats an eye. When China does it, it's 'wolf warrior diplomacy' lol. And no, America doesn't merely sanction for 'democracy' or 'peace' or other high-minded ideals. It literally sells weapons to countries waging war (KSA for example), as well as wages wars itself (so much for diplomacy lol, while China hasn't been to war in decades). Meanwhile, that Pew poll measured just a handful of western nations plus their allies in Korea and Japan. It was also explicitly focused on China. There was a Gallup poll (ironically also an American polling agency) a few years ago that asked the whole world a more open-ended question - who is the greatest threat to world peace? The US won by a landslide lol! It wasn't even close, the second place was literally a quarter of their score lmao!
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Ever wonder WHY China began asserting itself in 2016/17? Cos Xi came to power in 2012. So why then and not as soon as he won power? Cos in 2016 Trump came to power in America and proceeded to go on an anti-China crusade. They asserted themselves in response to that. The west is pushing against China, and then wonders why China is pushing back lol.
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@bigmedge We last heard this IP theft outrage back during the 70s and 80s with Japan, so I guess history is repeating itself. Ironically, it goes even further back that that - America was itself accused of 'stealing' property by the Brits back when it was developing i.e. during the 1800s. The big guy always gets mad when the rising power, you know, rises. And you can keep your fentanyl fever dreams to yourself, thanks. And your "world's important countries" bit is hilariously arrogant lol! Though it'd be nice to see Trump back imo - the tactless 'honesty' he imbued American foreign policy with was frankly refreshing. Biden is all too smooth for my liking, much like Obama was. I prefer the orange gorilla.
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