Sino-American Cold War Watch Thread

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SerethiaFalcon
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Re: Sino-American Cold War Watch Thread

Post by SerethiaFalcon »

I knew China was way ahead when I was told five or so years ago that all of Shanghai's movie theaters were 3D, not 2D. It's surprising to me also that the US was in such deep denial. It probably has something to do with ego, but also, the assumption that all China does is copy other people's ideas. However, if you look at fiction writing, authors will start by sounding similar to other writers (and many do mimic other writers), but eventually, they find their own voice and come up with some innovative ideas (if they are good). I would argue that is just how human innovation and creativity works. I can't help but think things have come full circle though. Europe borrowed ideas from China in ancient times, then developed their own. China borrowed ideas from the Western world, and now, innovation and development are returning to China.
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caltrek
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Pentagon: Chinese Nuke Force Growing Faster Than Predicted
November 3, 2021

https://www.courthousenews.com/pentagon ... predicted/
WASHINGTON (AP via Courthouse News) — China is expanding its nuclear force much faster than U.S. officials predicted just a year ago, highlighting a broad and accelerating buildup of military muscle designed to enable Beijing to match or surpass U.S. global power by mid-century, according to a Pentagon report released Wednesday.

The number of Chinese nuclear warheads could increase to 700 within six years, the report said, and may top 1,000 by 2030. The report did not say how many weapons China has today, but a year ago the Pentagon said the number was in the “low 200s” and was likely to double by the end of this decade
The linked article also includes a brief discussion of the new missile fields, apparently being built in China, that were mentioned in an article dated June 3, 2021 and cited by Yuli Ban earlier in this tread.
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caltrek
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Democrat Legislators Urge Biden to 'Reduce Nuclear Weapons Risks' in His Summit With Chinese President Xi Jinping
by Jessica Corbett
November 4, 2021

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/ ... -president

Introduction:
(Common Dreams) Four congressional Democrats on Thursday urged U.S. President Joe Biden to make reducing nuclear weapons risks a "top priority" in his upcoming virtual summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, emphasizing the important context of the United States' huge arsenal.

The message to Biden from Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) as well as Reps. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and John Garamendi (D-Calif.) came a day after the Pentagon projected that China's cache of deliverable nuclear warheads could increase fivefold to 1,000 by 2030 (see previous post - caltrek).

"The nuclear weapons stockpiles of both the United States and Russia are several times [the] size of China, even with the latest Department of Defense projection," notes the letter from the four Democrats, who co-chair the Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group.

"Nonetheless, China's latest test of a hypersonic glide weapon, its reported construction of 250 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) silos, and its refusal to date to engage in nuclear risk reduction talks," the letter adds, "are a mounting national security concern."

Though Biden and Xi have exchanged verbal blows in recent days over the Chinese leader's decision to skip the ongoing COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, the lawmakers still pointed to coordination on the climate emergency as a potential model.
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caltrek
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Japan Foreign Minister Says Blinken Gave U.S. Commitment to Defend Japan
November 13, 2021

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14481132

Introduction:
(Reuters via The Asahi Shimbun) Japan's new foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said on Saturday U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured him in a phone call that the U.S. commitment to defending Japan, including southern islets claimed by China, was unwavering.

Japan's ties with China have been plagued by a territorial dispute over a group of Japanese-administered islands in the East China Sea, called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, as well as the legacy of Japan's past military aggression.

"Secretary Blinken stated that U.S. commitment to defending Japan, including the application of Article 5 of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty for the Senkaku islands, was unwavering," Hayashi told reporters.

The treaty's article 5 says each party recognises an armed attack on territories under Japan's administration would be dangerous to its peace and safety, and it would act to meet the common danger.

Hayashi said he and Blinken shared the view that the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait was important.
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weatheriscool
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Re: Sino-American Cold War Watch Thread

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Biden and Xi meet virtually as US-China chasm widens
Source: AP

By AAMER MADHANI and COLLEEN LONG
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden opened his virtual meeting with China’s Xi Jinping on Monday by saying their goal is to ensure competition “does not veer into conflict.”

The two leaders are meeting by video amid mounting tensions in the U.S.-China relationship. Biden has criticized Beijing over human rights abuses against Uyghurs in northwest China, squelching democratic protests in Hong Kong, military aggression against the self-ruled island of Taiwan and more. Xi’s deputies, meanwhile, have lashed out against the Biden White House for interfering in what it sees as internal Chinese matters.

“It seems to be our responsibility as the leaders of China and the United States to ensure that the competition between our countries does not veer into conflict, whether intended or unintended, rather than simple, straightforward competition,” Biden said at the start of the meeting.

Xi told Biden the two sides need to improve communication. The two leaders traveled together when both were vice presidents and know each other well.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/biden-xi-mee ... f71fe61f4a
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caltrek
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D.C.-Beijing Tensions are Shifting Markets
by Hope King
December 6, 2021

https://www.axios.com/dc-beijing-tensio ... 42c35.html
(Axios) U.S. markets stand to lose $2 trillion in value if D.C. and Beijing drift further apart.

Why it matters: Political chasms are showing up in new securities regulations that put companies and investors in a bind. The rules are also another reflection of how much relations between the world’s largest economies have cooled, even as they remain economically interdependent.

Driving the news: Ride-hailing giant Didi is preparing to delist from the New York Stock Exchange and to relist in Hong Kong following pressure from Chinese regulators.
  • It’s the first — with more than 200 others potentially at risk for delisting — as Chinese and U.S. regulators simultaneously pull and push Chinese companies out of U.S. markets.
The details: SEC rules laid out last week require Chinese companies listed in the U.S. to face audits or risk delisting within three years — an escalation of a nearly two-decade old requirement.
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caltrek
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Harvard Professor Convicted of Making False Statements About China Ties
by Rebecca Falconer
December 22, 2021

https://www.axios.com/authors/rfalconer/

Extract:
(Axios) Harvard University professor Charles Lieber was convicted Tuesday in connection with lying to U.S. federal authorities about his ties to China…

Our thought bubble, via Axios China reporter Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian: The Lieber verdict comes as the DOJ's China Initiative faces intense scrutiny after a series of charges against ethnic Chinese scientists were dropped.

The big picture: Lieber had pleaded not guilty of all charges related to his affiliation with the Beijing-run Thousand Talents Program and China's Wuhan University of Technology (WUT).
  • "Under the terms of Lieber’s three-year Thousand Talents contract, WUT paid Lieber a salary of up to $50,000 per month, living expenses of up to $150,000 and awarded him more than $1.5 million to establish a research lab at WUT," per the DOJ.
  • "In 2018 and 2019, Lieber lied to federal authorities about his involvement in the Thousand Talents Plan and his affiliation with WUT."
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caltrek
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Re: Sino-American Cold War Watch Thread

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The following article could have also easily been placed in the Conflict with Russia thread as it involves U.S. relations and policy toward both countries.

America's Foreign Policy Death Spiral
by Walter Hixson
December 23, 2021

https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/12/23 ... th-spiral/

Introduction:
(Counterpunch) American foreign policy today is in a reactionary death spiral. Never has a new “national security” policy paradigm been more desperately needed, yet there is not even a glimpse of salvation on the horizon—wherever you look you will find policies that speak to the past and offer little hope for a viable global future.

The paradigm that ensnares American diplomacy cemented some 75 years ago with World War II and the Cold War. Those cataclysmic events forged an enduring American national security state characterized by unlimited global intervention, cultivation of an ever-metastasizing “military-industrial complex,” and endless and often racialized enemy-othering followed by highly destructive yet ultimately losing wars replete with devastating blowback on the “homeland.”

Urgently needed is a new foreign policy paradigm of cooperative internationalism centered on combating climate change, population control, control of infectious disease, investment to deal effectively with poverty and global migration, dramatic demilitarization, and renunciation of arms as well as human trafficking. The United States should take the lead in resurrecting and strengthening the United Nations to better enable it to pursue the mission of promoting global security, anti-racism, and universal human rights.

Sound like idealistic liberal poppycock? Well, how do you like what the “realist” foreign policy paradigm has delivered—an endless series of forever wars, an utterly inept response to the existential threat of climate change, rampant destruction of animal and plant species, ongoing militarization of the planet amid poverty, epidemic disease, and little prospect of genuine national, much less international, security.

Still in the grip of the Cold War paradigm, the Biden administration is just as wedded to confrontation with China and Russia as Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and every other administration since 1945. The sheer hubris at the core of American national identity—typically referenced as American exceptionalism—cannot abide the existence other great powers. Yes, China’s takeover of Hong Kong, efforts to establish hegemony in the South China Sea, and egregious human rights record, especially in Tibet and Xinjiang, are disturbing. Over time a viable UN—which realists have long hamstrung and condemned as an outpost idealistic universalism—could put meaningful pressure on China on human rights, but at this time cooperation on climate change is the greater priority.
caltrek's comment: I am not so sure that a "viable UN" is that much of an answer. Still, the author makes a lot of good points regarding the weakness of the approach taken "since 1945."
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caltrek
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Analysts Say 'Something Has Shifted' in New Zealand's Security and Foreign Policy for China
by Anneke Smith
December 24, 2021

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/something ... ZCP34AZCU/

Introduction:
(New Zealand Herald) New Zealand's condemnation of Hong Kong's Legislative Council elections reflects a "hardening stance" towards China, says a leading defence analyst.

Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta on Tuesday joined her Five Eyes counterparts (Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States) to express "grave concern" over the erosion of democratic elements of the new electoral system.
Conclusion:
(Director of 36th Parallel Assessments Paul) Buchanan said New Zealand, whose biggest trading partner is China, was positioned as the most vulnerable of the Five Eyes partners to any potential economic retaliation from China.

"It would be pretty easy to see that if the Chinese are going to retaliate against anybody in the anglophone world, it would more than likely be us because it'll cost them very little, people have to change their dietary habits amongst the Chinese middle class, but will have a dramatic effect on us because a third of our GDP is tied up and bilateral trade with China.

"But the government has clearly signalled that it's seeking to diversify. It has now signalled that on the diplomatic and security front, it sees the Chinese increasingly as a malign actor, and so whatever is coming on the horizon, this government at least appears prepared to weather the storm."
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caltrek
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Taiwan: An important Ally in the Battle Against Authoritarianism
by Hsin Huang Michael Hsiao and Sana Hashmi
Updated December 31, 2021

https://indianexpress.com/article/opini ... m-7698722/

Introduction:
(The Indian Express) President Joe Biden-led Summit for Democracy was held on December 9-10 in a virtual format. As one of the flourishing democracies, Taiwan was seen in attendance, represented by Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s digital minister, and Bi-khim Hsiao, Taiwan’s representative to the United States. The summit was driven by the idea that in the face of populism, authoritarianism, and other forms of non-democratic systems looming large, it is critical to keep the “democratic” flock together.

The salience of this summit lies in a deeper understanding on the part of the Biden administration that democracy is not just a form of government, it is a goal in itself, a value that must be cherished, preserved and celebrated. It is this vision of democracy as a norm that has seemingly rattled authoritarian countries. That said, unlike other political systems, democracy is also a way of life — a work in progress that needs sustained attention and careful nurturing to make it more resilient.

Ideas like these are consistently echoed in Taiwan’s policy circles. For instance, during the 2021 Open Parliament Forum held in Taiwan, President Tsai Ing-wen reiterated Taiwan’s commitment to work with liberal democracies for forging an alliance to bolster collective democratic resilience and realise open governance.

These goals were highlighted during this year’s Yushan Forum, where Vice President Lai Ching-te articulated the three principal priorities that would shape Taiwan’s external cooperation in the post-pandemic world — recovering from the pandemic, restoring the economy, and safeguarding democracy. These goals are not only in sync with global priorities but also complement the objectives set forth in Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy (NSP), launched in 2016 to bring Asia closer to Taiwan and vice-versa. The NSP is aimed to be a pivotal tool to engage like-minded democracies in the region.
Conclusion:
It is important for liberal democracies to acknowledge that they are facing similar challenges and view Taiwan as an indispensable partner. Deft diplomacy is in order since transnational challenges demand joint efforts by liberal democracies.
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