Cold War against China?

Ragnar123 said:


Just a matter of time until Xi decides to invade and steal the semiconductor technology.
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If it came to it, it'd take about 10 minutes to sabotage these insanely sophisticated and irreplaceable lithography machines.
 
VorZakone said:
So Politico's article is dishonest, then?
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Yes
I am personally more surprised by the fact that people still take Politico seriously. The interview, which Macron gave (the interview happened in French to the newspaper Les Échos) sounds NOTHING like Politico is portraying.... and it isn't their first time doing this.
Here's the full interview without cuts and Politico deliberately (yes, because there is no way it isn't done on purpose) freestyling with what he said to sell their good ol' narrative they're trying to pass off as analysis as always: Emmanuel Macron : « L'autonomie stratégique doit être le combat de l'Europe »
Anyone can deepl it or google translate it. But here are the main snipets:
Q: Is Joe Biden a more polite version of Donald Trump?
Emmanuel Macron: “He is committed to democracy, fundamental principles, international cooperation, and he knows and loves Europe, all this is essential. On the other hand, he is in an American transpartisan logic that defines American interests as priority No. 1 and China as priority No. 2. The rest is less important. Is it questionable? No. But we must acknowledge it. The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic [Taiwan] and take our cue from the U.S. agenda and a Chinese overreaction. Why should we go at the pace chosen by others? At some point, we must ask ourselves the question of our interests. (…) We Europeans must wake up. Our priority is not to adapt to the agenda of others in all regions of the world.".
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Does European strategic autonomy still make sense?
Emmanuel Macron: “Of course! But this is the great paradox of the current situation. Since Sorbonne speech on this 5 years ago, almost everything has been done. Five years ago, people said that European sovereignty did not exist. When I mentioned the subject of telecommunications components, who was concerned about it? I note that the market share of non-European telecom equipment suppliers in France has significantly reduced, which is not the case for all our neighbors.
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We have also installed the idea of a European defense, a more united Europe that issues debt together during Covid. 5 years ago, strategic autonomy was a chimera. This is a major change. We have equipped ourselves with instruments on defense & industrial policy. There are many advances: Chips Act, Net Zero Industry Act and Critical Raw Material Act. These European texts are the building blocks of our strategic autonomy. We have started to set up batteries, hydrogen components and electronics factories. The day you no longer have a choice for energy, on how to defend yourself, on social networks, on artificial intelligence because we no longer have the infrastructure on these subjects, you get out of history for a while.”
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Q: The paradox is that the American grip on Europe is stronger than ever...
Emmanuel Macron: “We have certainly increased our dependence on the United States and even in the field of energy, but in a logic of diversification because we depended far too much on Russian gas. Today, it is a fact that we are more dependent on the United States, Qatar and others. But this diversification was necessary. For the rest, you have to take into account remanence effects. For too long Europe has not built this strategic autonomy for which I am fighting.”
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Q: The fact remains that the United States is conducting with the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) a policy that you even described as aggressive...
Emmanuel Macron: “When I went to Washington last December, I put my foot in it, I was even accused of doing it aggressively. But Europe reacted and before the end of the first quarter of 2023, in three months, we had a response with 3 European texts. We will have our European IRA. Acting with such speed is a small revolution.
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Strategic autonomy is also assuming to have convergences of view with the U.S., which we often do, but whether it is on Ukraine, the relationship with China or sanctions, we must have a European strategy. We do not want to enter into a block-to-block logic. On the contrary, we must de-risk our model [regarding trade and relations with China], not depend on others, while keeping a strong integration of our value chains wherever possible and also not depend on the extraterritoriality of the dollar.”
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Nothing here is new and has always been Macron's position but I guess Politico had to turn it into some anti-US and pro-China nonsense after a fresh presidential visit from the title all the way to the framing of the article.
Politico has an agenda against France and Germany. Come on... You can have grievances against both countries (and many are justified) or even hate them but anyone who doesn't think Politico does at this point is fecking blind. We're well beyond a simple pattern... It is an editorial line. And no, it can't just be a matter of incompetence or language barrier. I don't believe they don't have "journalists" fluent enough in French or German. They know what they're doing. The first instance of me catching their scheme was that bullshit about Macron speaking of "the finlandization of Ukraine" in the few days preceding the Russian invasion by totally "mistranslating" (yeah not done on purpose at all wink wink) an interview of Macron in "Le Parisien" newspaper I myself had fully read. I am sure many here have heard about Macron saying that. It was the first Politico article I personally read as it went viral in the French twittersphere after many French journalists called them out. I couldn't believe that level of what I originally thought was incompetence.
Their article was picked up by plenty of newspapers around the world and French bashing ensued. When journalists present for the interview brought up Macron never said that, including Sophie Pedder (a lead British journalist at the Economist who is their Elysée correspondant), some of the folks at Politico went on passive-aggressive rants in the comments under a few of the tweets calling them out, without even aknowledging or addressing the issue they were being criticized for or even modifying their articles or telling their readers they were wrong.... and that day, I became suspicious and started following their work more and it became obvious. They didn't care back then and they don't care now.... It is not incompetence but malice. Their following articles on various topics have done nothing but confirm it. They deliberately mistranslate and half-ass quotes, while inserting their analysis in-between to blur the lines and passing off their own spin as something the person talking is saying. A lot of the hate people have for Macron comes the translation of Politico artcles translated in local European newspapers. I am kinda a Polonophile and follows stuff from there. When I see many of the Polish preeminent newspapers discuss whatever France is doing or its leaders are saying, it basically reads like a translation of either a Politico article or Telegraph I had read on the topic for whatever reason.
Right from the start of this article, there is the random "presumably led by France" (about Europe as a third superpower) just to stirr shit up. Even if it is a popular take that Macron (well it has been said about nearly all French presidents anyway) is a Napoleon-wannabe whose agenda is nothing but a French-led EU, you won't see the FT, Reuters or whatever randomly insert something which is not a quote (presumaby led by France) between two quotes of "strategic autonomy" and Europe as a "third superpower". That's Twitter or reddit talk. Why would a professional newspaper do that and how can it not be seen considering everything that followed in their article as an attempt to instigate shit with other Europeans already distrustful of France, make Macron appear even more vain and make people dismiss his points (which you may or may not disagree with) right off the bat?!

r/europe/comments/12gi810/europe_must_resist_pressure_to_become_americas/jfke77o
 
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Gotta be insecure or have small dick energy if they have to waste so much energy in making such video.

The only thing I can see from the PLA if shit hits the fan is them running away with their tails between their legs. Seen that twice in the last decade already: in a peacekeeping mission in South Sudan and on the China/India border.
 
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VorZakone said:
Seems like Macron took a lot of criticism for his comments.

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I have read plenty of journos and other foreign policy experts from the US, Canada, France, Germany, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, and so on. They all said that Macron spoke absolute garbage, so much that everyone is now in damage control mode now.

This is from the French ambassador in the US:

 
RedDevilQuebecois said:
I have read plenty of journos and other foreign policy experts from the US, Canada, France, Germany, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, and so on. They all said that Macron spoke absolute garbage, so much that everyone is now in damage control mode now.
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I think the media and some of those experts are making a big fuss out of nothing… What Macron said might not be so smart, most leaders in Europe wouldn’t speak in those terms. But in substance, what he meant was not that different from what the EU said 12 months ago in Versailles Summit about sovereignty, and they’ve been coordinating with Biden ever since. The White House doesn’t seem bothered.


And here is what Rutte (who certainly can’t be accused of being unfriendly to the US) had to say:


The US is an essential partner for protection but “Europe needs a powerful voice in geopolitics, and there is a risk that we won’t accumulate a sufficient amount of power,” Rutte said. “That is a balance we always have to look for.”
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Isn’t this similar to what Macron said?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-12/france-s-macron-seeks-to-defend-stance-on-china-after-backlash??leadSource=uverify wall
 
Why are there “contradictory” reports on what Baerbock said about China…. Maybe what Macron said wasn’t that far off actually. And Politico are just weird.



 
How serious should we take Chinas actions around the Taiwan coast ? Is it something new and how comparable is it to Russia in the 6 or so months leading to the invasion of Ukraine?
 
Saw that warren buffet sold a couple of billion of dollars worth of shares in the Taiwanese semiconductor company last week, another major American hedge fund also bought a massive amount of puts. Somethings going on.
 
AlPistacho said:
How serious should we take Chinas actions around the Taiwan coast ? Is it something new and how comparable is it to Russia in the 6 or so months leading to the invasion of Ukraine?
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It should be taken seriously enough, because they are clearly practicing the invasion of Taiwan. But it's not comparable yet to Russian movements before the war. China would need hundreds of thousands of soldiers, hundreds of landing ships and other vessels. Those movements would definitely be spotted.
An attack is not imminent yet for several reasons. Their navy is still being built, Xi still fears U.S response and he is curious to see how the world answers on Putin's aggression long term, so he'll know more or less what to expect.
 
AlPistacho said:
How serious should we take Chinas actions around the Taiwan coast ? Is it something new and how comparable is it to Russia in the 6 or so months leading to the invasion of Ukraine?
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Not at all comparable to Russia pre-invasion. The Russians were actually building up their forces with everything you'd expect them to do before invading. The US government knew at some point it wasn't an exercise but actual preparations for an invasion.

China's actions don't indicate a build-up of forces.
 
VorZakone said:
Not at all comparable to Russia pre-invasion. The Russians were actually building up their forces with everything you'd expect them to do before invading. The US government knew at some point it wasn't an exercise but actual preparations for an invasion.

China's actions don't indicate a build-up of forces.
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Ragnar123 said:
It should be taken seriously enough, because they are clearly practicing the invasion of Taiwan. But it's not comparable yet to Russian movements before the war. China would need hundreds of thousands of soldiers, hundreds of landing ships and other vessels. Those movements would definitely be spotted.
An attack is not imminent yet for several reasons. Their navy is still being built, Xi still fears U.S response and he is curious to see how the world answers on Putin's aggression long term, so he'll know more or less what to expect.
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Thanks for clarifying. While not great and clearly provocative and threatening to Taiwan I suppose there’s some reassurance it might just be gesturing. Hopefully it stays at that.
 
VorZakone said:
What's up with all these secret Chinese police stations across different countries?
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The CCP will say it's for the sake of offering services to their own expats, but that is part of a vast network of spies and activities destined to crack down on anyone who has something critical against the CCP, especially Chinese expats. Not even the KGB did that against Soviet citizens who lived abroad during the Cold War.

Glad to see more countries taking action against that bullshit.
 
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