I too love to jail my political competitors after the they successfully split the vote from my real political rival (the KMT) in the last election. A bastion of democracy in East Asia.

I mean, I agree, but that doesn’t mean China could “win” in an offensive military action against Taiwan. Taiwan is literally a fortress and Taiwan/China cultural overlap is too significant to drive strong warmongering sentiment.

An invasion is such a silly suggestion that it doesn’t even need consideration. At best, it would be a pyrrhic victory with millions dead on both sides and the island in ruins.

The far more likely scenario is a blockade, sorry, “economic embargo” of Taiwan… Of course, Cuba is a clear example of how a blockade economic embargo doesn’t really work, so…

Has anyone read the founding documents of the PRC from 1949 1949? China’s policy has always been “we will unify with Taiwan, by military means if necessary.” It’s like saying “God Save The Queen” or “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” There’s a fundamental gap between what’s written officially as a matter of “this is what I believe” and what’s implemented in policy.

If it didn’t warrant a hostile reaction a decade ago, it doesn’t warrant one today. China isn’t any closer to military action against Taiwan today than they were a decade ago. The First, Second, and Third Taiwan Strait Crises showed that the status quo would be basically impossible to flip militarily without millions of lives lost. It’s much easier to just expand trade, expand travel, expand cultural interchange, and expand immigration.

Anyone with half a brain knew this way before the IDF had boots on the ground in al-Shifa.

This is the Suez Crisis of the 21st century. Chinese companies like OOCL are unaffected by conditions in the Red Sea and are still able to freely transit, so why should China care?

Edit: looks like in light of the US announcing Operation “Three Aircraft Carriers in the Red Sea”, Hong Kong’s OOCL and Taiwan’s Evergreen have also now suspended shipments through the Red Sea. A few days ago, they had just suspended shipments to Israel and operated as per usual.

Truly, contributing to the security of the region by making sure that the few companies who could transit the Red Sea without being at risk are now at risk of getting caught in the crossfire.

At <25m above sea level?

Developing countries commonly adopt protectionist policies or nationalize critical industries to avoid getting outcompeted by big multinationals. Just because globalism is good for the colonial elite does not make it desirable for everyone else.

The real question isn’t “why not build pumped hydro” but “why not build pumped hydro in Shanghai.”

Look at an elevation map of Shanghai and the surrounding provinces: Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui. They’re not exactly “mountainous.”

The UN doesn’t really do press releases for resolutions. Relying on secondary sources is, generally, not so good.

We’re talking about the same thing, right? https://www.npr.org/2023/01/07/1147209505/electric-car-tax-credit-climate-bill-tesla-volkswagen-ev

128-8-43

The eight against:

• Australia
• Canada
• Israel
• Lithuania
• New Zealand
• Ukraine
• United Kingdom
• United States

UN A/78/479 172-4-10

Four votes against:

• United States
• Israel
• Micronesia
• Nauru

Ten abstentions:

• Cameroon
• Guatemala
• Kiribati
• Palau
• Papua New Guinea
• Paraguay
• South Sudan
• Togo
• Tonga
• Tuvalu

Moving fluids is hard

Helps because it’s basically entirely a construction effort. If there’s anything China has a lot of, it’s construction capacity.

Free trade with 7.5k in subsidies per domestically-produxed unit sold is pretty native too, isn’t it?

The fact that the 25% Trump-era levy on automobile imports wasn’t enough to deter Chinese EV manufacturers should leave people terrified.

The best car manufacturers struggle to hit a 20% profit margin.

Selling the country piece-by-piece…

How many “command centers” has Israel claimed to have found and destroyed by now?

In October 2023, the increase in China’s year-by-year exports to Russia was explained primarily by an increase in product exports in Computers ($226M or 108%), Telephones ($220M or 50.3%), and Cars ($134M or 142%). In October 2023, the increase in China’s year-by-year imports  from Russia was explained primarily by an increase in product imports  in Crude Petroleum ($1.74B or 69.8%), Coal Briquettes ($444M or 193%), and Refined Copper ($279M or 191%).

In October 2023, the increase in China’s year-by-year exports to Ukraine was explained primarily by an increase in product exports in Computers ($29M or 198%), Pesticides ($25M or 59.2%), and Electric Generating Sets ($21.6M or 2.86k%). In October 2023, the decrease in China’s year-by-year imports from Ukraine was explained primarily by an decrease in product imports in Barley ($-52.5M or -73.7%), Iron Ore ($-23.6M or -7.64%), and Other Vegetable Residues ($-15.7M or -15.5%).

China’s making a killing selling computers to both sides. Unfortunately, China’s primary export to Ukraine (telecommunications equipment) is no longer viable if Ukraine wants to receive Western funding and China’s primary imports from Ukraine (agricultural products, iron ore) aren’t exactly easy to export during wartime.

Freeze comes as new Argentine President Javier Milei, who campaigned on breaking ties with China, faces financial challenges