Farewell to pacifism: Japan is rearming | DW Documentary

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine roused the Japanese people, making them fear more than they have previously and increase their support for militarization. If Russia invades Ukraine, China may likewise attack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZknEU38CDtE

How can China be socialist if it has a stock market? Understanding the Chinese economy

China is not really capitalist because some of their most important industries are owned by the government and the government doesn’t care about the stock market. The main goal of those state owned enterprises is not profit, and, unlike in the U.S., the Chinese government is not concerned with keeping their stock market growing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4__IBd_sGE

How China could try to strangle Taiwan without firing a shot

“the way we think about how China would overrun Taiwan may well be wrong. Rather than an all-out invasion, it could attempt to capture the island without firing a single shot through “gray zone” tactics. Such tactics might combine maritime blockades and advanced cyberwarfare capable of cutting off Taiwan from the lines of seaborne trade and the digital access it needs to survive. And Beijing could do so in a way that might be just far enough below the threshold of conflict that would drive Washington and its allies to come to Taiwan’s aid.”

https://www.vox.com/world-politics/390895/china-taiwan-conflict

China Goes Tit for Tat Over U.S. Chip Bans

“China banned the export of gallium, germanium, antimony, and industrial diamonds to the U.S., in response to U.S. trade and investment restrictions on Chinese technology companies. Though tit-for-tat tariffs occasionally lead to bilateral trade agreements, protectionism is more frequently a response in kind. China’s rare materials ban is the latest such response in the ongoing U.S.–China semiconductor trade war.”

“The technological trade war reduces the productive and military capacity of both countries, not just China. Technonationalism harms American and Chinese consumers, hinders economic growth, reduces cross-cultural cooperation, and makes aggression more attractive.”

https://reason.com/2024/12/04/china-goes-tit-for-tat-over-u-s-chip-bans/

China directs largest military build-up since 1930s Nazi Germany, expert warns, citing Pentagon report

“China is conducting the largest military build-up seen since that of Nazi Germany during the 1930s, one expert warns, after a new Department of Defense report detailed Beijing’s operations including bolstering weapons and psychological warfare.”

“”Now the big difference there, is that he really focused on land power, which frankly is pretty easy to build up pretty quickly,” he added. “Navies are much more difficult to build up. And we are way behind. And not only do we need to catch up, but we also need to modernize our nuclear weapons, and we need to put a lot of effort into missile defense.”

“They’re massively building up their nuclear arsenal. We expect it to expand to at least 1,000 warheads by 2030, only five years from now. Probably going to be bigger than that,” DeVore said Sunday. “The Chinese Navy, not by tonnage, but by numbers is now larger than the U.S. Navy. China has something like 250 times the ship building capacity that America does.”

The report cites how China has bolstered its People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) arsenal to include 50 new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which can strike the continental U.S., raising its total to 400. As far as the report discloses, the DoD says China has added 300 medium-range ballistic missiles and 100 long-range cruise missiles. Their arsenal also now includes more than 600 operational nuclear warheads and is expected to have more than 1,000 by 2030.

The DoD says the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has the world’s leading arsenal of hypersonic missiles, including the DF-27, which as DeVore notes, “are capable of evading U.S. missile defenses and targeting Guam, Hawaii, and Alaska.””

https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-directs-largest-military-build-144406881.html

Chinese ship ‘severs undersea cables around Taiwan’

“Taiwan has accused a Chinese-owned ship of severing a critical data cable off its northern coast on Friday.
Officials in Taipei discovered that four cores of an international submarine cable, which transmits data to America’s AT&T, were left ruptured early on Jan 3.

Tracking data revealed the Shunxing39 cargo vessel had dropped its anchor around the rupture site near the port of Keelung, according to Taiwan’s coast guard.”

“Another Chinese vessel, the Yi Peng 3, was accused of similar tactics in the Baltic in November.

Investigators believe the Chinese-registered bulk carrier deliberately severed two key cables by dragging its anchor along the seabed for more than 100 miles in a “sabotage” orchestrated by Russia.

Repeated incidents have caused concern among Western nations that Russia, with the help of China, is engaging in what the White House described as “hybrid warfare”, an accusation that the Kremlin denies.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/chinese-ship-severs-undersea-cables-202527317.html