Asia China's growing influence

[Aussie in exile]

A little pissant nation within the greater EU isn’t going to materially affect policy. At the end of the day Europe is static and going nowhere and needs China more than China needs Europe. Larger nations like France and Spain are being more conciliatory to China.

Look at the car industry. Euro manufacturers who refused to adopt EVs and device integration are being slaughtered by Chinese EV manufacturers. I don’t think a little minister in Finland, a nation of 0.8% of the GDP of China, is going to be listened to. Comparatively it would be like Australia taking orders from a nation the size of Eswanti or Burundi.

Ain’t gonna happen

Exactly, why would Keith Starmer, Macron and most other EU leaders or foreign ministers, same with Albo and Wong be doing state visits to China in the last year if China wasn't the dominant manufacturing power in the world.

China would be fools to favour russia over the EU over trade, but their choice.

 

[RedOrWhite]

China would be fools to favour russia over the EU over trade, but their choice.

Russia provides China with loads of natural resources (especially since the Liberals here sanctioned them) that feeds its manufacturing so as with all things there's many things to consider and isn't black and white.

 

[RedOrWhite]

Sausage is addicted to the laugh emoji apparently, at least I use it on posts that are actually funny

 

[peetoo]

A little pissant nation within the greater EU isn’t going to materially affect policy. At the end of the day Europe is static and going nowhere and needs China more than China needs Europe. Larger nations like France and Spain are being more conciliatory to China.

Look at the car industry. Euro manufacturers who refused to adopt EVs and device integration are being slaughtered by Chinese EV manufacturers. I don’t think a little minister in Finland, a nation of 0.8% of the GDP of China, is going to be listened to. Comparatively it would be like Australia taking orders from a nation the size of Eswanti or Burundi.

Ain’t gonna happen

Italy with its fashion connections

 

[schneebly111]

China would be fools to favour russia over the EU over trade, but their choice.

At the end of the day at a macro level it all comes down to who runs the planet. For about 200 years it’s been the domain of the West.

Since 1945 it’s been the U.S. led West, since 1991 they haven’t had a major geostrategic competitor.

Now not only do they have a major geostrategic competitor that competitor is rapidly replacing US dominance in large swathes of the world.

Can the U.S./West accept they will have to pull back their global control over some parts of the planet? Thousands of years of history suggest dominant powers rarely give up power willingly……

 

[Spearman]

Interesting article with a 3rd party perspective. It's about the Japan~Taiwan connection. I find it to be fairly representative. There are so many colonial Formosa-influenced things in everyday life and most Taiwanese just take for granted as their culture, not Japanese. In a way the two peoples are like distant cousins. There was a good movie "Cape No.7", while a fun film, has as its basic plot a letter written by a Japanese school teacher who was ordered to leave the island after the war was over. He had a Taiwanese girlfriend he had to leave behind, wrote the farewell letter to her. Her address was Cape no.7, and it never got delivered. The premise was a present day young man, found it and was trying to find the woman to finally deliver the letter. The movie is an easy watch if you like light comedy and very successful.
Ironically, the film maker did it to make money to finance his pet project, a movie about a big indigenous tribe's uprising against the Japanese. That one is amazing, as is the story. If you liked Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, then you'd might like this; Warriors of the Rainbow (Seediq Bale).


from the Milwaukee Independent

HOW JAPAN’S COLONIAL HISTORY AND MODERN PARTNERSHIPS CONTINUE TO SHAPE LIFE IN TAIWAN​

Polls conducted across multiple decades consistently show levels of mutual affinity between Taiwanese and Japanese populations that are stronger and more reciprocal than those found in most relationships between a former colonial power and the territory it administered.

 

[Spearman]

Head of U.S. military in South Korea calls for ‘kill web’ linking Seoul, Tokyo and Manila​

A kill web is a concept aimed at creating a faster and more flexible system to identify and strike targets. It relies on a network in which any sensor — such as a satellite, drone or soldier — can pass real-time data to any shooter, including aircraft, ships or missile systems, giving commanders multiple ways to respond to a threat.

From tensions in the Taiwan Strait to broader maritime disputes, any major contingency in the region would likely draw in all three countries. The challenge, Brunson said, “is whether we are organized to respond together or scrambling to coordinate after the fact.”

Admiral Paparo’s April 2026 Posture Statement: A Kill Web Practitioner Reads the Record​

If there is a single operational gap that runs as a thread through Paparo’s entire testimony, it is the mismatch between current munitions production timelines and operational expenditure rates in a high-intensity conflict. This is the “intelligent mass versus exquisite scarcity” problem in concrete form.

 

[Aussie in exile]

China was all set to sign trade deals with the EU, and then this

EU bans Chinese inverters from publicly funded projects connected to its grid

EU official says Brussels has identified cybersecurity and dependency risks in foreign inverters.

www.scmp.com

 

[peetoo]

EU is now starting to see its reliance on US controlled networks as a security risk too

 

[Seeds]

At the end of the day at a macro level it all comes down to who runs the planet. For about 200 years it’s been the domain of the West.

Since 1945 it’s been the U.S. led West, since 1991 they haven’t had a major geostrategic competitor.

Now not only do they have a major geostrategic competitor that competitor is rapidly replacing US dominance in large swathes of the world.

Can the U.S./West accept they will have to pull back their global control over some parts of the planet? Thousands of years of history suggest dominant powers rarely give up power willingly……

Do you want them to give up control to a country that doesnt value democracy, human rights and seems intent on bringing huxleys brave new world into reality?

 

[peetoo]

Do you want them to give up control to a country that doesnt value democracy, human rights and seems intent on bringing huxleys brave new world into reality?

Can you be specific which country?

 

[schneebly111]

Do you want them to give up control to a country that doesnt value democracy, human rights and seems intent on bringing huxleys brave new world into reality?

Do you mean the USA?

 

[Mofra]

Apparently China has good guidance systems as well via satellite,ask the Iranians.
2026 warfare,getting sharper with AI.
Still think Taiwan will be fine,China wont be shedding blood to take them under their wing
either way.

No, they'll blockade and wait (hence their recent exercises with thousands of "fishing" vessels).

On the legal front, there have been a myriad of supply chain (especially REEs) laws passed in recent months which give the CCCP even more control of rare earths. This projection of soft power is eroding the traditional "the market is always right" approach to global economics.

 

[schneebly111]

No, they'll blockade and wait (hence their recent exercises with thousands of "fishing" vessels).

Actually China is shifting its strategy to one of conciliation and deal making not conflict:

Beijing is shifting its Taiwan strategy. Here is why

It began with a dish once served to Nixon in 1972. Now Beijing is using the same stage to reshape the Taiwan question. China is advancing a slower strategy: using economic incentives and political engagement to influence Taiwan's future.

www.abc.net.au

Honestly China is far too smart to go to war, as Sun Tzu said in the Art of War the best way to fight a war is not to fight a war.

 

[Seeds]

Do you mean the USA?

The usa is heading down this path. But china are far far ahead.

 

[schneebly111]

The usa is heading down this path. But china are far far ahead.

China is certainly ahead in being peaceful, building infrastructure, increasing trade and world leading technology.

 

[Seeds]

Actually China is shifting its strategy to one of conciliation and deal making not conflict:

Beijing is shifting its Taiwan strategy. Here is why

It began with a dish once served to Nixon in 1972. Now Beijing is using the same stage to reshape the Taiwan question. China is advancing a slower strategy: using economic incentives and political engagement to influence Taiwan's future.

www.abc.net.au

Honestly China is far too smart to go to war, as Sun Tzu said in the Art of War the best way to fight a war is not to fight a war.

This view has been helped by both the fact that russias invasion is an utter disaster and the usa seem to stupidly be giving up their role as global legislator, enforcer and piggy bank.

 

[schneebly111]

Another day another pivotal event in world history:

Beijing tells China firms to ignore US sanctions on refiners

(Bloomberg) -- China has ordered companies to defy US sanctions for the first time, a step that threatens to put its banking sector into the crosshairs of competition between the world's largest economies.Most Read from BloombergSupertanker Appears to Have Crossed the Strait of HormuzChina's...

finance.yahoo.com