How would you answer this, and how would you expect Chinese netizens on Xiaohongshu to answer?
I will link to the thread in the comments because I want you to take a moment and think about it first.
China is manipulating events to ensure that they are the future, getting Trump to create chaos by proxy through Putin to demonstrate to the world that the US is an unreliable leader/partner. They will make the case that they are a stable world power who can be relied on to stay true to their agreements, and they will point to the chaos that Trump is creating as an example. Trump will turn the US into an economic pariah.
Trump’s rhetoric on taking over Greenland and Canada will also ruffle military alliances and the traditional Western powers will fracture. If the US does make any aggressive moves China will likely support whomever the US targets; economically and policy-wise at first, but potentially with military power to demonstrate that it, unlike Russia, is truly a near-peer adversary of the US. Assuming success, because there will be virtually no will in the US for supporting an actual protracted invasion of another sovereign nation that is causing international problems, China will then lay claim to victory in their first major head-to-head clash with the US. World opinion of the US as the leading superpower will wane, and China will continue to make inroads at taking over leadership of the world economy.
I could see a scenario in which China takes the lead at mediating between Russia and Ukraine and forcing Putin to withdraw, and even declaring that they no longer have any intention of invading Taiwan because they have a greater purpose in leading the world to a new era of peace. That would be the final nail in the coffin for the US politically, and China would do everything it could to ensure that the US was held in-check to keep the dollar weak so that they can never challenge China’s economic leadership again.
Still hoping for that future that’s borderless and red and queer and bold.
We’ll get there.
the future of neo-colonialism? definitely
Can you elaborate?
Belt and Road Initiative, China owning most of the cobalt reserves and refining resources that oftentimes rely on enslaved child labor, anti-Black discrimination inside Chinese enclaves in Africa (1) (2), mandating Mandarin in Ugandan schools, with Kenya and South Africa making it optional
Can you elaborate on how BRI is Imperialism? Further, learning mandarin as a second language in schooling isn’t the same as forcing everyone to speak it, Spanish is required learning in many US schools and it isn’t a form of Mexican imperialism. I’d also like to see a source on the child labor in the cobalt mines.
The racial discrimination is terrible, no doubt, and it needs to be worked on and fixed. However, this doesn’t seem to be something the PRC is pushing so much as individual racists. I am hopeful that that situation will improve especially.
There are many arguments against China being Imperialist, from Vijay Prashad. Here’s an excerpt from a sepatate article, a quick 9 minute read:
In a 2005 presentation to the Congressional U.S.-China Commission, U.S. State Department official Princeton Lyman assessed how China’s model of socialist state loans don’t serve the function of profit:
“China utilizes a variety of instruments to advance its interest in ways that western nations can only envy. Most of China’s investments are through state-owned companies, whose individual investments do not have to be profitable if they serve overall Chinese objectives. Thus the representative of China’s state-owned construction company in Ethiopia could reveal that he was instructed by Beijing to bid low on various tenders, without regard for profit. China’s long term objective in Ethiopia is in access to future natural resource investments, not in construction business profits.”
Despite recent claims that China has been using its companies to engage in neo-colonialism throughout Africa, the situation Lyman assessed has continued to be the case throughout the last fifteen years. As I’ve mentioned in past writings, China’s investments do not meet the definition of neo-colonialism; Chinese enterprises help the job markets abroad rather than only employing Chinese workers, China hasn’t been engaging in “land grabs” in Africa, and China isn’t working to trap African nations in debt. In accordance with China’s not engaging in regime change, China has also never favored any government for its form or ideology.
I’m really glad to hear that in classic ML fashion, you know better than Ugandans themselves what does or doesn’t constitute colonialism. I recommend actually watching the TikTok video from the Ugandan activist I linked you that already explains how Mandarin is erasing indigenous languages in favor of facilitating Chinese exploitation of local resources.
Believe it or not, Spanish is also a colonial language. It’s pretty well known in any history book that it was used to enact cultural genocide on indigenous people all across Turtle Island. Indigenous people in Latin America have the “choice” of assimilating into Spanish culture or face poverty, starvation and genocide by white Latinos.
lmao imagine unironically linking the qiao collective, the mouthpiece of the CCP, as a credible source. I was wondering how long until the .ml brainwashing chip activates 🤭
here’s an even quicker read:
The University of California, Irvine report stated that the Qiao Collective posts “positive, often revisionist perspectives about Chinese politics.” That report stated that Qiao Collective claims that the “West’s perceptions of China as a human rights violator are actually the opposite; China is benevolent in helping marginalized people.” 1
The UC Irvine report stated that the Qiao Collective is particularly sympathetic with regard to how China treats the Uyghur people. 1 On Aug. 31, 2022, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report stating that the “Chinese government’s rights violations against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang ‘may constitute … crimes against humanity.’” 5
The left-of-center Human Rights Watch stated that since 2017, the Chinese government has carried out “a widespread and systematic” attack against the Uyghur people that included mass detention, torture, religious persecution, separation of families, forced labor and sexual violence. 5
The UC Irvine report stated that the Qiao Collective “assert[s]” that re-education camps do not exist and the camps were built to “deradicalize” extremists so they can get proper training to live on their own. UC Irvine’s report stated that Qiao claimed the camps teach Uyghurs to “better function in the economy,” learn technical skills, and they are allowed to go home a couple times per week to see their families.
I watched it in full.
As for Spanish, I’m aware of its origins. I still don’t see how making it a mandatory second language in many US schools would imply Mexican or Spanish colonization of the US.
As for linking QiaoCollective, yes, I did. Is there a problem with reading sources that go against your narrative? Funny you link HRW, which is a US-based group founded explicitly to push anti-communism:
HRW does good work sometimes, like calling out Israel for their genocide on Palestinians, but they were formed explicitly to target countries that dared stand against US hegemony. Read the UN report.
if you think criticizing the USSR is “anti-communist” that’s your own cultist complex to deal with. critiquing Russian imperialism has always and will be based, regardless if it’s hiding under the hammer and sickle or the Wagner logo
There’s meaningful critique of the USSR, yes. Being founded in the United States to serve as a watchdog over the Soviets at the height of the Cold War while the United States was licking its wounds after commiting untold masses of war crimes in Vietnam is the peak of hypocricy and purely exists to slander Communism. Moreover, the USSR was not Imperialist, it stood against Imperialism by supporting Cuba, China, Vietnam, Algeria, Palestine, Korea, and more liberate themselves from Imperialism and Colonialism.
I think it’s pretty clear that despite Trump’s attempts to revitalize US manufacturing, the US won’t be able to outpace China’s industrial growth even if they hard pivot. China is, like it or not, almost certainly the next Global Hegemon as the US’ grip on the world is falling. Western Europe won’t be able to oppose it either.
I think Chinese citizens are generally hopeful for their country, but more than anything I think most of their citizens would want everyone to advance. I don’t think any doubt that China will surpass the US.
In many ways, China already has surpassed the US.
For sure. However, the PRC is still a developing countrt, while the US is a declining Empire. The US has farther to fall and China further to rise, especially in the next 1-2 decades.
Already!
I mean china is an authoritarian state, that kinda thing never works for long
What’s a non-authoritarian state?
no state at all, I’m a libertarian socialist
libertarian as in capitalist?
They did end up saying AnCapism or Minarchism would be better than current regulated Capitalism. I mean, if that happened to the US Imperialism would be kneecapped, so I suppose that would technically be better for most people.
So when you said “that kinda thing never works for long” you were referencing to any state? I think history has proven you wrong on that one, champ.
just look at rome, or any other empire for that matter, didn’t last for ever, I was talking about the history of humanity, not a few lifetimes
Rome wasn’t a state, and it lasted for many centuries. Don’t try to pretend by “doesn’t work for long” you were talking about geological time or something
I’m saying this unironically: this comment could go on any dumbass thread about China’s dumbass social media and dumbass AI. I don’t understand why I don’t see it more.
They. Are. Authoritarian.
The reason you don’t see it more is because “authoritarian” isn’t a hard line you can cross, but a general descriptor, and as a consequence many will disagree about the legitimacy of that vague descriptor or believe other countries like the US fit that descriptor better. What do you personally think counts as sufficient to label one country authoritarian, and another not? Can you give an example of each, or is every country authoritarian? Does it matter if some are more or less authoritarian? All of these questions have different answers from person to person, because they apply to a general descriptor and not a hard metric, like “does the PRC have growing wages for the working class?” Or “do Chinese people enioy their system?” Food for thought.
Ok
No thanks, replacing one imperialist for another won’t help the world.
Can you elaborate? How is the PRC in any way comparable with respect to Imperialism as the United States?
Sure buddy:
What do you think happened to all the other 300 murdered protesters that day? Get the fuck out of here with your false naivety.
I linked a video, because we know he’s fine. He talks to the tank driver after climbing up on the tank, then leaves. I don’t think a picture of the PLA showing patience after leaving the square does much for your point.
Yes, hundreds of protestors were killed, PLA officers lynched and burned alive, and more. Nobody denies that. However, showing a dude who we know lived is not the own you think it is, nor does it say anything about US Imperialism being “nicer.” The US at the time was of course preparing for the Gulf War, which would set the stage for US Imperialism to result in 1 million Iraqi deaths under false pretenses of WMDs.
I think you need a hug.
Why is it funny to satarize a Chinese man as a yellow bear?
lmao top-tier troll
Post the video coward.
Tanks stopping when a person blocked their path? And remaining calm even when the person climbs over the tank? Finally the tank driver talking with person calmly?
Their army or atleast the tank driver seems to be very decent.
Not a nationalist, I find this a terrifying thought, but 100%. Unless action is actually taken in the U.S., I don’t think the West stands a chance. China is already in a much stronger position than I think many Westerners realize, they made tremendous gains during the last Trump presidency. If Trump really does cling to power for the rest of his life, I think we’ll see a world where SA, SEA, Africa and parts of Europe are all completely economically reliant on China.
As if it wasn’t like that with USA too
I don’t think it’ll be as bad as mentioned
I want the mandate of heaven to come to all of us.
no, infact i think there should not be any china in the future
Please elaborate.
yeah sure, in china, you dont have basic human rights and if you request them you die and i think that should not be a thing in the future
also mod removed my comment, the original comment was: “no, infact i think there should not be any china in the future”
they removed bc of rule 1? maybe they thought its racist or smthng idk, i dont have anything against the chinese people, but i just think the chinese government is bad
The near future? Yes. Absolutely. The have the best economic and political system so far, and are now building out their military to step into the role of hegemon.
The far future?
Assuming China can crack down on global coal and oil usage and figure out climate change, they’ll be paving the way for communism in a couple of generations. If they can successfully solve these issues, crush the capitalist markets, and still maintain or lower their current level of corruption then communism is inevitable by 2100 at the latest.
This will be the last century of kings and ceos. Either the world ends due to climate change and capitalist greed, or humanity prevails through communism. There isn’t another option left.
The PRC definitely has its problems, but I am especially encouraged by their massive restructuring of their energy grid. I don’t think Communism will come by 2100, but maybe 2150 or 2200, as there are going to be Capitalist holdouts for a long time resisting progress.
Earth first, fuck your countries.
I don’t really know anything about China, so I really can’t say.
It would be a good idea to learn a bit, I think, considering that they will play an increasingly large role on the global stage.
If the US doesn’t fuck up it’s own demise and just dies peacefully, I can see that being the case.
But I think China would use their new powers to help lift other countries up instead of continuing to use the global south as a giant slave plantation like the US is doing.
If you don't have the app, it may be hard to view. I'll upload more screenshots but I'm having trouble with it atm, I may have hit an upload limit
Looks like I was dead-on, haha.
Tbh, I was shocked. Much as I’m sympathetic towards China, but I still usually look at it through a lens of realpolitik, like, “Of course they’re vying for dominance like everyone else, but at least they’re doing it through economic development instead of wars, and it’s better if there are two major powers instead of one.” Maybe that cynical perspective is more realistic, and maybe XHS users aren’t a representative sample of all Chinese people, but still, the fact that so many of the replies were so hopeful and internationalist was genuinely moving to me.
Well, you’re correct that XHS isn’t the general population of China, it skews middle-high income, so you aren’t getting the full picture. However, from what I’ve read from many younger Chinese political activists and analysts is that as China is now heavily industrialized, there is a sense of moving out of the over-ambitious optimism of the previous generations to a more grounded, educated, realistic optimism that is genuinely more hopeful as a consequence of its grounding.
China has libs. China has problems. China has struggles. But, by virtue of its position and strategy, the people also take on a generally internationalist character. “Let a hundred flowers bloom,” Socialism with Chinese Characteristics is a prediction, more than a description. It’s a prediction of Socialism with Ugandan Characteristics, Canadian, Brazilian, etc. That gives a sense of their overall attitude, IMO.
As much as we might criticize the whole, “End of History” idea, I feel like the 90’s was the last time Americans had anything like that kind of optimism. There was a feeling that we were entering a new age of international cooperation, and although I was only a child that was something I really believed in. But we soon found new conflicts to be embroiled in a the dream has died and was proven to be foolish and naive, and now everyone across the political spectrum is highly cynical.
I’m sure that there are many cynical people in China too, but I can hardly remember the last time I saw someone who wasn’t cynical when it comes to politics. Whether or not it’s naive, it hits me on an emotional level.
The good thing about China is that they have a lot of reason to be hopeful, due to many massive improvements in the last century, skyrocketing in the last decade. USians largely still envision 90s China, and are having that image shattered.
Damn, they blocked Tor Browser.
I went to Fennec with uBlock on and VPN enabled (privacy reasons), the first thing I see is a download attempt of the 小红书 .apk file. I tap X, and it does it again. Damn, seem like Reddit all over again. 🤦♂️
Also, they require a +86 phone number for registration. 🤔 Not a fan of that. Its like Facebook + region locking. Well I guess it make sense… too many TikTok refugees lol.
I had to change to user agent to windows. The comments are pretty chill, unlike some other Chinese sites. I don’t see any “MAGA” type comments like you would see on twitter.
Edit: Hmm my webpage only shows like 10 comments, then stops showing… 🤔
