Latika Bourke January 26, 2021 — 2.43am https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe...cold-war-in-davos-speech-20210125-p56wsh.html London: China’s President Xi Jinping has warned of possible confrontation if countries pursue a policy of economic decoupling from China. Speaking to the World Economic Forum, ordinarily hosted in the Swiss ski resort of Davos but held virtually this year due to the pandemic, Xi said confrontation would lead the world to a “dead-end”. China’s president Xi Jinping, pictured last year.CREDIT:AP “To build small circles or start a new Cold War, to reject, threaten or intimidate others, to wilfully impose decoupling, supply disruption or sanctions and to create isolation or estrangement will only push the world into division and even confrontation,” he said. “We have been shown time and again that to beggar thy neighbour, to go it alone and to slip into arrogant isolation will always fail. “It serves no one’s interest to use the pandemic as an excuse to reverse globalisation and go for seclusion and decoupling.” Xi’s speech to the World Economic Forum’s annual talkfest is his first since 2017 and was widely aimed at Joe Biden, who was inaugurated as US President five days ago. Donald Trump used tariffs and sanctions to try to reduce the United States’ reliance on China as part of his decoupling strategy. The West’s reliance on Chinese supply lines shot to prominence more broadly during the coronavirus pandemic, as countries raced to secure limited supplies of medical protective equipment and ventilators made in China. Australia’s own economic dependence on China has been highlighted following Beijing’s retaliatory tariffs and trade blockades of a variety of commodities including wine, coal, seafood and grain worth tens of billions of dollars. Xi did not raise global criticisms of China’s bullish conduct since the pandemic and instead hit out at bigger countries trying to coerce smaller ones into submission, a reference to the rhetoric adopted by the former US administration. “The strong should not bully the weak,” he said. “Decisions should not be made by simply showing off strong muscles or waving a big fist.” Australia calls for ‘restraint and peace’ as Chinese military escalates Taiwan incursions Sophie Richardson from Human Rights Watch said Xi’s promises should only be believed when China submitted itself to accountability, especially when it came to allegations of genocide being waged against Uighur Muslims detained in camps in Xinjiang province. “Let’s also note the commitment to implement a win-win strategy to opening up – super! Does that mean we can expect to see an independent investigation under the auspices of the High Commissioner for Human Rights being allowed unfettered access to Xinjiang?” Richardson told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. “This is very tired rhetoric to a dressed-up forum in Davos but stands in stark contrast to the Chinese government’s hostilities to multilateral human rights institutions. “People should only believe this when we actually see and hear this government behave on human rights issues that substantiate these claims.”
Two-track Xi reveals China is in no mood for reconciliation Eryk Bagshaw January 26, 2021 — 2.19pm https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/t...-mood-for-reconciliation-20210126-p56wvm.html The 25-minute speech was a masterclass in double-speak. China’s President Xi Jinping told world leaders to shelve their differences as his country blocks $20 billion in Australian exports. He warned confrontation would lead us to a dead end, after China flew two dozen warplanes over Taiwan at the weekend. He said the “strong should not bully the weak” as Beijing wipes out democracy in Hong Kong. Two-track Xi was in full swing at the World Economic Forum in Davos overnight. The hypocritical divide between China’s actions and its leader’s spin is inexorable, but it does offer insight into how Xi wants the world to view China. Chinese President Xi Jinping. CREDIT:AP First, Xi wants the world to abandon “ideological prejudice”, an oft-repeated phrase that paints Communist China as the victim of Western liberal discrimination. “Difference in itself is no cause for alarm,” he said. “What [it] does bring alarm is arrogance, prejudice, and hatred. It is the attempt to impose hierarchy on human civilisation, or to force one’s own history, culture, and social system upon others.” The comments are directed at the United States and its allies. Australia has become a vector through which China warns the West against acting on its ideological prejudices by restricting Chinese investment, political interference and condemning human rights abuses. Xi’s comments show that China will continue to paint itself as a victim despite its campaign of economic coercion against a country with GDP a fourteenth of its size. The interminable $20 billion dispute with Australia has no chance of reconciliation when its biggest player remains adamant it has had no role in being an oppressor. Second, the world may condemn the crackdown in Hong Kong and Beijing’s threats to Taiwan but Xi’s China is a “staunch follower of independent foreign policy of peace”. “China is working hard to bridge differences through dialogue, resolve disputes through negotiation, and to pursue friendly and cooperative relations with other countries on the basis of mutual respect, equality, and mutual benefit,” Xi said. Of course, Hong Kong and Taiwan are not part of China’s foreign policy. Hong Kong (a semi-autonomous region) is now part of the mainland’s political domain in all but name and independent neighbour Taiwan is an “inalienable part of China,” despite the democratic will of its 24 million people. Which means we can disabuse ourselves of the notion this foreign policy of peace applies to either as China sends dozens of fighter jets and bombers over the Taiwan Strait. Xi made this explicit in his speech to world business and political leaders. After decades of riding global economic growth and an export powered economy, China is turning inwards. Increasingly, its 1.4 billion people will be encouraged to produce and consume products at home. The policy of protectionism announced at a meeting of the global capitalist elite. “As China enters a new development stage, we will follow a new development philosophy and foster a new development paradigm, with domestic circulation as the mainstay, and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other,” he said. Finally, the question of whom the speech was really for. An increasingly sceptical West, led by the United States and Australia and now followed by the UK, Germany and France, will find little in the tea leaves to suggest a diplomatic reset is on the cards. But poorer nations have a self-appointed and progressively more vocal leader in China. “For developing countries, they’re aspiring for more resources and space for development, and they’re calling for stronger representation and voice in global economic governance,” Xi said. “We should recognise that with the growth of developing countries, global prosperity and stability will be put on a more solid footing, and developed countries will stand to benefit from such growth.” Here Xi continues his foreign policy direction, giving attention to economically neglected countries that have been sidelined by western powers in the multilateral arena. The West should take note. More than 50 countries defended China’s crackdown in Hong Kong at the UN Human Rights Council in July. A superpower with a COVID-19 vaccine and the promise of power and investment in the years to come could secure the support of many more.
It sounds like China is ready to start wars with smaller countries. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/...ards-use-of-firepower-against-foreign-vessels
Yup..... China toughens its stance on Taiwan, declaring any attempt at independence will lead to war Posted Yesterday at 6:25pm Taiwanese military exercises have ramped up recently as tensions with China continues to rise.(AP: Chiang Ying-Ying) China is using tough language towards Taiwan, saying "independence means war" after recent military confrontations near the island........ More..... https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-28/china-tells-taiwan-that-independence-means-war/13100738
Taiwan needs to get the Israeli armament treatment from America and let the Chinese dare fuck w/them.
*spits beverage all over the screen* Hey, Xi, we're not the ones who have had dynasties run by emperors for the last 5000 years, and still have a fucking emperor today (although not in title, but in despotism by the Xi guy). Hierarchy THIS, BITCHLIPS!!
China has already started it's new cold war... with a government controlled network of fake online accounts. Fake accounts gain traction as they praise China, mock US https://apnews.com/article/media-so...ndemic-china-7339598fed868fcfe109999bf071a77c A pro-China network of fake and imposter accounts found a global audience on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to mock the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the deadly riot in Washington that left five dead, new research published Thursday found. Messages posted by the network, which also praised China, reached the social media feeds of government officials, including some in China and Venezuela who retweeted posts from the fake accounts to millions of their followers. The international reach marked new territory for a pro-China social media network that has been operating for years, said Ben Nimmo, head of investigations for Graphika, the social media analysis firm that monitored the activity. "For the very first time, it started to get a little bit of audience interaction,” Nimmo said. The network’s messaging aligns closely with posts and comments made by Chinese state officials. But it is unclear who is behind the fake accounts, which posted more than 1,400 videos in English, Mandarin or Cantonese, Nimmo said. One of the Twitter accounts, which had a following of roughly 2,000 users mostly from Latin American, also tweeted the messaging in Spanish. The posts appear to target social media users outside of America, gaining traction in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Venezuela — places where Chinese and U.S. diplomatic or financial interests have increasingly come into conflict. “The overall message is: America is doing very badly. China is doing very well,” Nimmo said. “Who do you want to be like?” The network used photos of Chinese celebrities on the accounts and, in one case, hijacked the verified Twitter account of a Latin American soap opera show to post messages, according to Graphika’s report. The fake accounts seized on the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington as Congress met to certify the U.S. election results at the Capitol. One video described the U.S. as a “failed state” and another said that America was “running naked in front of the world” in the wake of the Capitol siege. Three videos Graphika identified described the riots as a “beautiful sight to behold,” mimicking language used in Chinese state media reports to describe the news, the report noted. Relations between Washington and Beijing worsened under former President Donald Trump, who launched an aggressive diplomatic and economic offensive against China. That tension has played out on social media, where Chinese state officials have aired pointed criticisms of Trump in recent years. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian has been one of the most vocal critics of the U.S. on social media, tweeting a conspiracy theory last year that the coronavirus began in the U.S., although the virus was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan. But even after Trump’s exit from office on Jan. 20, the fake network has continued to push anti-U.S. posts. Some of the accounts have now pivoted to attacking the Democratic Party by accusing leaders of having a “one-party mentality” in videos posted to YouTube, the report found. Other fake accounts have questioned the safety of American-approved vaccines for COVID-19, despite studies on tens of thousands of people that found no serious side effects. “The safety of the ... vaccine was in doubt, but it was quickly approved,” one of the pro-China videos posted on Jan. 21 claimed in a headline. Other posts praised China’s response to the pandemic, while criticizing America’s ability to contain the deadly virus. “There’s this cherry-picking of narratives and events that make the U.S. look really bad,” Nimmo said. Last month, YouTube announced that it had removed more than 3,000 YouTube channels in December that were identified as part of Graphika’s investigation into influence campaigns linked to China. Other Facebook and Twitter accounts identified in Graphika’s report were also removed.
Taiwan been independent for what.... 70 years.... and did better than China for almost all of that time.....so China can go fuck off with its bruised ego .. Imagine a country of billions with that economy still anal hurt over Taiwan all this time?? Grow the fuck p and worry about your own vagina.