Leegh

Tim Cook was not gonna let Trump cook his shiny fruit products

There are a couple of key differences between Taiwan and Ukraine which may not allow them to pan out the same way in a potential war scenario.

The first is geography: Taiwan is a tiny island that has to rely wholly on ship and air transport to bring goods into the country, including military hardware. A Chinese blockade on the island would absolutely cripple their economy and fighting capacity, and would make a war of attrition very easy to win. Only a US intervention through sea and air supremacy could break this (something China is aware of and has been developing their missile tech for this reason).

On the other hand, Russia’s war of attrition dragging out for so long and Ukraine still not folding is due to Ukraine sharing a massive land border with the rest of Europe and can still easily receive military hardware and economic aid through land trade. Russia also cannot completely blockade the country due to NATO encirclement, which is why choosing to not rapidly take over the country but instead just park their troops outside Kyiv back in 2022 to pressure the government was a massive strategic mistake.

The second difference is the politics itself: Taiwanese politics is not the typical left-right continuum and is more about Reunification vs Independence. This is represented by the KMT-led pan-blue coalition, and the DPP-led Pan-green coalition. While the Pro-independence DPP is currently in power (largely due to public perceptions of KMT corruption and being more socially conservative), the idea of independence is still not popular in Taiwan based on 2024 census. Most Taiwanese are just waiting out to see how the US-China Cold War plays out while still officially being the Republic of China.

Furthermore, a Chinese invasion would likely greatly embolden the KMT and push the public towards them (they could say something like “see? This is what you get for allowing the DPP separatists to move away from Chinese reunification, we will end this war by offering a quick peace with the PRC”). It also doesn’t help that America already signalled that they are more than willing to throw Taiwan under the bus if China forces their hand by bombing their semiconductor facilities. They didn’t do the same for Ukraine (at least until this year) because muh White Western civilization being attacked by evil eastern hordes.

Finally, Zelenskyy was able to stay in power by suspending elections and banning all opposition parties that challenged his pro-war/ pro-west narrative. The DPP is in no position to do that given much of the military is still loyal to the KMT thanks to the Chiang Kai-Shek military dictatorship-era, and trying to ban the KMT (which has a different foreign policy to the DPP) would very likely cause the KMT to seize power and declare marshal law with the backing of the military instead.

What's the point of continually raising tariffs with China when the US can still get Chinese goods from intermediary countries like Vietnam?

Didn't the White House just LAST WEEK refuse to do any trade deals with Vietnam for this exact reason??

And even if this reduces the US trade deficit somehow (it won't because of China's counter tariffs), Trump just paused all other tariffs which signals to the US market to just keep doing what it's always been doing!

WTF is this administration doing???

Give it a week, they'll negotiate a de-escalation or pause on their tariffs too once Trump figures out how much they still need China (yes I'm quietly seething here).

According to The Guardian live feed the (now 125%) tariffs will not be paused on China.

Is it me or does Tokugawa's hat look a bit sus?

Black community in Ohio forms safety program after neo-Nazi rally

China opens its first wholly foreign-owned Hospital

Personally I don’t see anything good coming out of a private hospital firm that according to the company CEO is going to “serve high-end customers”.

I hope the CPC will seize the business when it goes under.

I agree, but the model still represented a leftward shift from the standard Keynesian economics that China commits to.

Just so you know, the Chinese New Left generally opposes the pro-market policies that have crept into the government since the Reform and Opening Up era, but there is still a lot of debate as to how to move away from it.

Some are as you say "red social democrats" who want welfare reforms and more state control of the economy, others want more radical recollectivization and rapid liquidation of the big bourgeoisie.

It honestly makes me wonder what China's policies would look like today if Bo Xilai became General Secretary back in 2012 instead of Xi.

FYI, Bo Xilai was considered one of the frontrunners for the Presidency alongside Xi until he was purged just before Hu Jintao's term ended for alleged corruption.

Some would argue this was just a pretext to get rid of someone the more liberal factionalists in the party disliked (including Hu himself).

Bo was known for the "Chongqing model", which basically emphasized more wealth redistribution through expanded welfare policies and a revival of Mao-era "red culture".

He was also a leading masthead for the Chinese "new left" faction which I guess is the closest thing to a Neo-Maoist movement in the country.

While I agree that the tariffs will hurt Australia's relationship with the US, it will take much, much more than that before Australia ever treats China as a friendly trading partner that it doesn't constantly antagonize.

Political will is one thing (which is a massive feat itself considering US military officials are literally operating inside our deep state), but on the subject of economics, while China is already Australia's largest trading partner, the US remains our largest foreign investor and US companies represent the largest foreign capital holders in the country.

It also doesn't help that most (White) Australians still see themselves as an Anglo Christian nation that has never viewed a non-white western country as an equal, much the same way Europe or North America views the rest of the world.

Hoping this just pushes the government closer to China. That'd be pretty cool.

Extremely unlikely given this is the same Labor government that signed a $300B Nuclear Submarine deal with the US a couple of years ago to justify the constant fearmongering against China.

They also lost their minds when a couple of Chinese naval ships did a Freedom of Navigation route through the Tasman Sea last month, acting like China was about to invade us for doing something Australia has been doing to them in the South China Sea for decades.

Also doesn't help that the LNP/ Coalition opposition keeps accusing Labor of being unpatriotic for not working with Trump more closely for an exemption deal (i.e. offer more economic tributes than we already do to the Great Khan), which always results in Labor moving more right in foreign policy.