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Biden must rethink US approach to the South China Sea. Early signs aren't good

2 points by mardiyah 6y ago

LatteLazy 6y ago
I'm no trumper but... Something has to be done for a long list of reasons. I'm not advocating war. But I think that waiting and giving China space and assuming they'll become more democratic, peaceful, humane or globally conscious is THE biggest failure of foreign policy in the last 30 years. China is getting worse not better. I wish Biden luck and he has my support shoring up alliances, pressuring Beijing and making it clear China needs to change course.
- yorwba 6y ago
  > China is getting worse not better. During the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, hundreds of thousands of people were massacred, and there were instances of cannibalism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangxi_Massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangxi_Massacre When the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 were suppressed militarily hundreds or maybe thousands of people died, but there was no cannibalism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests In 2019, thousands to ten thousand people protested a planned waste incinerator in Wuhan. The government said that the project had not been started yet, but that did not satisfy protesters. Eventually, riot police was deployed, but nobody died. https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-48904350 https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-48904350 When you say "China is getting worse not better.", exactly what previous state of affairs are you comparing it to?
  - LatteLazy 6y ago
    Well it's not as bad as Mao. I'd put the Xinjiang camps somewhere worse than Tiananmen and somewhere better than the cultural revolution. Where would you put them? [0] Then there is Covid, that's 2,240,000 dead at least. Plus enormous economic and social damage [1]. Crushing democracy in HK (democracy which was already laughably small and limited) and moving to a pure dictatorship - do we accept that? The expectation was for China to become more democratic not less. Then there is all the aggression towards their neighbours, from trying to steal islands to launching an attack on India, a nuclear power!? I'm far enough away not to worry about fallout but millions dead in a nuclear war would be better avoided than commiserated. I won't deny that China has improved economically. But its social progress has been very very slow and in the last 5 years its been going rapidly backwards. This can't be ignored anymore, either for humanitarian reasons or for the impact its having on the rest of the world. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang_re-education_camps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang_re-education_camps [1] https://covidgraph.com/ https://covidgraph.com/

2 points by mardiyah 6y ago

I'm no trumper but... Something has to be done for a long list of reasons. I'm not advocating war. But I think that waiting and giving China space and assuming they'll become more democratic, peaceful, humane or globally conscious is THE biggest failure of foreign policy in the last 30 years. China is getting worse not better. I wish Biden luck and he has my support shoring up alliances, pressuring Beijing and making it clear China needs to change course.

yorwba 6y ago
> China is getting worse not better. During the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, hundreds of thousands of people were massacred, and there were instances of cannibalism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangxi_Massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangxi_Massacre When the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 were suppressed militarily hundreds or maybe thousands of people died, but there was no cannibalism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests In 2019, thousands to ten thousand people protested a planned waste incinerator in Wuhan. The government said that the project had not been started yet, but that did not satisfy protesters. Eventually, riot police was deployed, but nobody died. https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-48904350 https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-48904350 When you say "China is getting worse not better.", exactly what previous state of affairs are you comparing it to?
- LatteLazy 6y ago
  Well it's not as bad as Mao. I'd put the Xinjiang camps somewhere worse than Tiananmen and somewhere better than the cultural revolution. Where would you put them? [0] Then there is Covid, that's 2,240,000 dead at least. Plus enormous economic and social damage [1]. Crushing democracy in HK (democracy which was already laughably small and limited) and moving to a pure dictatorship - do we accept that? The expectation was for China to become more democratic not less. Then there is all the aggression towards their neighbours, from trying to steal islands to launching an attack on India, a nuclear power!? I'm far enough away not to worry about fallout but millions dead in a nuclear war would be better avoided than commiserated. I won't deny that China has improved economically. But its social progress has been very very slow and in the last 5 years its been going rapidly backwards. This can't be ignored anymore, either for humanitarian reasons or for the impact its having on the rest of the world. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang_re-education_camps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang_re-education_camps [1] https://covidgraph.com/ https://covidgraph.com/