[quote=FlyerInHi]
Really? We are the ones withdrawing from the status quo by leaving international institutions that we built, leaving empty space for China to fill. [/quote]
Agree with that. The US has some pretty shitty foreign policy. The last time we had a coherent policy was probably back in the Cold War.
[quote=FlyerInHi]
If you’re so sure the China’s economic model results in misallocations, then let them knock themselves out. [/quote]
Right, the system won’t be a collapse. Just private companies in China suffer. We’ll see if it’s a contributor to the middle income trap. [/quote]
[quote=FlyerInHi]
The military build-up by China is thanks to the growing size of their economy and what that affords them to buy. Strategically, they need to build their military before their ageing demographics makes it much harder. Do you expect them to not plan?
If we trade less with China, trade more with Vietnam (Philippines, or other countries), but if Vietnam buys telecom, infrastructure and tech from China (because Chinese stuff is best and cheapest for Vietnam’s stage of development), then China will become even better at building higher value tech, and that will help their military. TPP was designed to counter that by giving Vietnam preferential access to the US market, but with Trump departing TPP, Vietnam is now just like any WTO country. Why is the US not building high speed rail, seaports, etc.. for Vietnam on credit? [/quote]
Nothing wrong with each country building up their own miltiary. I have no issue with that. Japan, Korea, India all have large militaries.
Agree on TPP – that goes back to the crap foreign poliicies of the US.
[quote=FlyerInHi]
On territorial disputes, we already said that don’t have a dog in the race. The countries in the regions need to work it out among them themselves. And so far all is quiet so let them work it out. [/quote]
We only have a stake in that the freedom of access to air and oceans is allowed beyond the 12 mile limit for recognized territories. It is not all quiet in the region – which is why everyone is building their military up. If China didn’t create an ADIZ over the South China Sea and built “miltiary” facilities islands in contested areas, we probably wouldn’t be headed to a Cold War. Plenty of stories of China fisheries vessels blocking other countries from free access to what would be considered areas outside their EEZ.
[quote=FlyerInHi] One-country, two systems is a British/Western concept that China agreed to with the return of Hong Kong. If you call BS on it, then Hong Kong is just like any other city in China. [/quote]
That’s right, HK is just another city in China now. Which is why Taiwan is calling BS on the One-country, two systems (China uses that term when referring to Taiwan sometimes).
[quote=FlyerInHi] Recognize Taiwan’s independence? The US made a commitment to the One-China policy in 1971.
Sure, we could “refudiate” the One-China police but then we lose credibility and nobody would trust us ever again. BTW, Taiwan never declared independence and they have their own internal politics to work out as they still claim to represent all of China. [/quote]
It’s not an impossibilty – certainly isn’t going to happen soon. But let’s say the US and China get into a full Cold War where everything is segregated. Anything could be on the table at that point.
I’m Chinese, I do know their’s a lots of internal issues in Taiwan regarding independence. Lot of the reasons have to do with the economy, trade with China, and that the Taiwanese have huge investments in China. After all, Foxconn is Taiwanese.
[quote=FlyerInHi] In summary, don’t bitch about China. Do better than China and show the world that our ideas result in more concrete material wealth that people can see and use. Talk is cheap.[/quote]
Agree with that. The US has some really shitty incoherent foreign policy for the past 3 decades. The real failure of leadership in both the US & China is that we are now heading towards a world that will be less open, more divergent, and segregated. Sure some countries are going to benefit from great power competition, but most will not. We’re at a point where travel & investment is beginning to restricted between US & China/Russia depending on what company/industry you are in. I don’t believe China is going to collapse or crash – the reality is that when the all the corporate and soverign debt becomes a problem in the next crisis, the US & China will be equally affected.
