littleyellowbirdie 2,606 Posted February 14, 2023 Continuing off from the balloon story, a Chinese vessel recently shone a laser at a Philippines military vessel, temporarily blinding a crew member, and shone lasers at an Australian plane. In the past, China has rammed vessels including fishing boats in pushing its claims for all of the South China Sea. Even the balloon flights, it appears that the US is far from the only country that China has employed balloons against in this manner. Comment has been made that the most remarkable thing about China's balloons is they made zero effort to camouflage. Why aren't people more concerned at our dependence on a nation so nakedly aggressive on a daily basis which we share few values with? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/13/chinese-ship-military-grade-laser-philippine-vessel Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Real Buh 3,487 Posted February 14, 2023 China is the biggest threat to the western world weve allowed them to infiltrate academia, our information networks, the highest levels of our government. You name it. We need to re-arm Yesterday. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
keelansgrandad 6,679 Posted February 14, 2023 6 hours ago, littleyellowbirdie said: Continuing off from the balloon story, a Chinese vessel recently shone a laser at a Philippines military vessel, temporarily blinding a crew member, and shone lasers at an Australian plane. In the past, China has rammed vessels including fishing boats in pushing its claims for all of the South China Sea. Even the balloon flights, it appears that the US is far from the only country that China has employed balloons against in this manner. Comment has been made that the most remarkable thing about China's balloons is they made zero effort to camouflage. Why aren't people more concerned at our dependence on a nation so nakedly aggressive on a daily basis which we share few values with? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/13/chinese-ship-military-grade-laser-philippine-vessel But what do you suggest we do? The boom during the late 90s to the early 00s made Chinese expansion so easy. And now they are saying thank you very much. From being a mickey take country they are now ostensibly rivalling the US as the World's superpower. And with that power comes the need to protect it. And militarily is the most obvious way to do that. And just in case nobody believes them, they are now happy to talk and display their ability. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yellow Fever 3,846 Posted February 14, 2023 We do not need to make an enemy of China. Yes disagree with them on human rights, free speech and Taiwan. However we also need to get along with them as within a decade or two both China and India will have surpassed the USA as the worlds economic superpowers. Then what ? With a rapidly rising middle class (and anybody who knows China will already recognize many are already quite wealthy as compared the average Brit) will eventually come political change. Xi is a throw-back on the road to Chinese globalization. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
littleyellowbirdie 2,606 Posted February 14, 2023 34 minutes ago, Yellow Fever said: We do not need to make an enemy of China. Yes disagree with them on human rights, free speech and Taiwan. However we also need to get along with them as within a decade or two both China and India will have surpassed the USA as the worlds economic superpowers. Then what ? With a rapidly rising middle class (and anybody who knows China will already recognize many are already quite wealthy as compared the average Brit) will eventually come political change. Xi is a throw-back on the road to Chinese globalization. The whole argument for liberalising with China in the first place was that the society would liberalise with it. If anything, the opposite has happened. We've watched how Xi Jinping dealt with Covid. Firstly, arrested those that tried to sound the alarm, then conned the WHO to keep travel going until we were all screwed, and then threw his own population under the bus with an unworkable zero Covid policy. Without making an enemy of China, we should be doing everything possible to discourage dependency on China economically. Fortunately, Western divestment does appear to have begun. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Indy 3,324 Posted February 14, 2023 7 minutes ago, littleyellowbirdie said: The whole argument for liberalising with China in the first place was that the society would liberalise with it. If anything, the opposite has happened. We've watched how Xi Jinping dealt with Covid. Firstly, arrested those that tried to sound the alarm, then conned the WHO to keep travel going until we were all screwed, and then threw his own population under the bus with an unworkable zero Covid policy. Without making an enemy of China, we should be doing everything possible to discourage dependency on China economically. Fortunately, Western divestment does appear to have begun. Unfortunately these type of leaders have been allowed to get into power, let’s be honest Trump isn’t too far behind these guys for wanting power, I’m not sure I would ever trust Trump if he got back into power to relinquish it! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
littleyellowbirdie 2,606 Posted February 15, 2023 I'm just listening to the Today programme. First thing I heard was discussion regarding pulling out Chinese-made security cameras. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Foxy2600 305 Posted February 15, 2023 Xi slavering over the possibility of helping Iran cement its totalitarian rule..... in exchange for buying our nuclear technology - of course! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
