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No. The Chinese government is using this entire crisis as a way of testing the limits of its power. They wanted to test it in a 0-10 scale but found the needle

No. The Chinese government is using this entire crisis as a way of testing the limits of its power. They wanted to test it in a 0-10 scale but found the needle zoomed up to the right stop, so they adjusted the scale to 0-100 by dialing up their actions to even more extreme. That’s why they’re forcing these companies to bend the knee in public rather than quietly. They didn’t want to just disable the HKLive app, they wanted to see whether they could force Apple’s CEO to write a public mea culpa for them, which he did. You can be certain that a person with a direct line of authority to Xi made it very clear that Blizzard would not be allowed to “tactfully” deal with the situation publicist-style. What you will soon see is the Chinese outrage dialing down as the government gets a good read on the 0-100 number and retreats for the next 30 years to build strategic power while the rest of the world gets distracted by the next Thing.

learc83 7y ago
>retreats for the next 30 years to build strategic power while the rest of the world gets distracted by the next Thing. You could argue that China may have worked like that in the past, but they don't under Xi. Dictators are never very patient. They are too concerned with personal power to put long term interests ahead of personal gain. Just look at the HK situation for evidence. All they had to do was keep going slowly and wait till 2047, but Xi couldn't handle looking weak.
- ethbro 7y ago
  He can handle looking weak as long as the economy keeps humming along, which maintains CCP securely in place, which lessens internal party tensions. If the Chinese economy crashes... well, look at history for the sum of dictatorship + economic malaise.
  - learc83 7y ago
    I meant he couldn't personally handle looking weak, not that the Winnie The Pooh thing was actually a threat to his power base. He overreacted to something that wasn't actually a threat because it hurt his ego. >If the Chinese economy crashes... well, look at history for the sum of dictatorship + economic malaise. But yes that is a very good point.

learc83 7y ago

>retreats for the next 30 years to build strategic power while the rest of the world gets distracted by the next Thing. You could argue that China may have worked like that in the past, but they don't under Xi. Dictators are never very patient. They are too concerned with personal power to put long term interests ahead of personal gain. Just look at the HK situation for evidence. All they had to do was keep going slowly and wait till 2047, but Xi couldn't handle looking weak.

ethbro 7y ago
He can handle looking weak as long as the economy keeps humming along, which maintains CCP securely in place, which lessens internal party tensions. If the Chinese economy crashes... well, look at history for the sum of dictatorship + economic malaise.
- learc83 7y ago
  I meant he couldn't personally handle looking weak, not that the Winnie The Pooh thing was actually a threat to his power base. He overreacted to something that wasn't actually a threat because it hurt his ego. >If the Chinese economy crashes... well, look at history for the sum of dictatorship + economic malaise. But yes that is a very good point.