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> I hope you're right and that China will prove to be a paper tiger Realize that hoping for that is hoping for hundreds of millions of people to be mired in po
by hackuser 10y ago
> I hope you're right and that China will prove to be a paper tiger
Realize that hoping for that is hoping for hundreds of millions of people to be mired in poverty for generations more.
What I hope is that China achieves political reform and becomes a democracy, and all those people have freedom, self-determination, and prosperity. Despite China's protestations, many countries of many different cultures have done it with great success: Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong are examples right on and even within China's borders. All the most prosperous, secure countries in the world, almost without exception, are democracies.
- GunboatDiplomat 10y agoA democratic China is still a threat. China is only safe if it's impoverished, broken up into manageable chunks, or hopelessly outclassed.
- hackuser 10y agoTrue, but I'm not going to starve the rest of the world so that I feel safe. That seems like a definition of evil. Democracies almost never go to war with other democracies; it's not much of a threat. Also, liberty and self-determination are Western values; what you describe is the antithesis.