A recent poll showed that 60% of Britons see the Chinese government as a “force for bad in the world,” and say their opinion of it has worsened since the start of the pandemic. A mere 3% view it as a force for good. A massive 83% of readers of the Mail, the UK’s biggest-selling newspaper, distrust China. Even in the U.K. parliament, some China-sceptic M.P.s have forced major changes through, which includes a ban on Huawei, the massive Chinese telecommunications equipment company, and new screens on foreign investment.
There are many reasons for this, including the crackdown on Hong Kong by China, contrary to the agreement the Brits made with them when they handed it over in 1997. There’s also China’s treatment of the Uighur minority and general human rights violations that make the U.K. government and its people feel mighty concerned and uncomfortable. Frankly, most of the West seems to be changing their relationship with Beijing.
Despite this, it is surely necessary for the U.K. and China to partner constructively on climate change and the global pandemic. So, what do we do about the blighters?
I have never trusted any regime ruling the Chinese. Their people may be absolutely loving and trusting, to the point of naivety, but their leaders are complete and utter bastards. Even if you annihilate them all, (the leaders, not the people), you can be assured that there are ready-made replacements available at a stroke.
I firmly believe that China is ready for war if its hostile intentions over Taiwan meet with stern resistance from Britain and its allies. We need to send a sharp and concise message to Beijing, and indeed other dictatorships, that we will not be messed with, and their intimidatory actions and persecutions have no place in our modern world. They are, after all, bullies of the most macabre kind.
The trouble is, militarily, Britain is on its knees compared to when we went to the Falklands in 1982. Massive cuts in capability have seen, for instance, the Royal Navy having just one operational aircraft carrier and nowhere near enough other vessels to even provide an effective defence.
Accordingly, we need to fortify our defence budget with immediate effect, and continue to do so year after year, to convince the monsters of this world that we are not weak, but ready to do business at the first sign of aggression. Armed potency is a much better shot in the arm for maintaining peace than rank feebleness.
How do we deal with China?
Well, to me, as a Russian, China is fear. This is a mighty country that existed, it seems, eternally.
We have a 4,000 kilometer border with them. In 1969 there was a military conflict with Mao’s China, on the Damanskyi island, the Amur river. We, the USSR, used – for the first time – the ‘Grad’ missile launchers, wiping out the Chinese. But the fear remained. In Soviet times the fear of China was bigger than that of the United States.
Then I’ve read a book by Tom Clancy, yes, he’s contradictory. The book is called ‘The Bear and the Dragon’; it is about the Sino-Russian conflict that grows into a world war with active US involvement on the Russian side with the final Chinese debacle.
From what I know – having heard some whispers in the night – the US wants Russia to choose sides in the future big conflict. The best thing, me thinks, is to side with the West but I’m afraid Putin would choose China, and that would lead to losing our sovereignty in the end.
What to do with China in the 21st century?
Isolate it. Treat them as a Nazi Germany and finally somehow change the regime. It won’t be possible without a previous regime change in Russia.
Otherwise, Putin, based in his anti-American instincts, will drag us down into a big war.
What shall we do about China?
It’s easy to bash China; perhaps too easy. Xi Jinping has been diligent in making a distaste for his country a reality. The list of dangerous actions is long and I’ll not rehash them here.
I didn’t feel this way ten years ago. In fact, I used to work for a Chinese company: a live theatre group that had four troupes. I quite like the Chinese people and enjoyed my time there. I find them to be kind and an accepting lot.
But even then, there were a very few young boys who were clearly nationalists. I’m not sure if they were simply trolling or unaware that these were real Americans they were talking to. It makes no difference now, my views have changed.
Xi Jinping has decided to re-litigate World War II and now China is arguing with almost all her neighbors. China has become hungry and even looks to the North Pole as an area where they must have first dibs on any resources. I wonder how they explain being the world’s biggest Imperialists and Running Dog Capitalists to their population. How would you frame these actions inside Communist ideals?
So, the question becomes: where to from here? At the start of his Presidency, The Donald was a fan-boi of Xi but by the end he blamed him for every woe he could imagine. Unfortunately, it looks like Biden simply inherited most of Trump’s policies without a great deal of thought.
History shows that you cannot appease a Dictator. Being kind will only encourage actions that endanger lives. The Philippines tried appeasement and found that didn’t work at all. As I write this, yesterday Chinese ships used water cannon on two supply ships inside Philippine territorial waters. Why? Because that’s Chinese territory now.
From the above, you can imagine I have a hawkish outlook on Chinese-American relations. Not at all; I fear a real war if we do not change course. I just don’t know what the right path is. It’s clear the only thing standing in the way of a full invasion of Twain is Japan with an assist from the US Navy. Peace will only hold as long as sword remains in hand.
We are talking about war on a scale not seen since the 1940s. It’s hard for me to grasp why Xi believes this is a proper policy. It’s equally difficult for me to understand how Putin thinks Russia will profit by taking China’s side in such an adventure. China has made it clear that Vladivostok was a Chinese city and should be again. Perhaps Russia doesn’t believe statements coming from Beijing. Perhaps a big, warm dish of appeasement with some Siberian towns on the side?
I really have no clue how to proceed.