Sep 05
Open Thread
Written by admin on Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 4:06 am
Filed under:-chinese-posts, -guest-posts, -mini-posts, General | Add comments
Filed under:-chinese-posts, -guest-posts, -mini-posts, General | Add comments
Open thread. Comment away.
There are currently 18 comments highlighted: 43786, 59771, 67661, 68125, 68259, 68336, 69045, 69046, 69053, 69054, 69055, 69098, 69100, 69124, 69137, 69152, 69160, 69173.
There are currently 18 comments highlighted: 43786, 59771, 67661, 68125, 68259, 68336, 69045, 69046, 69053, 69054, 69055, 69098, 69100, 69124, 69137, 69152, 69160, 69173.
October 28th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/LJ29Ad02.html
TonyP4.
Here’s an interesting article on the Rare earth issue. Personally, I don’t see this as a big deal within 2 years of time as other countries will start operations to extract Rare earth. Seiji Maehara, Japan’s neo-conservative foreign minister, has been the mouthpiece of Japan about this issue when they have at least 2 years worth of supply of rare earth.
October 28th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Discussion on unification with my friends.
* Reality is when China reunites, the one in charge will be the mainland as they are larger and more powerful as a country. They need to shoot down the US satellites so the fleet of carrier would not come in time for Taiwan’s defense.
* Is China ruled by communist or US by capitalist? To illustrate, if you do not pay the hospital bill in China, you die. In US, even the illegals can get free medical care.
* Some big projects just cannot be done easily under the US system. While we’re debating on any big project, China has finished it. At the mean time, the project more than doubles in price due to inflation and concessions. I do not say Chinese system is better but just different system has its merits and problems.
* No one is in a hurry for unification. China has an edge over the disputed islands with Japan as obviously Taiwan is better distance wise to claim those islands.
* China will invade Taiwan when no one can predict. It could be problem in mainland that China wants to divert attention as it happens many times in history.
—
Thanks pug_ster for the article.
October 29th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
I think, hypothetically speaking, if Taiwan for any reason (whether it was through force or self-submitting) if Taiwan really did reunited with the PRC, I’m guessing this might happen.
Since it’s a large island that pretty much govern itself with a standing military, it will be much easier for it to have that one government, two-three system approach than HK or Macau. Beijing is going to have a much tougher time controlling it than the other two places. I really think the only way in this case that China can maintain authority on the island is if it sent it’s own military over there to occupy it. Establish a base of some sort and absorb as many of the local armed forces. I’m just guessing here.
What might also happen in reunification, is many people from Taiwan will leave, making a mass exodus to many other countries. My guess would be mainly the US, but many other places are possible such as countries in Southeast Asia or South America. Probably not half the population, but it would still be a fairly large significant number.
Not only will the population be lower and there would be a PRC military base on the island, but Taiwan is an ideal location where the shipping industry will be much larger than before. It will be richer in this sense. Also, of the Taiwanese who stay on the island under PRC authority, the skillful workers will be absorbed into the Chinese economy. Taiwan has a lot of remarkable talent in many areas, technology, agriculture, design, etc.
However, to be honest, it’s kind of a lose lose situation with the many Taiwanese, and other people for that matter, who don’t like the PRC, as they eventually will have to deal with China one way or another, where ever they are in the world. Like there’s no escaping from interaction and other exchanges.
I’m just making guesses here. Like what the other commentators said, it’s hard to predict the future. Who knows, maybe Taiwan will remain in the same situation for some time and the PRC through whatever means do exert their authority under another name. Like officially not united, but de fact “under the table” are reunited.
October 29th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Some interesting facts and theories.
* China could control Hong Kong by turning on/off water supply (electricity too) to HK.
China could control Macau by limiting the number of Chinese gamblers to go there.
China could control Taiwan by investment policy that affects Taiwanese investments.
Facts, not jokes!
* Before unification, history would be repeated. Many HKers had passports in US, Canada, Australia…and migrated a lot of HK dollars to these countries.
* Japan will be the biggest loser in Chinese unification.
October 30th, 2010 at 2:21 am
Something for you all to think about…
http://www.sldinfo.com/?p=12355
November 1st, 2010 at 11:36 am
Please remember that during the historic Cairo Conference in 1943 featuring Chiang KS, FDR and Churchill, the Americans and Brits had agreed that Taiwan along with Diaoyutai island chains be returned to Chinese sovereignty after Japan’s expected defeat.
However, in 1972, when Okinawa was returned to Japanese sovereignty; The USA ignored this agreement by letting Japan have administrative rights over Diaoyutai ! Didn’t even return it to Guomindang regime in Taiwan which is supposedly a staunch ally.
This is also to make sure Diaoyutai will become a bone of contention between China and Japan so that the two Asian neighbors would find it hard to unite hence assuring the US continuing divide- and-rule of east Asia. Without the Yanks aiding and abetting fcuking imperialist Japan, the “turnip heads” will never dare to take on China single-handedly !
November 1st, 2010 at 4:08 pm
I suppose the next logical move is for the West to blame China for the deadly plagues that swept through Europe over the centuries. Doh!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/health/01plague.html?_r=1
Pure science is suppose to be objective, but unlike earth’s deadliest species, the human, bacteria or their gnawer carrier and victims are neither nationalistic or racist.
November 1st, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Hi UFQ,
Regarding the Black Plague, they’re not blaming China. They’re just saying where it originated from and how it might have spread. In the same way that Europeans brought diseases, intentionally or not, to populations in the Americas and elsewhere where the indigenous population had no immunity, interaction with indigenous people and other goods in and from China had done something similar.
It’s not political or ethnocentric at all, trust me on this. The history of human interaction with their environment has almost always been on of regiona-centric. It’s only recently, a few centuries but not more than one century for most people, that different groups of people lived outside a place previous generations have lived for millenia. The origin of a lot of diseases affecting the world still come largely from the Mediterranean. There’s some fairly obvious reasons why it may be.
November 3rd, 2010 at 11:21 pm
Two Chinese businessmen walk into an international airport smoking room crowded with Western men puffing on cigars. The two Chinese are about to light up when one suit-wearing smoker turns and barks: “Do you mind?”
This is an old analogy used to illustrate the hypocrisy of some in the West who blame China for the world’s pollution woes.
Tamara Stark, Communications Director at Greenpeace in the UK, writes :
“Having spent the last three years living in China, I and all of my Chinese colleagues became somewhat accustomed to what we referred to as “China bashing” by some of the international media. You know the sort of thing: the over-the-top, almost hysterical cry of “China’s eating up all the world’s resources!” Since China is now one of the world’s largest manufacturing centres, the claim was applied to almost anything – timber, coal, or even the cobalt used to make our cell phone batteries. To a certain degree, therefore, there is a kernel – but not much more – of truth to the claim.
November 5th, 2010 at 10:51 am
UN human development index 2010, ranking countries’ quality of life – wealth, poverty, health and education
http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/
1. Norway
2. Australia
3. New Zealand
11. Japan
12. Korea (Republic of)
13. Switzerland
14. France
21. Hong Kong, China (SAR)
26. United Kingdom
89. China
92. Thailand
97. Philippines
113. Viet Nam
169. Zimbabwe
November 5th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
http://zonaeuropa.com/201011a.brief.htm#003
It seems that the Japanese Navy had videotaped the whole Chinese fishing boat in Diaoyu Island incident. This one video kind of explain who is the aggressor there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qo_AEEScdM&feature=player_embedded
November 5th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
To the post before me:
Where is USA?
November 6th, 2010 at 12:32 am
I don’t really think the video is going to do much. If they were going to use it as evidence to support to Japanese side, it would have been released much earlier.
From what I read online about it, one the Chinese side would still be convinced that they were right, saying these sailors were heroes trying to defend their territory or the video might be doctored in some way. On the Japanese side, the video could be convincing to support their views as it shows the fishing ship making the first physical move. Since they already released the captain with Japanese leaders appearing to appease China, the video leak isn’t going to help at all to the complicated matter.
Some online rumors said that the leak might have been working of some nationalistic person(s) within Japan, like they are trying to aroused more nationalistic sentiments within the country, i.e. using foreign policy to stroke domestic issues. Recent incidents like the Russian president’s visit to islands always disputed by Japan might have been the last straw for those Japanese nationalists. To date, I think Japan has territorial issues with China, South Korea and Russia. Maybe Taiwan and some other Southeast Asian/Pacific Islander nations.
November 6th, 2010 at 12:39 am
It’s kind of unfortunate to think about it, because territory is one of those items where people would literally die for. I really hope nothing bad will happen in the coming days because of these disputes, at least not at the cost of human life. Especially since Japan seems to be arguing with several neighboring countries, things can get very ugly.
November 10th, 2010 at 7:15 am
http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2010-11/590790.html
I thought this is a funny story about Goons being sent in China to stop protesters. The only problem is that Google had sent the goons.
November 11th, 2010 at 6:24 am
*Sigh*, about the google situation. That’s how the world is. No matter how many people or organizations put on this image of being the good guy-“don’t be evil” stance, in reality, everyone is pretty much watching out for him/her/its own self-interests.
November 19th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
I wonder if anyone else was having issues, I couldn’t get on to this site for several days.
November 21st, 2010 at 2:12 am
@no99
No you weren’t the only one. I had problems too. I wonder what happened?
November 21st, 2010 at 8:59 pm
lol, maybe it got “hacked” by the authorities…just kidding.
December 7th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/07/julian-assange-refused-bail-over-rape-allegations
Looks like Julian Assange is really getting snowballed. He is being denied bail for rape allegations. I mean, how can you get denied bail for that? Amazon, paypal, mastercard shutting down wikileaks. This is something else.
December 19th, 2010 at 1:20 am
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/12/18/1459733/china-fishing-boat-capsizes-in.html
Like the Japanese Navy, the South Korean Thugs are best at running down fishing boats.
December 22nd, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Good article on Korean Peninsula
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/LL23Dg01.html
January 12th, 2011 at 12:52 pm
Recently I watch a war series “士兵突击” and I almost cry. Can’t believe there are still plot that could touch me so deep. Talking about war, most history series on China contemporary war depict the army forge ahead in large number, is that true?
January 12th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Can anyone explain what happened to this site?
January 14th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
“Can anyone explain what happened to this site?”
I think FM is on a trial of providing a platform for absolute freedom of speech where comments on anything and everything are allowed. There is no admin, no posting and commenters are free to do whatever we wish. However and surprisingly, the result is overwhelmingly and shockingly, quiet. we don’t see any name calling, personnel attack, profanity and trolling, not even echo when spamming start to strike.
After the hot debate for past 2 to 3 years on democracy, authoritarian and this and that, perhaps we shouldn’t left out anarchism as one of the path for China and rest of world. At least, we finally transcend and move into peace.
Banzai Laozi. Amen.
January 15th, 2011 at 9:11 pm
Can anyone explain what happened to this site?
To Rhan 🙂
thanks for that interesting interpretation and grand and meaningful conclusion but I think it must be something else. Anyone else?
January 16th, 2011 at 9:58 pm
To Dragan,
I think the website is on auto-pilot, the people….they may have been persecuted….at least that’s my guess.
August 30th, 2013 at 10:25 am
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