I have a friend who made software for satellites in the 90s (ie, satellites that killed other satellites) and said that China was the US's biggest threat. This has been known for a very long time. Even when I was a kid my mother said they were manipulating their currency (I was about 7 when she told me this decades ago).
If people didn't know, their heads were in the sand. The same way people don't recognize that there are world religions that want to do away with all secular governments and install their religious governments.
Look up the first war the US was engaged in 200 years ago, you mayb be surprised to know it's the same group we now call "terrorists" today.
> The same way people don't recognize that there are world religions that want to do away with all secular governments and install their religious governments.
Kudos. It is difficult to criticize an ideology without being blamed to be hateful of its adherents
>> Barbary Wars, in which the United States and Sweden fought against the four North African states known collectively as the "Barbary States". Three of these were nominal provinces of the Ottoman Empire, but in practice autonomous: Tripoli, Algiers, and Tunis. The fourth was the independent Sultanate of Morocco.
Thanks for the link. But may I ask which of the above 4 countries are you calling “terrorists”?
I'm not the original poster, but I don't think he or she was equating the Barbary coast countries as being terrorists. Rather that people would be surprised to find out that the USA has been at war off and on with Islamic Caliphates since just after the Revolutionary war.
I think their point is broader than just being generic attack against Islam though, for example there are plenty of Hindu nationalists and Christian Nationalists (Google State Representative Matt Shea in the Washington State) that would love to establish a Hindu or Christian nation by force.
I mean is it, or maybe you thought I meant a Hindu Nation in the US? There have been many incidents reported in the US and world news about the rise of Hindu nationalism and its antagonism towards the 20% Muslim population, here's an example.
China was never any threat to any country in the history of China. The culture is simply too corrupted.
US biggest threat is the national debt and the unfounded and underfunded liabilities.
The national debt is really not a problem as long as the USD still the world reserved currency. How the reserved status may change because of China and that’s the real threat.
I'm sure "China" went from China Proper to enveloping Manchuria, southern China, and modern-day Xinjiang through purely peaceful measures as well...
[I should note that I find these types of discussions useless in the first place. No problem among living humans was ever solved by arguing over whose ancestors were less barbaric...]
In my opinion, the little nugget of truth here is that the focus of the Chinese government has almost always been inward, and not outward, and definitely has been for the last several generations. Their greatest threat is not the US or anyone else, it is and always has been (and will be) their own people.
If you think about it like this it explains everything that the government has been doing for decades. They limit the population growth so that they can feed everyone and keep discontent down. They focus on the economy to keep discontent down. They build regional and world status to create pride in a greater, unified China. Even their tv shows and movies glorify themes which show a united China as one, and always the government are the good, humble servants. Military power, technological independence, even hostility towards other countries is mostly to build patriotism and unity among their own people.
And of course they restrict the internet, control the media, and limit what people can see and say.
Even when China was being successfully invaded by the Japanese, the existing government was more concerned with the Communist revolution. When they finally got desperate and banded together with the Communists to fight the Japanese, they lost ... to the Chinese Communists who took the opportunity to overthrow them.
So in that sense, it is helpful to understand the Chinese government and the things they are likely to do, and how to interpret them.
I didn't say the hostility wasn't real. It doesn't matter why someone is pointing a gun at you when it happens. I was explaining my theory as to why they are bad neighbors.
With respect to Taiwan: what is it that constitutes a nation, if not the common belief of its people that they are a nation, combined with the reality that they are under the control of a government which they recognise as their own?
Good question. If the recognition of others is a deciding factor, then Taiwan was previously a nation (when its government was internationally recognised) but no longer is, which is a strange conclusion.
Partly, it depends on whether the debate over nation status is a merely one of linguistics and categorisation or whether we're making ethical arguments.
When Japan annexed Korea, did the Korean people cease to constitute a nation? When Japan annexed Taiwan, did Taiwan cease to rightfully belong to the Chinese government of the time?
(As an aside, I think that no-one talking about the Taiwanese company's involvement in IP theft is a pretty good example of how the press is incentivised to lead with a sensationalised narrative that inflames sentiments, how people focus on facts that fit a pre-existing narrative, and a general bias against China).
