China

[SWC Bonfire]

Well, the ROC is the leftovers of China's gov. after the communist uprising. If the South would have won, and more of the country would have sided with the Confederacy, and the US government would have been run out of Washington and forced to hole up in New Hampshire or Maine, that would have been more comparable to Taiwan.

I guess we'll have to disagree on the China as a threat thing. I think nationalism is growing in China, and if you've ever interacted with grad students fresh out of China you realize the extent of the control of information by the Communist government. Yes, they have capitalized a good deal of the industry. But the government still controls the minds of the people. I am concerned with them trying to control all of Asia. That is not a good scenario for the Western world, the US included.

[Jekka]

Well, the ROC is the leftovers of China's gov. after the communist uprising. If the South would have won, and more of the country would have sided with the Confederacy, and the US government would have been run out of Washington and forced to hole up in New Hampshire or Maine, that would have been more comparable to Taiwan.

I guess we'll have to disagree on the China as a threat thing. I think nationalism is growing in China, and if you've ever interacted with grad students fresh out of China you realize the extent of the control of information by the Communist government. Yes, they have capitalized a good deal of the industry. But the government still controls the minds of the people. I am concerned with them trying to control all of Asia. That is not a good scenario for the Western world, the US included.

I think you overestimate the nationalism in China - grad students would have a better view of the government there - they've been treated better. The vast majority of the population however remains in rural poverty. The nationalism there is not at the all time low it was at after martial law in Tiananmen Square, but it's definitely not the enthusiasm of the Great Leap Forward either. In the end, I don't think that the people have much of a say at all when it comes to national policy and that they are still at the mercy of the men at the top of the pyramid - but I doubt those men will do anything soon outside of Taiwan.

And as for the Communist uprising, the frequency at which government changed hands before the Communists took power was such that most people (the majority of whom were still peasants) did not even know what was going on. Communication was horrible, and until the Communists won the revolution, most people were under the control of war lords who didn't feel the need to answer to a higher authority, most were extremely corrupt. When the Communists came in and promised a centralized government with accountable officials and a voice, most people didn't object. Obviously the Manchu minority with ties to the unseated Emperor had a problem with it ... but that doesn't account for much of the population at all. The Japanese later appealed to them by putting Pu Yi up in a puppet regime at Manchukuo, and look how successfully that turned out.

[SWC Bonfire]

I can certainly verify the casual at ude that the grad students had about Tienamin and other uprisings. They maintained that it was just a "few" bad apples (well, as a percentage maybe that is a true statement). One young lady who was a TA in one of my design classes told us once that "if you are good and act like you are supposed to then no harm would come to you" (that's a paraphrase). As long as she meant don't go on a serial killing spree, then I would agree... but it was in the context of a conversation on the extent of the internet in China.

I was under the assumption that the communist government didn't come about until the mid 1940's, after Japan had been run out of China. Are you referring to existing communist factions that were in Japanese-occupied China during WWII?

[whottt]

I'm not blaming America for anything. I just don't see why China is a threat (aside from threatening America's position as #1 economic power, which I hope is not enough of a reason to go to war). That's all.

I agree with that...but right now one of their generals is saying he's going to nuke us...I call that reason for concern if nothing else.

[Jekka]

I can certainly verify the casual at ude that the grad students had about Tienamin and other uprisings. They maintained that it was just a "few" bad apples (well, as a percentage maybe that is a true statement). One young lady who was a TA in one of my design classes told us once that "if you are good and act like you are supposed to then no harm would come to you" (that's a paraphrase). As long as she meant don't go on a serial killing spree, then I would agree... but it was in the context of a conversation on the extent of the internet in China.

I was under the assumption that the communist government didn't come about until the mid 1940's, after Japan had been run out of China. Are you referring to existing communist factions that were in Japanese-occupied China during WWII?

I'm sorry, I should have clarified that Manchukuo was instated before the official reign of the Communist regime, but they did coexist while Communism was gaining some serious grassroots support.

The reading that I have done in terms of research with interviews and studies suggest that the incident at Tiananmen had a much larger domestic impact than you're suggesting. I'm not one to chalk everything up to a conspiracy theory, but it is possible that if not closely involved (either personally or through firsthand accounts), much of their impressions of it may have come from the press that surfaced, which was of course government approved and played the incident down quite a bit. I could be wrong though, it's been over a year since I've done much research on it.

[Vashner]

I think large amounts of Chinese troops would defect or turn on there government. It's only a matter of time before the commies loose power.

[AFE7FATMAN]

1st of all
"There is a chinaman hideing in everytown in America" George Carlin
They've been coming to this country for decades, but we love their food to much to suspect them of secretly trying to amass an army here.

They are buying our debt because they love us.

They are buying our companies because they love us.

They are ahead of us in cloning research because they really don't have 8 million men in their army.
They bought IBM computers and are building a new silicone valley because they are happy with the limited land they have for their 1 billion + hungry people and they only need to add C to ibm- ICBM's.

They owe us so much for helping them during WW2 as the JAPS raped and enslaved them

They have a Made in China label ready for us to put on our social security checks they hold the T Bonds on.

Need I go on.


Never fear they will spill over into Russia first, after all they don't have to swim to get there, just walk across the border-you know like from Monterry
to Laredo



I don't think America should go to war over Tiawan. I do see China as a threat, moreso against Russia than the US.