The China Thread

[Valmy]

Too bad Mono is no longer around to give us the pro-Beijing spin on things. He must be getting fairly dizzy spinning around.

[Jacob]

Chinese official and social media is going completely OTT re: Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, covering her every move minute by minute.

[Zoupa]

I think the last few months have proved there's only one superpower in this world.

US calling bluffs left and right. Old Nancy and Joe don't give a fuck, I love it. 

[Legbiter]

Chinese official and social media is going completely OTT re: Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, covering her every move minute by minute.

Pretty humiliating for China to let the Americans yank them around like that if all they do is huff and puff but then do nothing.

[Jacob]

Chinese official and social media is going completely OTT re: Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, covering her every move minute by minute.

Pretty humiliating for China to let the Americans yank them around like that if all they do is huff and puff but then do nothing.

China's Final Warning

[FunkMonk]

I think the last few months have proved there's only one superpower in this world.

US calling bluffs left and right. Old Nancy and Joe don't give a fuck, I love it. 

 

[Josquius]

The footage of Chinese tanks racing about on the beach and scattering tourists is quite funny.

[Legbiter]

China's Final Warning

The People's Republic of China released their first "final warning" to the United States for their reconnaissance flights on 7 September 1958, during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis. At the time, the United States considered the Republic of China as the sole legitimate representative of China, and conducted reconnaissance flights in waters controlled by the People's Republic of China. The People's Republic of China recorded such incidents, and issued a "final warning" through diplomatic channels for each incident. More than 900 Chinese "final warnings" had been issued by the end of 1964

Yeah basically nothing happened. Maybe someone in Xi's inner circle told him the truth about what will happen to Chinese food and energy imports if they go to war with the US. They'll be back to Mao period living standards in 6 months.

[mongers]

I can see the PLA attempting to take one or more of the outlying Tiawanese islands that lie close to the mainland, not necessarily Quemoy or Matsu (sp?) but the less inhabited ones and/or those that are little more than tidal mudflats.

[Tonitrus]

I'm kinda surprised they don't (or haven't already) just bumrush the Kinmen islands.  It'd be a good test of international/US resolve on the issue ahead of a full-on invasion of Taiwan proper.  Seems like it'd be pretty easy to get away with.

Unless the calculus is that such a trick might only work once, and if you go for it, you gotta go for it all.

[Jacob]

Speaking of Kinmen, here's the Kinmen Tourism Association song:

My wife and I have been wanting to visit at some point in the not too distant future. Hopefully events won't make that impossible.

[DGuller]

Chinese official and social media is going completely OTT re: Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, covering her every move minute by minute.

Pretty humiliating for China to let the Americans yank them around like that if all they do is huff and puff but then do nothing.

China's Final Warning

Huh, I never realized that's where the Russian saying "Последнее китайское предупреждение" comes from.  I think most people using it in Russian don't realize it either, because they use it as if it's adding emphasis to the warning rather than detracting from it.

[Tamas]

In a shocking turn of events, Simon Jenkins disapproves of the Pelosi visit. 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/03/taiwan-nancy-pelosi-visit-ukraine-us

[Admiral Yi]

A similar ambiguity infuses the west's attitude towards Russia over Ukraine. The US and Britain reiterate that Russia "must fail and be seen to fail". But can Russia really be relied on to tolerate ever greater destruction of its armaments without escalation? The west seems set on holding Ukraine to a drawn game, hoping to postpone some horrific penalty shootout. All Russia can do is perpetrate ever more atrocities to keep its team in play. Suppose it escalates something else?

Ossum stuff.

Please tell me Mr. Jenkins, if the West really wanted Ukraine to win, what would they be doing differently?

Or perhaps by drawn game you mean Ukraine should surrender immediately?

And we're forcing poor Poutine to commit atrocities?

[The Minsky Moment]

The fates of Ukraine and Taiwan merit every diplomatic support but they cannot be allowed to lurch downhill towards global war or nuclear catastrophe. This may reduce the effect – always overstated – of nuclear deterrence, and make them vulnerable to blackmail. But it is one thing to declare yourself "rather dead than red", quite another to inflict that decision on others.

Ran this through Google translate but couldn't get an English translation.  Does anyone know the source langauge?