So mainland China - a country which is run by a self-identified "communist" party - is in fact a dirt poor nation which lives in the dark and totally does not have Walmart, Buick, and gleaming cities filled with banks and billionaires.
Got it.
When China was
actually communist it was a dirt poor nation. My wife lived through the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward. She has told me enough about that time that I do not ask for more because I do not want to stir up memories.
Modern China is communist pretty much in name only.
Oh, I know. That was just for the benefit of our new buddy who doesn't seem to grasp that the Cold War is over. China is communist like North Korea is a democratic republic, but Gen 55 seems like one of those people who will argue the Nazis were socialist because it was in the name.
China is every bit as authoritarian as ever, and what they're doing in Hong Kong (and what they might do to Taiwan) is very, very worrisome. Maybe if our new member would spend some time reading up on current events instead of trying to relive the Red Scare, we'd get some productive discussions, but that seems unlikely.
And you think Biden wil get tough on the Chinese? He's in bed with them. Trump called them out to the whole world for releasing the virus and said they will pay for doing that. Biden is now letting China run amok.
Jesus H. Tap-dancing Christ...really?
Trump sucked up to Xi so hard I'm surprised that Xi didn't pay HIM hush money. (That's a Stormy Daniels reference, in case you missed it). And then there's the fact that Trump's daughter used her position at the White House to secure some very lucrative deals with the country you claim Trump "got tough" with. Have you looked at the "made in" label for whatever Trump ties you might have in your closet? Hmm...
But honestly, it is a little unfair to call out Trump (both Donald and Ivanka) for being "in bed" with the Chinese, because American businesses have been doing it for
fucking decades. Again...Buick. Walmart. Where was that smartphone you struggle to use made? Your television that broadcasts whatever angry cable news you watch?
You've got this idea in your head that Trump stood strong against "Chyynna" and that Biden is "in bed" with them, all the while ignoring that you - as a consumer - are up to your neck in products made there. How did this happen? Was it Biden? Hunter and his laptop? No. Simply put (and this is a gross oversimplification), the Chinese "communist" government looked at what was happening in the collapsing Soviet Union back when George H.W. Bush was President and said "we need to do something different or we'll collapse, too."
So they essentially made a deal...both with their own people and the "decadent west" that they often criticized. To wit: "We'll transition to a market economy, let your corporations in, make you a shit-ton of products at a discount price, let our people earn money in said market economy, and y'all let us keep our authoritarian regime. Deal?"
The west said "that sounds like a pretty good deal," and that's what's been going on since before Trump was reduced to doing Pizza Hut ads with Ivana in the crumbling Trump Tower. (You might need to look that one up). You've got this imaginary narrative where it was communism vs capitalism in the fight of the century, with only Trump stepping up and tilting the scales back to free markets, but that's not even close to the reality. What color is the sky in your world?
Oh, and the idea that China developed and "released" the virus is delusional. They're pretty good at making iPhones, but the notion that they can genetically engineer viruses? That's on the level of "Bill Gates is putting 5G chips in the vaccine."
Get some help.