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I am a Chinese American but my wife is Chinese. I have a large number of Chinese friends. You may be surprised to learn that vast majority of Chinese natives ar

I am a Chinese American but my wife is Chinese. I have a large number of Chinese friends. You may be surprised to learn that vast majority of Chinese natives are very pro-China; and while they can be critical of the Chinese government at times, they tend to be united against any actions taken by foreign entities they consider anti-China or anti-Chinese government. Talk to a few Chinese immigrants and you will know. The younger Chinese generation grew up in an era of Chinese economic boom and are the benefactors of the efficiency in decision making that came with a more top-down (dictatorial if you will) government. The younger generation is much more focused on economic well-being and safety over liberty or freedom. So as long as China can maintain the economic growth it's been having the past two decades, the Chinese public will by and large support the government.

mdpopescu 7y ago
The same thing happens with the US: despite the problems that (most of) the rest of the world has with its government, the US citizens are very much supportive of their government. To paraphrase your last statement, as long as the US can manage to not destroy their economy completely, the US public will by and large support the government.
- ericd 7y ago
  I would say that most Americans are actually very angry about the US government.
  - mdpopescu 7y ago
    Not in my experience. Most Americans are angry about the president or some senator. Medicare? FBI? The US Navy / Air Force / Army? The police? Most Americans love those. (When did you last see a group of people asking for the disbanding of the FBI? Heck, for the disbanding of the IRS even.)
seemack 7y ago
> The younger generation is much more focused on economic well-being and safety over liberty or freedom This is perfectly reasonable when you consider it a personal decision. Sure, trade away some of your freedom for better economic well-being. But how do they justify this when their personal economic well-being requires trampling the freedom of other people? By that logic, would pro-China people would support China going to war with and taking over other countries if it brought them "economic well-being"? (edited to make the last statement more clearly a question since it's something I'm genuinely curious about.)
- dirtyid 7y ago
  >But how do they justify this when their personal economic well-being requires trampling the freedom of other people? There are 3 great evils in China: terrorism, separatism and extremism. HK/Tibet/XinJiang/Taiwan are not economic issues but security ones. People balance prosperity for security everywhere. The west sees HK as a large pro democracy movement, the Chinese see's this as fringe separatist violence by 0.001% of the population. They see HK as Chinese alt-right getting bold undermining domestic serenity: disenfranchised, social media savvy, economically anxious youth who see their culture being displaced and their privileged being eroded by mainland immigrants. They're acting accordingly.
  - shkkmo 7y ago
    In what way does pretending Taiwan does not exist improve China's security?
    - dirtyid 7y ago
      The physical island is a huge geopolitical asset or security risk. See island chain strategy. Also look up elevation map of Taiwan + Taiwan straight. Chinese coast is very shallow and hard to hide Chinese subs, whereas east Taiwan drops straight into deep water which enables China to hide subs which is important in controlling regional waters against US Navy. Regardless, the Chinese military planning certainly doesn't pretend the land isn't there. The government (from both sides) just doesn't recognize each others sovereignty.

mdpopescu 7y ago

The same thing happens with the US: despite the problems that (most of) the rest of the world has with its government, the US citizens are very much supportive of their government. To paraphrase your last statement, as long as the US can manage to not destroy their economy completely, the US public will by and large support the government.

ericd 7y ago
I would say that most Americans are actually very angry about the US government.
- mdpopescu 7y ago
  Not in my experience. Most Americans are angry about the president or some senator. Medicare? FBI? The US Navy / Air Force / Army? The police? Most Americans love those. (When did you last see a group of people asking for the disbanding of the FBI? Heck, for the disbanding of the IRS even.)

seemack 7y ago

> The younger generation is much more focused on economic well-being and safety over liberty or freedom This is perfectly reasonable when you consider it a personal decision. Sure, trade away some of your freedom for better economic well-being. But how do they justify this when their personal economic well-being requires trampling the freedom of other people? By that logic, would pro-China people would support China going to war with and taking over other countries if it brought them "economic well-being"? (edited to make the last statement more clearly a question since it's something I'm genuinely curious about.)

dirtyid 7y ago
>But how do they justify this when their personal economic well-being requires trampling the freedom of other people? There are 3 great evils in China: terrorism, separatism and extremism. HK/Tibet/XinJiang/Taiwan are not economic issues but security ones. People balance prosperity for security everywhere. The west sees HK as a large pro democracy movement, the Chinese see's this as fringe separatist violence by 0.001% of the population. They see HK as Chinese alt-right getting bold undermining domestic serenity: disenfranchised, social media savvy, economically anxious youth who see their culture being displaced and their privileged being eroded by mainland immigrants. They're acting accordingly.
- shkkmo 7y ago
  In what way does pretending Taiwan does not exist improve China's security?
  - dirtyid 7y ago
    The physical island is a huge geopolitical asset or security risk. See island chain strategy. Also look up elevation map of Taiwan + Taiwan straight. Chinese coast is very shallow and hard to hide Chinese subs, whereas east Taiwan drops straight into deep water which enables China to hide subs which is important in controlling regional waters against US Navy. Regardless, the Chinese military planning certainly doesn't pretend the land isn't there. The government (from both sides) just doesn't recognize each others sovereignty.