Geo politics are not my strong suit, not by any measure, but hearing snippets of how terribly China is currently doing, I can't help but feel what we're seeing is them presenting strength when actually weak, as told by Sun Tzu, driven by desperation and internal turmoil.
In short:
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Their economy is also suffering, same as everyone else, and considering how they're the world's manufacturing center, why wouldn't it be?
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You're a fool to think they've locked down Covid to the degree they claim. I guarantee it's ravaging their populace the same as if not worse than anyone else, and they're lying about it, and having their puppets across the globe lie for them.
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I remember something about a famine, coupled with the absolute shit quality of their farm land - a holdover from the days of Mao and his dumbass policies on farming.
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Also, problems with meeting electricity demand, largely because they're trying to play big dick and refuse themselves the Australian coal they so desperately need under the banner of trade sanctions.
Anyone with a better grasp of the situation at hand want to confirm or refute these points? I'm guessing it'll only take a stiff breeze in their direction to cause them to collapse if things are as bad as they could be.
With the WuFlu and national news dominating headlines this year, I haven't kept up with China as much as I used to. But I've been hearing that Aus' trade war with coal and grain exports have really been putting the squeeze on them. Add in the economic damage from the pandemic, the massive flooding they had earlier this year, plus the famines and I'd say that, like a lot of other countries, they're acting like they're fine, but they're probably hurting quite bad. Not that the endless propaganda they've been pumping out would tell you different.
Now, are they hurting bad enough to mount large military action against Taiwan or any of their other neighbors? That I don't know.