Today I Learned: The War with No Guns Between China and the World

In recent months, China and India have skirmished with casualties on both sides. Yes, I mean deaths and serious injuries, deep in the Himalayas. But because both sides have abided by 1966 treaties that prohibited firearms near the border, the skirmishes were fought with sticks. 

The border is between China and Indian-Administered Kashmir. And the conflict had been ongoing for months. A clash back in June 2020 is believed to have left over 20 Indian soldiers DEAD. China does not release its casualty figures until recently. 

Also keep in mind that China has nearly complete control over Weibo (Chinese Twitter) and WeChat and even accounts of foreign diplomats and heads of state, including Indian Prime Minister Modi, can and had been censored before. Modi's statement regarding the border conflict back in 2020 was wiped from WeChat. Similarly, the British Embassy in China's rebuttal of the Chinese "explanation" of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong was wiped out as well. 

In contrast, Chinese diplomatic officials serving in the West are known to spread disinformation about ANYTHING that could potentially make China look bad, from the border skirmish with India to suppression of protest in Hong Kong, to suppression of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. One official spokesperson for foreign affairs went as far as claiming on Twitter that COVID was really an American bio-war experiment. They are often jokingly called "Wolf Warriors", after the Chinese military adventure movie series. 

So basically, China can say WHATEVER IT WANTS to its own citizens, and suppress anyone who dares to contradict them, even foreign leaders and diplomats. A Chinese Netizen was apparently banned by Weibo for a year then arrested by police for "insulting heroes", by merely questioning the number of Chinese casualties in the border conflict (banned 2/20, arrested 2/21 Chinese time). And an app, called "Clubhouse" was banned after briefly enjoyed a surge of popularity as a chat platform in China to discuss such issues. And nobody can do anything about it. 

It's the war against truth as you know it. If it's inconvenient for China, it ain't true (to China). 

It's a war of information. And we are playing by THEIR rules. 

China's labor class: doom for the existing government?

The labor class is supposed to be the backbone of any communist society, such as China. Yet, it seems that the labor class has always been the one being exploited in China. According to communists, only those doing honest labor, such as farmers and laborers are "good", and any sort of owner (store owner, land owner) are "bad". Yet the only way the current government earn money is by selling things, and that is mainly done by selling the labor of all the laborers to foreign companies. Foxconn is a Taiwanese company, making products to HP, Apple, and so on, using Chinese labor.

The problem with the idea is when the labor class gets tired of being exploited, you have a revolution. Can the government manage the tight-rope walk between exploiting its labor force / citizens, and convincing the outside companies to continue to invest money?

http://hubpages.com/hub/Labor-Day-Foxconn-and-Chinas-Labor-Problem

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RANT: China's real estate prices... WORSE than the US bubble!

Any one care to guess how much did our real estate prices spike during the "boom days" leading up to the sub-prime mess? Here is a graph from Wikipedia showing you the price spike:

The price index went from year 1998 or so, at just over 100, to 185 at 2005. That is roughly 80% increase. (see the original wikipedia article), in about 7 years. Right?

Guess how the real estate prices in China is doing?

(linked from http://www.businessinsider.com/the-state-of-chinas-real-estate-market-in-60-seconds-2010-3 )

This is from Feb 2007 to Feb 2010, a mere THREE years, 60% increase. Their real estate bubble is growing much faster than the rate of our bubble.

Will they CRASH EVEN HARDER THAN US?

RANT: China's tech theft, now done with $$$!

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Everybody knows Kia and Hyundai, but anybody knows Ssangyang? They are actually the fourth largest automaker in Korea. And they were just MUGGED by the Chinese, done with money, rather than espionage.

Ssangyong Motors, a minor Korean car maker (4th in Korea), was in financial trouble in 2005, and when Shanghai Motors (yes, from China), also known as SAIC, offered a financial deal, that they will establish a co-op venture in China, and take 51% stake of Ssangyong. The Koreans were very skeptical. It is clear that China wants the tech (SsangYang has hybrid tech, among other stuff that Shanghai motor doesn't), not the employees.

The deal was rammed through, with some promises that no one will be laid off. However, after the deal went through, and the plant was indeed established in China, but this also lead SAIC gaining access to ALL technology and researched made by Ssangyong Motors, including the hybrid tech. With no executive board input, the two company networks are linked, and as a result, virtually everything in the Ssangyang network was copied.