Stealth War: How China Took Over While America's Elite Slept by Robert Spalding

While the Chinese threat is absolutely not to be underestimated, they are also completely dependent on us - it is a symbiotic relationship, albeit a dark one.

The absolute best news is - our interests align, generally, and only have a couple of friction points. China just wants to make money and keep a lid on their area of regional influence.

The problem is our long-term commitment to Taiwan and Japan. The second we demonstrate we can't protect Japan from any sort of Chinese expansionism or bullying, they will go nuclear.

And that would be a very, very bad development.

They’re going to really struggle to hold it all together long enough to dominate anything more than what they currently do.

China is not some homogenous, unified whole. They suffer from serious internal divisions, infighting, and social pressures just like us

They seem to have a solution for that

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They suffer from serious internal divisions, infighting, and social pressures just like us

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But Chinese government/leadership does not have to worry about gratifying or catering to any electorate. They can do what they want and not only ignore criticism, but imprison anyone who does the criticizing.
Hong Kong is an outlier bc the culture grew to become more Western under British rule.
The rest of China has no understanding of principles like self government or consent of the governed.

A great read on a related note is The Hundred Year Marathon by Michael Pillsbury. He was one of our government's China experts from Nixon through Obama, often interacting with Chinese government officials, academics, and intelligence assets. He slowly turned from being pro-CHina to being convinced that they genuinely have a 100 year plan to supercede the US as global hegemon by 2050. And that they are well on the way.

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But Chinese government/leadership does not have to worry about gratifying or catering to any electorate. They can do what they want and not only ignore criticism, but imprison anyone who does the criticizing.

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So could the Russian Czars, the Soviets, the European colonial powers, and every fool of a dictator who briefly fights his way to the top in Africa.

You see what happened to them.

National leaders (of any stripe, elected or not) must have some measure of legitimacy and acceptance by the common folk to have any hope of holding power. Typically that is accomplished through military and economic security. If you can’t provide both of those things then someone will soon rise claiming (rightly or not) that they can.

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The rest of China has no understanding of principles like self government or consent of the governed.

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Considering the entire Communist party there arose from precisely these principles I find this laughable.

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Considering that there has never been a form of communism that did not rely on dehumanization, subjugation, and denial of any form of self government

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I did not say that those things did not happen. What’s important, however, is that the people believe the lie that that it’s for the greater good. The people’s good. Of course it wasn’t. Communism exists to serve the party’s interests, first and foremost. It’s a question of perception vs. reality. Once the people finally looked past the propaganda the game was over.

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The vast, vast majority of governments throughout history- including those that stayed in power for centuries- are based on force and authoritarian conditioning.

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Of course they’re based on force. Democracies are based on force, as well. All government is. A government without force is worthless and shortly supplanted. I wasn’t arguing that.

My statement pertained to recognition of power. The people need to see that force in action and (to a certain extent) its efficacy for them to believe the government is in power. Otherwise you’re constantly putting down rebellions and pretenders. They will fight you until you prove it. They don’t have to like that you’re in charge. They just need to believe it.

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Chinese communism is based on consent of the governed"- Now THAT is some hilarious shite there. Hoo-wee! I done heard everything now.

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Their entire claim to fame was essentially that they would “Make China Great Again”. The people believed. They had to. The other options were subjugation by outside powers and abject poverty. In return for this support and rescinding of rights the party did their very best to follow through (with a good bit of success). If they DID NOT believe that their power was based on an obligation to follow through or face insurrection why go through the motions? Why bother with the national buildup? If I was in power and felt I had nothing to fear I’d spend that money on mansions and yachts with no thought to factories, infrastructure, and modernization (i.e. the stagnation of Africa). THAT’S what governments who give no thought to popular opinion do.