Chinese pres to become emperor?

Original post by Ninja Squirrel

externally they're not throwing their weight around that much

Aside from building brand new militarised islands in the South China sea and declaring maritime zones massively in breach of international treaties, effectively stealing other country's waters...

Reply 3

Ninja Squirrel

Original post by Drewski

Aside from building brand new militarised islands in the South China sea and declaring maritime zones massively in breach of international treaties, effectively stealing other country's waters...

China obviously isn't perfect but stealing a bit of ocean is nothing compared to launching full scale invasions in other countries and building overseas prison camps (gitmo).

In fact just doing a quick google search it seems they've not had a war / conflict since 1979, impressive when you consider the size and power of their military.

Reply 4

Original post by Ninja Squirrel

They've had a lot of internal fighting and rioting that they've used the military to quash.

And the rest of it is down to them not having expeditionary forces.

Let's not pretend they're some virtuous country that has no issues. They have plenty, and their military is on the up.

They're currently building up military ports and airfields in south Asia in Pakistan and around the horn of Africa as they seek to gain the ability to impose themselves on international shipping.

Your point shouldn't be that they haven't done X. It's that they haven't yet. They're coming.

Reply 5

AmeliaLost

It's highly unlikely he'll start waving terms like emperor around, it would be political suicide let alone any personal ideological clashes; The people below him will allow him to stay in power for as long as he's useful (to them) and successful, and so far he's not doing a bad job - on the world stage either.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 6

Original post by Ninja Squirrel

Partly that's because they already are an empire.

They're already ruling over regions that are not Han Chinese such as Tibet, East Turkestan, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Yunnan, Guangxi. They have been tightening control over Hong Kong and Macau, and have been trying hard to isolate Taiwan politically and economically. That's also the South China Sea someone mentioned.

They have on-going territorial disputes with India (a military standoff happened just last year), Bhutan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan, The Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, and Brunei. That is, of course, without counting Taiwan and Hong Kong.

They have been buying friendship both in Africa and Latin America, not just to isolate Taiwan and obtain natural resources, but also to establishment themselves as a global power. There are now even talks to certain African countries turning into Chinese colonies. Their aid doesn't even help the foreign leaders - they built infrastructure in those countries in exchange of a huge amount of their resources, while paying exclusively Chinese companies to build them.

They already have an overseas military base in Djibouti, controlling also Ethiopia's supply and export routes. They are considering building military bases in Pakistan, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka.

They have recently launched the "one belt, one road" initiative as an attempt to dominate the world economically.

They have kidnapped foreign, including British, citizens from Thailand and Hong Kong, demanded Thailand and Singapore to reject Joshua Wong's entry. Most recently, they re-kidnapped a Swedish citizen while he was literally with Swedish diplomats.

They are currently building up further their naval power. And of course North Korea only exists because of China to begin with.

Do you really think none of these amount to throwing their weight around much? They don't do as much as the US and Russia do only because they are not yet able to do that.

Or do you want a literal, conventional invasion? How about Tibet? They quite literally drove their army into Tibet and that's why the Dalai Lama fled.

Reply 7

Original post by AmeliaLost

He hasn't done much within China other than silencing his opponents - physically, censoring further (even Winnie the Pooh is banned now) and solidifying himself as a god-like figure.

He also didn't do anything on the world stage. China now fares better on the world stage simply because they now have a bit more money.

In his first term, the reality is that the Chinese economy has slowed down quickly, the currency has stopped its upward trend, borrowing has increased massively (debt is now at a historic level by global standard), and relationship with surrounding countries, North Korea included, have never been worse.

Reply 8

Original post by Drewski

A lot of people buy into the claim that "we are taking this piece of land because it has also been a part of China from ancient times". The fact is that claim is as valid as China now claiming Russia to be its territory because the Mongols once had a part of it.

Reply 9

Following the Emperor-designate's announcement, the Chinese Google reportedly recorded a massive surge of searches of "emigrate" (although still only numbered around 300 searches).

Apparently, it has since then been made a banned word on that site and no-one could search for it any more.

Reply 10

Original post by Ninja Squirrel

Maybe not as much as Ameirca but a lot more than Russia - As Drewski mentioned there is the land grab and militarisation in the south china sea, their push back with a2/ad, economic warfare waged againt many of their neighbours etc.

Original post by Drewski

Aside from building brand new militarised islands in the South China sea and declaring maritime zones massively in breach of international treaties, effectively stealing other country's waters...

Not as bad as invading and occupying them to steal their oil :holmes:

Reply 11

Chucke1992

We are up to interesting times. Medieval age is approaching to the world :colondollar:

Reply 12

Original post by Napp

Not as bad as invading and occupying them to steal their oil :holmes:

Tired urban myth. China got Iraq's oil, not the US.

Reply 13

Original post by Drewski

Tired urban myth. China got Iraq's oil, not the US.

Tell that to Halliburton during the occupation.

Reply 14

Original post by Napp

Tell that to Halliburton during the occupation.

Or you could look at the evidence yourself...

American companies might have got some of the contracts, but the US did not get any of the oil.

Reply 15

Retired_Messiah

I keep scrolling past this thread and interpreting pres as predrinks help

Reply 16

Original post by Drewski

Or you could look at the evidence yourself...

American companies might have got some of the contracts, but the US did not get any of the oil.

Strangely enough in this instance it is the same thing. Not to mention an american was placed in charge of the iraqi oil ministry to 'oversee'. Whatever wayyou look at it it was theft based on lies.They made up some fibs about WMDs and went in to make a quick buck albeit it backfired.

Reply 17

Original post by Napp

Do 2 wrongs make a right? Does the US being a big bully means China should be allowed to be a big bully, too?

And in any case, if that's the logic, China had already had its turn when it ruled over the Orient for many centuries.

This is of course without mentioning the fact that China isn't a liberal democracy, and its legitimacy to rule over China is very questionable to begin with.

Reply 18

Fullofsurprises

It was amusing listening to radio 4 news this evening at 5pm, they had a lot of discussion on this move by the Chinese Communist Party and various apologists from China trying to claim it was all just routine and nothing to worry about. (One brave dissident inside China was quoted as trying to organise a petition against it - he is expecting to be sent back to prison for this outrageous act shortly.)

It's very difficult not to see this as a full return to Maoist autocracy by Xi Jinping. At the very least, he and the leadership are confirming their absolute power and denying even the possibility of another system or leadership. All this from a government that has never once put itself up for election to the people.

We should move away from trading with China, apart from stocking Poundland and enabling Apple and Samsung and Nike to exploit cheap labour, all it really seems to achieve is cementing this totalitarian dictatorship in place. It's time to review the entire relationship with China and start insisting they offer their people genuine democracy or else bow out of the list of nations we do business with. We also need to put a stop to their ghastly 'New Silk Road' programme and their interference in Africa and elsewhere in Asia.

Reply 19