Having spent around 21 months in China, including Tibet and Xinjiang, am I still a fan of China? Yes! How could I live 21 months amongst such an incredibly alien and foreign race and culture if I hated it and was free to go whenever?
Nowadays if I see a work colleague that visits China for holidays, regardless of ethnicity, I think they're suckers for authoritarianism and China's modern xenophobic society. That's keeping in mind I'm a reformed China lover who is quite critical of today's China's government. I mean in my day, 2004/2005, around those dates, maybe things were slightly better. Or there's also a disconnect between what you experience and what you see reported later outside China that you know is true, brutality, organ harvesting, etc.
Anyway I just wanted to add, since the Theodore Roosevelt is patrolling around the south china sea these days, while the modern crop of ultra sonic weapons such as China and Russia sport, are terribly exciting in terms of leverage and potential, I must say, I do not think China's military offers much competition to America's military due to a gross lack of experience, gross lack of morale, gross lack of ability, incompetence, corruption. It is a nation of bratty only children. Can you imagine an entire nation of only children? It's certainly a fascinating place however I do not rate their ability to wage war at all. China would do well just focusing on likeable foreign policy goals like investing itself in Africa or something like that. The South China sea is a losing proposition for the CCP. It's mostly international waters and why jeopardize your leadership, if it really is the best thing to lead China, over FACE and fishing stocks? China loves to fish illegally anyway so who cares?
You know Jim Morrison from the Doors? his father was skippering an aircraft carrier that was in the gulf of Tonkin when the Vietnam war kind of started. Not sure what the relationship between the top brass and the President was or who precisely requested escalation. These things are always bigger than just one person like a president or aircraft carrier skipper/admiral. There's a plausible seeming theory that JFK's assassination was organised by his vice president I think it was, or the guy that became president after the vice was sworn in. Seemed the most plausible story I heard. See American politics aren't that boring.
Admiral Morrison and the gulf of Tonkin situation:
https://youtu.be/j8NBQTgGe_I
Hey and it's not like President Xi isn't trying to run a neat ship right? Check it out:
https://youtu.be/lfCoCG_ggZU
Before taking up the topic of big tech silicon valley and China's govt and the latter's relationship with Wall Street, usury. And even international relations with China like Spain's surgeons teaching China's surgeons the mastery of organ transplantation. Before going on the like vein, no pun intended, I'll just make a quick aside:
Are Chinese people hostile? No. GENERALLY speaking, when we discuss high level posturing and propaganda at the highest level in the CCP, or certain actions that Chinese fishing vessels take like ramming and sinking. Or the severe abuse and cruelty towards political victims, yes, in these cases there's tremendous hostility and even a certain cruel class of people naturally inclined to punish.
However, in the main, I would say most Chinese people, over 99.99% do not become aware of this kind of class apart from being bullied by their superiors and expected to work extremely long hours. This class I refer to is a hands on torturing class: police chiefs, security guards, sycophants that suck up to high level cadres. There's definitely a sadistic enforcement class in China, regardless of their official job title, it's like an actual caste amongst them.
In fact, if I were coaching China's government to go to war, for the sake of improving it's own demographic situation, which is ludicrous as it's unlikely anyone will want to acquiesce anything with China from (outside) as no-one has much in common with China. We'll come back to China's weak morale soon. I mean obviously they're going to rack up better experience just warring with India because I don't think a war with America would look very good for China.
I mean Chinese people very often are unquestionably people with honour who do not seek to act like scoundrels or dishonorably. If you're coming from the West and went to university you wouldn't realise for a long time, maybe never, that nobody shares your liberal western ideals you might cherish. Cruel and unusual punishment. It's in the American constitution. All the military leadership in America knows about it, they know they're bound to uphold the Constitution and part of that is avoiding the legislation of cruel and unusual punishment. Putting aside very questionable choreography that may cause very deep distress, and certain kinds of weapons used in war that would constitute cruel and unusual punishment such as radioactive bullet heads used by the u.s. army that cause birth defects after embedding in walls and slowly leaking. Can we say China and America legislate cruel and unusual punishment? Well maybe allowing transgender men in with the women in the changerooms is cruel and unusual punishment Joe. Does China legislate it? Not really, it doesn't really say in the law in China you can torture people but you can, it's a lawless country. Like a jungle from a Bon Jovi song. Many cruel and unusual punishments are practiced and it's all denied and hush hushed. Too many, in fact. Is it America's duty to fix that? Not really. Say America had a big giant spaceship and could start moving tens of millions to other planets, should they try to reform messed up planets? Probably not, while it would be righteous, you don't see aliens coming to earth and fighting battles to help us right? I guess that's what you'd call a wild tangent.
Definitely China practices many extreme forms of cruel and unusual punishment that make regular torments like married life or a severe illness seem mild by comparison.
Are Chinese people starving to death right now due to being on lockdown to stop coronavirus outbreaks. Yes, Benji intelligence reveals this is the case. Cannibalism might ensue. Let's consider the following Benjamin Franklin quote:
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
In the context of China, I can only speak for myself, also keeping in mind Jesus's saying: the truth will set you free.
Obviously a stranglehold on tons of facts is a fantastic tool for freedom, but even Jesus suffered excruciating pain when he was crucified and sadly, this kind of short term intense suffering still is fairly common in China. Other forms of suffering and torments may play out over years and years and even make a relatively short albeit excruciatingly painful death seem appealing by comparison. Also not all suffering comes from oppression.
Returning to Franklin then, the question is, what is essential Liberty? Some might say it's dependent on access to knowledge: e.g., widespread elementary schools, something which the West couldn't achieve in Afghanistan, and something which, the Chinese, with their knack for oppression, probably could achieve.
In term of American coronavirus lockdowns, are they giving up essential Liberty for temporary safety? I'd say so. What can you do, who to fight against? It's going to be pretty ugly if people start shooting at their local law enforcement or courthouses due to oppressive fines and inability to run their businesses.