Comments by "Doncarlo" (@doujinflip) on "China in Focus - NTD" channel.

  1. PRC: "Be scientific!" US: "Kindly publish your data on spread by strain." PRC: "Internal affairs! State security! Racist!"
    341
  2. Right, The Economist estimated China already lost upwards of 2 million from COVID as of early last year. I wonder how much that's grown now that Omicron is ripping through (including deaths by suicides, starvation, unattended emergencies, and "protective" measures).
    8
  3. That's the unsaid danger about the pitch for a "multipolar world": multiple fault lines of conflict. Remember between Pax Mongolica and Pax Americana were increasingly violent overseas imperialism and world wars. But unlike past or prospective global hegemons, the advantage with America is that as a culturally adventurous democracy it does listen to outside perspectives, and is proudly open for the foreign-born to naturalize as a full citizen.
    3
  4. More sterile immunity, worse health (especially diabetes and cancers), and worse healthcare capabilities.
    2
  5. The Spanish exploited the Philippines for 300, and even after the violent counterinsurgency it still got what it originally desired which was independence. That independence was scheduled 10 years prior for 1945 which unfortunately saw the Japanese invasion and its resistance to American liberation destroy much of the preparations, and America stuck to its promise and ceded the archipelago to Manila by the next year. This meant that the Philippines missed out on the reconstruction efforts that the US government would have provided, although at the time being a top Asian economy second to Japan it wasn't seen as so crippling -- it was really subsequent Filipino leadership which made the country miss out on the rising tide.
    2
  6. Air and sea combat is far more dependent on technical and experience superiority, unlike a land battle where casual combatants can stage ambushes and move about without specialized vessels. The PLA is sorely lacking in these critical aspects.
    2
  7. They never forced vaccinations, it was considered too politically inflammatory based on smaller abortive attempts. Better to "protect" the people from catching SARS-2 "at all" via Zero-COVID measures.
    1
  8. Americans in China (and any other country they move themselves to) are basically on their own; embassies and consulates can only negotiate for fair treatment under local law for political/legal incidents. If any mass evacuations happen, it's because the embassy/consulate is also vacating the place and would only offer seats if available after the diplomats and their families... and you have to pay for it (which could be a couple thousand dollars) since you entered and got stuck in the country as a private citizen.
    1
  9. Unfortunately the previous Trump appointees surrendered those immunities and it's been impossible to reverse against a regime that needs to make an enemy out of both foreigners and SARS-2.
    1
  10. YouTube demonetizes everything it deems "provocative", which includes basically all videos with anti-CPC messaging.
    1
  11. Falun Gong is the parent organization for both. It'd be like asking YouTube to stop pitching Google Fi.
    1
  12. I think the CDC is within their rights and responsibilities to gather location data so they can correlate it with persistence of the pathogen. Their mission is public health, which involves studying behaviors of public. Their libertarian absolutist detractors are shortsighted and lazy-minded if outright bans (as opposed to regular inspections) are the only tool they offer... “Only a Sith deals in absolutes”.
    1
  13. China only has inactivated virus vaccines, they're still trying to figure out mRNA carriers
    1
  14. The Party would be seen as "surrendering" to the West if they had to be "rescued" through imports.
    1