Comments by "K `" (@user-jt3dw6vv4x) on "China wants to form its own military alliance" video.

@Nasrudith No they're actually right. Half of Pakistan is Iranic in culture and ethnicity. Western Pakistan is inhabited by Pashtuns and Baluchis, who are Iranian-related ethnic groups. Their culture is Iranic, they celebrate Iranian festivals like Nowruz and their traditional clothing is related to the traditional clothes of Iran. Their cultural root is Iranic. Eastern Pakistan, which is the seat of the Pakistani government and home to the dominant ethnic group of the country, on the other hand is ethnically related to people in western and northern India and their cultural root is Indic. I don't think Greece and Ireland share a common cultural root in the closest of extents, unless you are talking about the broad Greco-Roman heritage that binds Western culture in general which then is comparable to the broad Indic and Sinic heritage that binds most of Asia.
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@AegonTargaryen300 That is unless they solve their border disputes. It seemed impossible until Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year. For the first time, mainstream Chinese and Indian media and people were espousing the same views and Chinese state media for the first time took a softer approach on India, supporting and defending the position of India in the war. If this war continues to polarise the Global North and Global South, then I wouldn't be surprised if a partnership of some sort emerged between the two. Many proponents in China and India acknowledge the historical co-existence and deep cultural exchange between the two nations until the colonisation of Asia and always highlight the fact that the division between the two is the result of borders drawn up by British rulers. What many don't realise is that China and India will always look after the interests of the Global South regardless of their political positions. This is why China and India were strong proponents of waiving vaccine IP in 2021 so they could both produce vaccines that could be sent to the developing world free of charge, whereas the Global North refused. If the war continues and China continues to find apertures in India's relationship with the West, then it shouldn't be a surprise to see the Chinese government bolster its pro-Asian rhetoric (which is heavy on the idea that the US is a threat to stability in Asia) when communicating with India which it has been doing in the rest of Asia since the 2010s.
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@Tounguepunchfartbox Yeah but that's the thing. The US is not a local player and that's what makes everybody in the Asian and Pacific region wary of the US. The Trump presidency really sped up China's expansion in the region during the late 2010s. While Trump refused to attend any of the major Asia-Pacific summits, China was able to convince countries in the region that the US is no longer reliable and that they can be relied upon. Additionally, China has promoted the idea that "Asia must be controlled by Asians" and recent evidence has shown that this mentality has begun to creep into the minds of average citizens in other Asian countries like Singapore. Then in 2021, the US left Afghanistan under Biden and it further convinced people here that the US can't be relied upon. Vietnam and Afghanistan are consistently brought up about how the US is a failure when it comes to Asian affairs. Then this year, Russia invaded Ukraine and while the US has its own reasons to not get directly involved, it further convinced people that the US can't be relied on. Taiwan is quite fearful because they fear that the US and its allies won't be there if China invades the island. In the end, Asia has everything to lose. Asia-Pacific will be the first to suffer. The US will not lose anything because they aren't part of the region. This is why a lot of countries in the region want to balance China and the US, they despise having to pick sides and would prefer if Asia-Pacific can become multipolar instead of unipolar. Nobody wants to become a pawn between China and the US.
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@Tounguepunchfartbox You publishing that comment only shows me you don't know how to respond to me because I spilled the truth. I live in the Asia-Pacific region, I am fully aware of what goes on here and what the average people in countries like Indonesia, Australia and Singapore feel. Nothing "dumb" about anything I said. Nobody here wants to be pushed around by the US or China.
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@anomalianomali5080 No. Sinosphere cultures and in general all Asian cultures do understand the concept of solidarity. A very big part of Eastern values is community. People look out for the community over the individual. In Asian cultures, community is stressed whereas in the West, individualism is stressed. This is why saving face is such a big part of Asian cultures. This stark cultural difference was evident during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. An August 2020 survey from the World Economic Forum revealed most people in China, Japan, Vietnam and India said they would still wear a face mask, whereas people in the UK, US and Germany who said they'd wear a face mask was significantly less. Demands for personal freedom in the forms of protests emerged across Europe and North America while such attitudes, on such a large scale, did not emerge in Asia in 2020. People across Asia (including in areas where face masks are not regularly used) started wearing face masks very early on in 2020, due to this idea that you have to protect yourself and the wider community.
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@Tounguepunchfartbox Yeah but the thing is Indonesia and most other parts of Asia prefer to not pick sides. They want to be free but China and the US keep competing for influence in the region without just co-existing and it's making people very frustrated. Most countries in Asia do no want to pick a side so they keep hedging between China and the US hoping that a are between the two will not occur.
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@uzochiokeke4328 With this attitude you're basically asking them to do as you say or be punished. Y'all sound just like the Americans at this point. Would expect you to understand this after how the Americans have treated India's decision to remain neutral in the Ukraine War but clearly not. Big countries will always push smaller countries around either bullying them or downright subjugation.
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@leonal522 Yes I fully agree with you. The foreign policies of China, India and many other Asian and African nations are rooted in non-alignment and so they have a seat on the fence where they can see both sides equally. They're able to play both sides because of their neutrality.
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@ridhwanasri5913 Hmm but that doesn't mean anything though. Thai Chinese are "Thai", practice Thai culture, speak Thai language, use Thai names and practice the Thai form of Buddhism. Everything about their identity is Thai and this is due to government policy which demanded all Chinese people in Thailand to adopt Thai culture and identity. 40% of Thai people have at least some Chinese ancestry, it's just a part of the ethnic framework of Thailand, it's not political. Just because one has a Chinese grandfather or Chinese father, does not mean they will immediately side with China. Many Thai celebrities are full or half Chinese. When a Thai actor whose half Chinese made a statement showing support for Hong Kong, he was cancelled by Chinese people in China and the popular TV show he was starring in was boycotted by Chinese people. There is a difference between "Chinese" as an ethnic identity and "Chinese" as a political identity. The same thing can apply to Singapore but in the case of Singapore, those Singaporean Chinese who empathise with China are part of a broader effort by the Chinese government to woo overseas ethnic Chinese and generate this idea that Asia is facing a threat from the US. The Chinese government is increasingly creating this idea of the need for ethnic Chinese to support China because an attack against China will be an attack against all ethnic Chinese. The Chinese government is also broadly encouraging pan-Asian sentiment in Asia in general, pushing this rhetoric that "Asian people should be in charge of Asia".
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I understand what you're saying but the way you phrased it is wrong. Asia is culturally Eastern both philosophically, culturally and mentally. What you are talking about are Western institutions, most countries in the world have Western institutions.
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@anomalianomali5080 Collectivism in East Asia and other Asian cultures for that matter is not dictated by rule-based hierarchy, it's based on respect for one another and is similar to other similar values that are taught in traditional Asian belief systems like filial piety. I think you have a skewed perception of East Asian cultures and believe that East Asian cultures only practice values like collectivism due to an "overbearing body of power", that's not the case.
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@kimjaiprakashudhaiwala141 Comments like yours (every single one in this thread) are the reason why anti-Indian sentiment thrives in Asia. I don't know why you can't simply observe without malice.
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@uzochiokeke4328 India and all of those countries are wrong. Nobody likes bullies.
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@Tounguepunchfartbox No, people here just want peace. Nobody wants an arms race and the militarisation of Asia and the Pacific. The last thing we want to hear of is of an "Asian arms race". I respectfully disagree, allying with a power that is not within the Indo-Pacific does not make sense because at the end of the day, when things turn sour we are the ones who will suffer greatly not the foreign power located on the other side of the world who is far away from the damage. We need cooperation. The truth of the matter is regardless of our personal feelings, China is part of this region and the region needs to learn to get along with China. You can still cooperate even if you don't agree on things. Many Asian and Pacific countries signed the RCEP with China so that's proof we can cooperate. As I said before, nobody wants to become a pawn between the US and China. We want to cooperate with both, we don't want to be pushed around and forced to pick sides.
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@Tounguepunchfartbox Nobody wants to solely side with the US and get caught up in a war between the US and China. At the end of the day, the US and China don't care who gets hurt as long as they win. Look at Ukraine. I've said what I've said.
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@Tounguepunchfartbox I fully understand what you're saying. I just don't think it's a viable option for any Asia-Pacific country.
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@雷-t3j Global South is in reference to the developing world (composed of middle income and low income nations - consists of most of Asia, most of Africa, most of Latin America, the Pacific and parts of Eastern Europe). Global North refers to the developed world (composed of high income nations - the definition is subjective but always includes Western Europe, Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Israel). In the case of IP waiving, it was the governments of developed Western nations, Japan, Singapore and a few others that refused to waive IP. Most of the governments of the developing world supported the temporary waiving of IP. The current war in Ukraine has also exacerbated the divide between Global North and Global South. All Global North nations have supported sanctions against Russia, whereas the Global South hasn't. Unfortunately, this is the result of the Cold War where Russia (Soviet Union) was sympathetic and supportive of struggles in the Global South whereas the Global North (led by the US) was not. Many in the Global South fear that picking a side in the war will result in consequences. They fear that siding with the US will ruin their relationship with Russia and thus they will have nobody to support them in their own struggles. They also fear that picking a side will open their countries up to proxy wars and become pawns between the US and Russia like what has happened to Ukraine (also based on their past experiences, the conflicts of the Cold War era backed by either the US or the USSR were fought in Global South nations).
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@joelsherpa2187 Exactly. Nepal wants to diversify so as to not rely on one country.
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@Gizziiusa There is a difference between economic clout and political clout. It would be seen as detrimental to many ethnic Chinese in countries like Thailand, Philippines, Laos and Cambodia to be treated as PRC Chinese and thus viewed as outsiders. The ethnic Chinese communities of all Thailand, Philippines and Cambodia are deeply assimilated into their respective countries. Ethnic Chinese in Thailand and Cambodia practice Thai and Khmer culture, speak Thai and Khmer practice Theravada Buddhism and see themselves as "Thai" and "Khmer". The same thing in the Philippines, ethnic Chinese in the Philippines are embedded within the native Filipino culture with most practicing Catholicism and speaking the native Filipino languages. Malaysia is the only exception, where the local Chinese community has retained its Chinese cultural heritage albeit developed it into a unique Southeast Asian-style Chinese identity with some additional influences from the Malay and Indian communities but nonetheless, culturally and ethnically consider themselves as "Han Chinese". Due to Malaysia's long history of ethnic disharmony, there is a large fraction of the Malaysian Chinese community who find more allegiance with China than with Malaysia and this section of the community are constantly questioned about their loyalty with fears that if relations between Malaysia and China deteriorated considerably, this section of the Chinese community would immediately side with China rather than their birth country.
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You put "America bad" in quotation marks as if it's a lie when in reality, it's the truth. There is no "good" and "bad" in all of this. Everybody is to some degree good and bad. I think you're also severely underestimating China. I live in the Asia-Pacific and let me tell you, Chinese influence is everywhere. China is so influential that they are influencing institutions like universities and governments in countries like Australia and Thailand.
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