Where is Peng Shuai?

I was just describing China’s current government, not critiquing capitalism. The Chinese government is repressive and authoritarian and do . . . repressive and authoritarian things. The question of how do we balance US interests (public and private?) against the need to speak/act for human rights, liberal democracy, rule of law, individual liberties in authoritarian countries (China, Russia, Saudi, etc.).

Except for the fact they never actually left their Maoist tyranny behind…Good point.

I fear she is already dead, or is in dire straits in a detention camp.

No, it is something new and different.
Some sort of hybrid tyranocapitalism.

No worries comrades, she is in a special camp for “re-education.”

Well it’s not unthinkable that she is either dead or in a reeducation/concentration camp this is China our number one trading partner were talking about.

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Or locked in the rapists basement.

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It’s necessary.

Sadly, True…

…and have this stock built at levels of pollution that would never be tolerated here but let those same goods come back in and be sold here…all while our corrupt government wants to preach man-made global warming.

Same government who blocked the patent for solid hydrogen storage for over a decade.

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It is a centrally controlled economy, with tight government control over currency, banking, industry and companies. They just added the touch of allowing foreigners to acquire minority positions in those companies. This brought in access to foreign investment and technology without surrendering central control. Then you look at how many doing business in China dance to their tune. The NBA, Hollywood, multinationals…Like the old joke goes, not arguing over what they are, just negotiating the price.

Where is the Hollywood #metoo movement on this? A woman literally disappeared for reporting a sexual assault by a powerful government official.

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Sure, but they also encourage consumption, have a thriving entertainment culture, and allow free speech, albeit with VERY bright red lines.

Like I say, modern China is something new, and we are going to need to figure out a new strategy. The old cold war dichotomy won’t work.

Consumption yes, they realize that it builds GDP, but still under strict control. Entertainment sure, with the message heavily regulated. Freedom of speech… :rofl:. They are free to obediently parrot the CCP line. And google helped the CCP establish the infamous social index to monitor individual conduct and identify non-conformers.

New videos of Peng Shuai have appeared, but there still are questions about her status.

It’s “America First”. If using it to punish China helps us we will. If punishing China hurts the economy, we won’t.

This was well articulated in 2018 when the Saudi’s assaniated Khashoggi:

“If we abandon Saudi Arabia, it will be a terrible mistake," Trump said. "They’re buying hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of things from this country. If I say, ‘We don’t want to take your business,’ if I say, ‘We’re going to cut it off,’ they will get the equipment, military equipment and other things from Russia and China. And I’m not going to tell a country that’s spending hundreds of billions of dollars — and has helped me out [to] do one thing very importantly, keep oil prices down so they’re not going to 100 and 150 dollars a barrel. And I’m not going to destroy the economy for our country by being foolish with Saudi Arabia. It’s about America first.

That’s about as straight as it’s ever been put. America will look aside at human rights abuses if it protects our interests.

China might be on a track where someday our interests align with principles. Not there yet.

Being an individual human on this planet sucks when you are not aligned with wealth and power.

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Sounds familiar.

They’re just much smarter. They figured out how to entice western politicians and corporations to fund their economic growth and make foreign developed tech available to the CCP for free.

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We are selling the rope that will be used to hang us.

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Except the Saudis buy from us and the Chinese sell to us and steal our technology to improve their military capabilities specifically against our military.

I see the multinational corporate profits first policy and the NBA profits first policy and the Hollywood producers and movie stars profit first policy…Just can’t quite visualize how our current relationship with China puts America first.

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