4 ms·

Look I understand countries are complicated and there are a lot of interests however I think that the Chinese government is totally capable of acting in a centr

Look I understand countries are complicated and there are a lot of interests however I think that the Chinese government is totally capable of acting in a centralized way on a fixed target like mining (vs. something like semiconductors) when it believes it is a core national interest.

seanmcdirmid 4y ago
> however I think that the Chinese government is totally capable of acting in a centralized way on a fixed target like mining Spend a couple weeks in China's hinterland and I'm sure that your opinion would change very quickly. There are good reasons semiconductors are concentrated in Beijing/Shanghai, but anything mining or natural resource related are going to be messy because China is a huge country and local government interests are often at odds with central government interests.
- delfinom 4y ago
  Yea people literally treat China as a hivemind. The same goes for other countries too. It's absolutely bizarre and often some sort of weird US centric mindset. Part of it I even blame on US media, somehow, whenever there's something to discuss about in another country, even if it's some research breakthrough by a single individual presenting his work at a elementary school instead its "COUNTRY X CURES CANCER"
  - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
    It isn't so different in how China thinks about the USA, even more so since our stark political divide is not familiar concept to many Chinese.
  - nonethewiser 4y ago
    Are you saying the US is more centrally controlled than China? It seems that way but I don’t think that holds up. The US states convened and created a constitution which granted a few explicit powers to the federal government and left everything else to the states. These rules cannot be changed by the federal government- only the states. Whereas in China, a single party wrote the constitution, which enshrines power in themselves, and can be changed by this party whenever they want.

seanmcdirmid 4y ago

> however I think that the Chinese government is totally capable of acting in a centralized way on a fixed target like mining Spend a couple weeks in China's hinterland and I'm sure that your opinion would change very quickly. There are good reasons semiconductors are concentrated in Beijing/Shanghai, but anything mining or natural resource related are going to be messy because China is a huge country and local government interests are often at odds with central government interests.

delfinom 4y ago
Yea people literally treat China as a hivemind. The same goes for other countries too. It's absolutely bizarre and often some sort of weird US centric mindset. Part of it I even blame on US media, somehow, whenever there's something to discuss about in another country, even if it's some research breakthrough by a single individual presenting his work at a elementary school instead its "COUNTRY X CURES CANCER"
- seanmcdirmid 4y ago
  It isn't so different in how China thinks about the USA, even more so since our stark political divide is not familiar concept to many Chinese.
- nonethewiser 4y ago
  Are you saying the US is more centrally controlled than China? It seems that way but I don’t think that holds up. The US states convened and created a constitution which granted a few explicit powers to the federal government and left everything else to the states. These rules cannot be changed by the federal government- only the states. Whereas in China, a single party wrote the constitution, which enshrines power in themselves, and can be changed by this party whenever they want.