China is Already Replacing Russia in Siberia

Post Reply New Topic

If you read Confucius, the Art of War by Sun Szu, the writings of Sun Yat Sen and finally those of Mao tse tung you will know ultimately the approach taken by China has not changed since imperial times. Centuries of warfare, invasion and counteroffensives have taught the early Han empire's strategies that (in a nutshell) involve minimising resources expended, and patiently waiting for their enemies to trip over while positioning themselves in the most favourable position to exact maximum advantage. China's empires always has enough manpower and plenty of time. When the Mongols took over most of China, or when European colonial powers used superior weapons to extract favourable economic advantage, they bided their time.

the approach toward Siberia is the same, In the past, these regions were ignored because the cost/benefit never provided any advantage, but with access to resources for a growing industrial power, I suspect the Siberian oil fields have always been keenly eyed from the earliest days of red china, and now, when the opportunity presents itself, Xi is in a position to exact favourable deals with Putin that give economic access to Siberia as well as lebensraum.

I just wanted to say I love your analysis here with China. Definitely on point and I agree. They wait for slip ups. Very well put!

Yeah. I'll go along with that.

In fact IMHO a good way to learn the Asian mentality is too learn to play the board game of go.

The game dramatizes much of what were both talking about.

Four thousand years ago the Chinese invented the board game wei-chi (encirclement)played with stationary "stones" placed at the intersections of a grid. It spread to Korea and finally to Japan. The Japanese called it "go" and became even more obsessed with it than the Chinese. Westerners are introduced to it mostly by Japanese. Chess is just one battle. Go is the whole war!

There are numerous tutorials on how to play. But this vid gives a good feel for the aesthetic feel and flow of a game.


https://youtu.be/pGZluQUkflo

Cool! it reminds me of the old viking version of chess which reflected their own psychology toward raiding/warfare
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tafl_games

I first learned about this philosophy from Mao tse tung when he reportedly was asked about the treaty with Britain over Hong Kong back in 1897 where people were surprised why Mao would care about a treaty signed during imperial times, to which Mao said something like "we Chinese think/plan in centuries not every 4 years" which was alluding to elections in western democracies. the Chinese patiently waited for the treaty to expire in 1997 and quietly acquired it back with no fuss.

I wouldn't be surprised if China takes over the entire world over the next 25 years. I hope it doesn't happen.

a world ruled by china would be brutal. much more brutal than today. think "1984" levels of control and restriction.

^^ Agreed but there is literally nothing we can do about it. Putin and Xi must be laughing how hundreds of years of the advancement of democracy has led to somebody like Donald trump appointed as leader of the free world. It could happen again in November.

That IS interesting how the Norse invented (basically independently) something like chess...but instead of the two armies starting on opposite sides of the board one starts in the middle of the board with the other attacking it from all sides. I see what you mean that it reflects a certain "pillaging" mentality.

Siberia offers an endless supply of resources to China which geographically is more accessible than importing resources from further afield like Africa where political instability in various regimes makes supply a problem. Another region is central Asia which culturally have been a target of Chinese ethnonationalism. the Himalayan kingdoms such as Bhutan are reporting encroachment of chinese settlers and shifting borders. the the chinese government want access to the water to build hydro-electric power plants to provide free electricity. China and India are in a race to develop this region.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 024-07-09/

Both populations in central asia and Siberia comprise "asiatic peoples" who are the Han claim are culturally closer to east asia than the middle east, west and south Asia. Interestingly tibetan languages are called "Sino-tibetan" indicating a connection the Han want to (and have) exploited. Despite this the people of these regions are not so keen to be absorbed by either Russia, China or India. they see themselves as independent.

For the record, I have no reason to think that modern day China is the dystopian hell that some people would have you believe. The thought of a world dominated by China doesn't thrill me, but neither does it frighten me. Just consider how upset many people are by the notion of the world being dominated by the US.

When you live in another country you learn that what you see on news cameras or documentaries are not what actually happens on the ground. While I have not lived in China, I have lived among overseas Chinese in Malaysia and Indonesia for several years. I cannot start to even understand many things but one of the most amusing was being greeted in a household where I was paying rent and board and been threatened by the son-in law of the landlady on my first night and being told me if even so much as look at his pretty wife he will kill me in his thick accent .

Well..the Beijing regime as it exists now would be worse than US domination.

But a century from now...when the West will inevitably hafta retreat and grant China more elbow room in the world...China might well have evolved into a more democratic society (like Taiwan or Japan, or South Korea) so it wouldnt be so bad.

But yes we do get skewed images of current day China in our media (and the Chinese people our country from their media). You do see American vloggers who have lived in China refuting things. We have this image of China being the "worst of both worlds"...authoritarian Communist style govt. AND at the same time bareknuckled capitalist exploitation of workers like we had back in Dickens time. According to some neither is quite true. For one thing its actually hard to fire people in China.

And at the same time you encounter young people online from mainland China who ...are scared to get off an airline in a US airport to visit our country because they assume they will instantly get mobbed and lynched by American racists! You hafta admit that "yes racism exists in the US, but...it doesnt work that way!"

In many countries that is already happening. In South east asia, countries like Malaysia, Indonesia or thailand are economically controlled by ethnic Chinese. the proof is during chinese new year each of these countries comes to a complete halt, every shop, shopping centre, transport, trade comes to a grinding halt.

In prosperous Canada and Australia the overseas Chinese are relentlessly buying land/property and businesses. the rate this is happening is well documented. It will happen much less time < 100 yrs.

In terms of youtube vloggers, a lot of the vloggers are temporary visitors so rely on presumptions when walking around the streets of Asia. More accurate vlogging comes from long term residents who have lived several years or more but I learned from living in Asia that I don't trust their testimony either. In order to live in a place like china you become acclimatised and acculturated so unwittingly absorb the same tendencies to be guarded about what you say about your hosts. Especially in China, your visa can be revoked for shooting mouth off on social media (which is either restricted or monitored) so you get a filtered version. One good source on China is a vlogger called Sepentza
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/SerpentZA[/youtube]

He is able to report on his years of experience in mainland China now as he moved back to the west.

I am quite familiar with this group. A few who are brainwashed and willingly report information to the Chinese consulate (Lets call them civilian spies) might fit this profile. they are the ones who go to tv studio audiences when there is a guest who is being critical of China and make noise or seen in public demonstrations tearing down placards critical of China.

the vast majority of Chinese entering western countries are only interested in making $$, buying property in expensive suburbs and sending their kids to expensive schools.