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I mean, it's nothing compared to the internal speeches that China gives its troops. Heck it's nothing compared to the speeches Xi gives internally to troops. Ch

I mean, it's nothing compared to the internal speeches that China gives its troops. Heck it's nothing compared to the speeches Xi gives internally to troops. Chinese troops are currently training on their missile corp on models of US aircraft carriers. Edit: Chinese propaganda video of attack on Guam - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBOho1AOKYY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBOho1AOKYY https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36598/chinese-air-force-video-depicting-bombers-attacking-guam-steals-scenes-from-transformers https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36598/chinese-air-forc... https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-builds-mockups-us-navy-ships-area-used-missile-target-practice-2021-11-08/ https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-builds-mockups-us-...

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
riku_iki 4y ago
my speculation is that the main goal of Chinese covid lockdown was to train and simulate mass policing of population in case of upcoming war.
- mikewarot 4y ago
  My understanding is their vaccine doesn't work at all, they don't have a strong emergency medical care system, thus it was the only real option for them.
  - riku_iki 4y ago
    they could buy western vaccine
    - pixl97 4y ago
      And admit weakness?, autocracy doesn't like doing that much.
      - riku_iki 4y ago
        They not necessary need to tell population it is foreign vaccine. But maybe they were trying to solve the problem of aging population that way.
- dfadsadsf 4y ago
  Why would you need to police population in case of war for returning Taiwan? It will be very popular war and you definitely won't need to lock people down.
  - riku_iki 4y ago
    there will be consequences from these war for population.
  - nostromo 4y ago
    Look at Russia as an example. The war has been longer and less popular than expected and economic sanctions have hurt the working class the most. China imports 66%-75% of its oil. That would drop dramatically in a hot war, as oil imports via the South China Sea would likely be blocked. This would require any imports to sail around Australia, which would likely be stopped by the US. Russia would happily sell China oil, but it doesn't produce nearly enough to cover the gap. No oil, no military. No oil, no economy.
    - dfadsadsf 4y ago
      If anything, war is much more popular in Russia than expected. There are no widespread protests, draft went ok, etc. Putin is still popular. I do not think oil is such a big problem. China import is 10mln barrels while Russia exports is 5mln barrels, Kazakhstan is 1.2mln barrels. I am sure they can transport Iranian oil if needed. What will also happen is that Russia will buy oil on international market to resell to China. There is no infrastructure now to transport that much oil but it can be built surprisingly fast. Germany just demonstrated that it's possible to built LNG terminal in six months. If you ignore property rights and all enviromental regulation and enlist military you can built trans-asia pipeline in a few months. China can also import oil thru Vietnam.
- oceanplexian 4y ago
  Like everything I think this is at least a half truth. COVID did happen but probably not intentionally. And then China (And a few other countries) saw it as a great excuse to try a few things out on the general population and see what they could get away with.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  As with speculation about US Covid measures being some kind of training or testing for god-knows-what crazy thing, the political and economic costs of the measures are far too high for those to make any sense as major motivations.
jollyllama 4y ago
That's been going on for decades, and supposedly the balloons are nothing new. What's changed is the USA response, in terms of the American general's rhetoric and the coverage and downing of balloons. So there's been a shift on the part of the USA.
- moose_man 4y ago
  That's a lie. It started in 2012 but it took until the middle of the 2010s before they started openly threatening war. This is not some status quo situation that the US General upended. China's been escalating toward war since Xi took over. I mean before Xi it was hide your strength bide your time.
  - jollyllama 4y ago
    Ok, a decade ago. > it took until the middle of the 2010s Here's a Chinese general openly threatening war with Japan in 2012: https://freebeacon.com/national-security/chinese-general-prepare-for-combat/ https://freebeacon.com/national-security/chinese-general-pre... The Taiwan Strait crisis of the '90s was before my time but it'd be interesting to know how bellicose the rhetoric got back then.
    - moose_man 4y ago
      Different than threatening war with US. Edit and yes, it stepped up in 2012 when Xi took over. Started with Japan and has migrated to aggression against US and allies. Edit: Taiwan crisis wasn't great, but it ended when the US sailed an aircraft carrier through Strait of Taiwan. So while it wasn't great, it wasn't like they were threatening war against US.
Rebelgecko 4y ago
Some of the propaganda videos people are posting on douyin (OG tiktok) are hilarious (even if the historical events they're inspired by are very serious). It's interesting to compare foreign propaganda about the US military to US propaganda about foreign militaries. https://www.douyin.com/video/6946497713223585028 https://www.douyin.com/video/6946497713223585028 https://www.douyin.com/video/7081571993102961958 https://www.douyin.com/video/7081571993102961958
bmitc 4y ago
China's actions are unacceptable but so are the general's words. I would be very surprised if he wasn't reprimanded in some way.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

riku_iki 4y ago

my speculation is that the main goal of Chinese covid lockdown was to train and simulate mass policing of population in case of upcoming war.

mikewarot 4y ago
My understanding is their vaccine doesn't work at all, they don't have a strong emergency medical care system, thus it was the only real option for them.
- riku_iki 4y ago
  they could buy western vaccine
  - pixl97 4y ago
    And admit weakness?, autocracy doesn't like doing that much.
    - riku_iki 4y ago
      They not necessary need to tell population it is foreign vaccine. But maybe they were trying to solve the problem of aging population that way.
dfadsadsf 4y ago
Why would you need to police population in case of war for returning Taiwan? It will be very popular war and you definitely won't need to lock people down.
- riku_iki 4y ago
  there will be consequences from these war for population.
- nostromo 4y ago
  Look at Russia as an example. The war has been longer and less popular than expected and economic sanctions have hurt the working class the most. China imports 66%-75% of its oil. That would drop dramatically in a hot war, as oil imports via the South China Sea would likely be blocked. This would require any imports to sail around Australia, which would likely be stopped by the US. Russia would happily sell China oil, but it doesn't produce nearly enough to cover the gap. No oil, no military. No oil, no economy.
  - dfadsadsf 4y ago
    If anything, war is much more popular in Russia than expected. There are no widespread protests, draft went ok, etc. Putin is still popular. I do not think oil is such a big problem. China import is 10mln barrels while Russia exports is 5mln barrels, Kazakhstan is 1.2mln barrels. I am sure they can transport Iranian oil if needed. What will also happen is that Russia will buy oil on international market to resell to China. There is no infrastructure now to transport that much oil but it can be built surprisingly fast. Germany just demonstrated that it's possible to built LNG terminal in six months. If you ignore property rights and all enviromental regulation and enlist military you can built trans-asia pipeline in a few months. China can also import oil thru Vietnam.
oceanplexian 4y ago
Like everything I think this is at least a half truth. COVID did happen but probably not intentionally. And then China (And a few other countries) saw it as a great excuse to try a few things out on the general population and see what they could get away with.
yamtaddle 4y ago
As with speculation about US Covid measures being some kind of training or testing for god-knows-what crazy thing, the political and economic costs of the measures are far too high for those to make any sense as major motivations.

jollyllama 4y ago

That's been going on for decades, and supposedly the balloons are nothing new. What's changed is the USA response, in terms of the American general's rhetoric and the coverage and downing of balloons. So there's been a shift on the part of the USA.

moose_man 4y ago
That's a lie. It started in 2012 but it took until the middle of the 2010s before they started openly threatening war. This is not some status quo situation that the US General upended. China's been escalating toward war since Xi took over. I mean before Xi it was hide your strength bide your time.
- jollyllama 4y ago
  Ok, a decade ago. > it took until the middle of the 2010s Here's a Chinese general openly threatening war with Japan in 2012: https://freebeacon.com/national-security/chinese-general-prepare-for-combat/ https://freebeacon.com/national-security/chinese-general-pre... The Taiwan Strait crisis of the '90s was before my time but it'd be interesting to know how bellicose the rhetoric got back then.
  - moose_man 4y ago
    Different than threatening war with US. Edit and yes, it stepped up in 2012 when Xi took over. Started with Japan and has migrated to aggression against US and allies. Edit: Taiwan crisis wasn't great, but it ended when the US sailed an aircraft carrier through Strait of Taiwan. So while it wasn't great, it wasn't like they were threatening war against US.

Rebelgecko 4y ago

Some of the propaganda videos people are posting on douyin (OG tiktok) are hilarious (even if the historical events they're inspired by are very serious). It's interesting to compare foreign propaganda about the US military to US propaganda about foreign militaries. https://www.douyin.com/video/6946497713223585028 https://www.douyin.com/video/6946497713223585028 https://www.douyin.com/video/7081571993102961958 https://www.douyin.com/video/7081571993102961958

bmitc 4y ago

China's actions are unacceptable but so are the general's words. I would be very surprised if he wasn't reprimanded in some way.