Tag: China

First They Shut Down Big Tech

Now China is gunning for the Hellmouth:

In a dramatic turn for the major studios, Hollywood’s share of China’s box office is in free fall, reportedly collapsing to less than 10 percent as Beijing aims to bolster its domestic movie industry while continuing to block major Hollywood releases from playing in Chinese cinemas.

The result is a potential existential crisis for Hollywood, which has bent over backwards to please China’s Communist dictators in the hopes of maintaining access to the lucrative Chinese market.

But the reverse has happened. Hollywood’s share of the China box office market has plummeted to just 9.5 percent so far this year, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway, as reported by Variety.

The stark decline comes as Hollywood imports are being edged out by domestic releases.

Last year, only two Hollywood releases cracked China’s top-ten grossing movies — Tenet and The Croods: A New Age. For 2019, only Avengers: Endgame and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw made the top-ten list. A decade ago, Hollywood accounted for eight of China’s top-ten grossing movies.

Chinese audiences are instead gravitating toward home-grown movies in larger numbers, lifting the time-traveling comedy Hi, Mom and the buddy-cop adventure Detective Chinatown 3 to blockbuster status. Meanwhile, recent Hollywood titles like Disney-Pixar’s Luca and Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon have failed to resonate with local audiences.

Even Universal’s dependable Fast & Furious franchise, which has been enormously popular in China, is showing signs of fatigue. The latest installment, F9, saw its China grosses plummet in the second week by a stunning 85 percent.

Hollywood’s decline in China comes as the Communist country has overtaken the United States to become the world’s largest movie market.

If you think it’s an accident that China increasingly appears to be targeting the neoclown strongholds in the USA, well, you’re not paying attention. It’s obvious that China is not so much focusing its “unrestricted warfare” on the USA per se anymore as on a specific and influential foreign demographic. My guess is that the media will be next, followed by Wall Street.

Believe it or not, there is not only considerably more freedom in the Chinese media than in the US media – by which I mean there are far fewer no-go zones – the rules are considerably more coherent and stable. Remember, I’ve not only been interviewed on Chinese state TV about trade and cryptocurrencies, I was asked more than once to return, most likely because both my predictions – contra the other experts – were correct. Do you think that would ever happen on Fox, CBS, ESPN, or even the Disney Channel?

Remember, China’s primary goal is to be left to their own devices. And their increasing engagement with the West appears to have taught them that unlike China, the USA is not a nation.

DISCUSS ON SG

Rumors of Invasion

Things appear to be quietly heating up around the Taiwan Straits:

China’s growing assertiveness toward Taiwan has triggered a public push by Japanese leaders to plan for a possible conflict, a shift that could lead to closer cooperation with the U.S. military.

Tokyo officials, normally wary of upsetting Beijing, are speaking openly about preparing for a crisis and supporting Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by China, despite Japan’s pacifist constitution.

Like the U.S., Japan doesn’t have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. But on Friday, lawmakers in Tokyo and Taipei held a rare meeting by videoconference to discuss ways to boost ties, including possible cooperation in maritime rescue.

Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso said recently in a speech to supporters that Japan and the U.S. should plan together to defend the island in the event of hostilities.

In its annual regional security review, Japan said there a “greater sense of crisis than ever before” regarding Taiwan, after China stepped up maneuvers by its ships and aircraft nearby.

I’ve heard multiple rumors of an incipient invasion of Taiwan – incipient meaning sometime in September or October – from various sources. Some of them are flying around the chans, as AC notes:

There was an anon on 4Chan who claimed to be an insider at State, and he said China offered Biden a deal – they would tell him when the Taiwan invasion would begin, and in return he would not tell Taiwan, and he would promise to not get involved. Supposedly Biden took the deal, and the date is Sept 25th. Supposedly it will be two weeks of aerial bombardment, followed by a land invasion.

I’m very skeptical of that particular rumor, because I expect Taiwan to submit within 24 hours of the mainland launching an attack of any kind. Unless the Red Army begins with an invasion, there shouldn’t be any need for anything more than a relatively peaceful occupation.

China Shows Up for the Future

Unlike Americans since 1965, China actually pays serious attention to its demographics because its leaders understand that the makeup of the population is what determines the health and capabilities of the country.

China on Friday passed a law amendment which allows each couple to have three children and stipulates supportive policies for childbearing, with observers believing it indicates China has officially moved from restricting births to encouraging births, paving the way for not only the third-child policy’s full implementation across the country, but also potentially encouraging even more births.

It took less than three months for the policy to be made into law after it was first announced on May 31 at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, revealing the urgency and gravity of China’s population development beset by falling fertility rates, a shrinking workforce and increasing aging population, Chinese observers said.

The comprehensive supportive measures for the shift of the population policy – which were not highlighted in the last revision – show China’s strong determination in actively tackling its population challenges and building a fertility-friendly society, and more detailed measures are expected to be introduced soon, they said.

The amendment to the Population and Family Planning Law was passed at a session of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee on Friday. 

The amendment says one couple can have three children, and it cancels relevant restrictive measures, including social maintenance fees and fines on couples who violate the law to have more children than permitted.

Twenty-one provisions were amended, deleted or added to the law, and the amendment took effect immediately after its announcement on Friday, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

One can always tell that a China skeptic is totally clueless if they mention “the one-child policy” or make the ridiculous assertion that China is somehow demographically doomed. The Chinese birth rate was much higher than the US or any of the European states until 1992. It’s now marginally lower due to the one-child policy established in 1979, but that was eliminated in 2015. And between the aggressive pro-family policies now being instituted and the strong nationalist restrictions on immigration, imports, investment, and business ownership, the Chinese are already in a vastly stronger position for the future than beleaguered Americans, who are on the verge of being outnumbered in what used to be their own country.

Remember, the future belongs to those who show up for it.

DISCUSS ON SG

The US Won’t Even PRETEND to Defend Taiwan

A government official helpfully clarifies that whatever Creepy Joe happens to blurt out should not be confused with actual US foreign policy:

A senior Biden administration official said Thursday that American policy on Taiwan has not changed despite Joe Biden appearing to suggest the United States would defend the island if it were attacked.

In an ABC Interview, Biden grouped Taiwan in with countries that the U.S. is committed to defending.

“They are…entities we’ve made agreements with based on not a civil war they’re having on that island or in South Korea, but on an agreement where they have a unity government that, in fact, is trying to keep bad guys from doing bad things to them,” Biden said.

“We made a sacred commitment to Article 5 that if in fact anyone were to invade or take action against our NATO allies, we would respond. Same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with – Taiwan. It’s not even comparable to talk about that.”

In case you are unfamiliar, Article 5 is an agreement which states that an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all.

As reported by Reuters, a senior Biden official said the policy has not changed, however, and Biden simply misspoke.

Indeed, the U.S. is required by law to provide Taiwan with the necessary means to defend itself, but has followed a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on whether it would intervene to protect the island if there were a Chinese attack.

Bonnie Glaser, a Taiwan expert at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, called Biden’s apparent mistake “unfortunate.”

“The U.S. had an Article 5 commitment to Taiwan from 1954 to 1979. The Biden administration isn’t considering returning to that commitment, as indicated by public statements by Kurt Campbell.”

Translation: the USA has not had a commitment to defend Taiwan since 1979 and is not, under any circumstances, going to make any attempt to defend it from an attack by Chinese military forces. Not that the USA has any intention of honoring its “sacred” Article 5 commitments either, you understand.

Xi and Putin certainly do.

DISCUSS ON SG.

6 Reasons the US Will Abandon Taiwan

The Chinese government does not appear to be impressed by the response of Taiwan President Tsai or the US government to the recent US surrender to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, Taiwan’s regional leader Tsai Ing-wen finally made a speech on the panic on the island triggered by Afghanistan’s situation. She declared that Taiwan’s only option is to make itself stronger, more united and more determined to defend itself. Just before Tsai’s speech, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Tuesday responded to whether the US will abandon Taiwan. He said that “When it comes to Taiwan, it is a fundamentally different question in a different context” and the US’ “commitment” to Taiwan remains “as strong as it’s ever been.”

The statements of Sullivan and Tsai show the rapid collapse of the US-supported Afghan government has brought a real shock to the island. Both Washington and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities are diffident about this, and they believe it is necessary to calm the doubts.

However, the empty words of Sullivan and Tsai were predictable. They would inevitably say so, and had to say so. As to whether Taiwan will show resistance when the mainland uses force to unify the island one day, they did not offer any convincing additional information.

Will the US abandon Taiwan? Fundamentally speaking, this is a matter of time and situation, and it will not be decided by a few elites in the US and Taiwan. We believe that as long as the mainland’s strength continues to grow, and as long as it prepares fully for military struggles and has a firm will to unify, then there is no doubt the US is doomed to eventually abandon Taiwan.

The six reasons provided are convincing, perhaps even conclusive. Regardless, it is clear that there is no possibility that the USA is going to go to war to defend Taiwan from China under any circumstances. While it’s true that the US commitment to Taiwan is “as strong as it’s ever been”, all that means is that the US was never intending to defend the island in the first place. Forget Afghanistan, the US doesn’t even defend its own borders these days.

The concept of “strategic uncertainty” only works as long as the opponent is genuinely uncertain about one’s intentions. And China, correctly, is now certain that the USA won’t do anything to prevent the inevitable annexation of what China has always considered to be a rebel province. At this point, it’s more uncertain that the US troops would even fight to defend South Korea in the event of a North Korean attack.

The shock and awe of Desert Storm has long since dissipated. The monopolar world is no more. And even if it takes a decade or more for the Israel-First imperialists in the USA to admit it, this is the reality of modern geopolitics.

Of course, all of this obscures the larger issue that absolutely no one in the media presently dares to discuss. Since the US military can’t, and won’t, defend Afghanistan, since it can’t, and won’t, defend Ukraine, if it can’t, and won’t, defend Taiwan, is it still even able to defend its greatest ally, Israel? While there is no question that all the neoclowns and their pet politicians are more than willing to have it do so, it is the question of its capabilities that is the much more relevant one.

Discuss on SG.

Taiwan is Nervous

And China not only knows it, it is openly mocking the fears of “the secessionists” in the aftermath of the US collapse in Afghanistan. From Global Times, the English-language Chinese newspaper that should be on your list of daily reads these days.

“Yesterday’s Saigon, today’s Afghanistan, and tomorrow’s Taiwan?” read some online posts by internet users in the island of Taiwan, implying that the so-called alliance that Taiwan has forged with the US is nothing but an empty promise that will eventually “leave the Taiwan people hurting alone.”

An Op-Ed in local Taiwan news site udn.com said that the unexpected end in Afghanistan has “shocked” US allies and partners, who have become wary of putting the safety of Taiwan in the hands of the US, as the latter may pull the same tricks played in Kabul.

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan will also have a global impact, especially weighing on its image and credibility, the Op-Ed in a Taipei-based news site said, as Washington’s strength in maintaining the global order will be challenged, and the power confrontation in the Indo-Pacific Strategy targeting China will be questioned.

“They should say the day before yesterday, Vietnam, yesterday, Taiwan and today, Afghanistan. Wasn’t the island abandoned by the US in 1979?” Chang Ching, a research fellow at the Society for Strategic Studies based in the island, told the Global Times on Monday. 

As part of its latest efforts to play the “Taiwan card” in countering China, the Biden administration recently announced it would hold a virtual Summit for Democracy, which excited the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority of Taiwan. Since taking office in January, US President Joe Biden has taken various measures to demonstrate its deterrent against China, such as deploying military aircraft to the island, sending warships across the Taiwan Straits several times and dispatching senior officials to visit the island, blatantly playing the “Taiwan card” to ruffle China’s feathers.

However, the failure of the US in Afghanistan should serve as a warning to the secessionists in the island, who have to understand that they cannot count on Washington, as Afghanistan is not the first place where the US abandoned its allies, nor will it be the last, experts warned….

The US retreat from Afghanistan has taught the island of Taiwan an important lesson, that is, the cross-Straits relations must be resolved by Taiwan itself, as the US may choose to abandon the island at any time according to its own core interests, Chang Ya-chung, a Taipei-based political scientist and member of the Kuomintang, told the Global Times on Monday. 

Furthermore, the US has never promised to send troops if a military conflict occurs across the Taiwan Straits, and only said that it would sell weapons to Taiwan to increase its military strength, Chang noted. 

The US retreat from Afghanistan has taught the island of Taiwan an important lesson, that is, the cross-Straits relations must be resolved by Taiwan itself, as the US may choose to abandon the island at any time according to its own core interests, Chang Ya-chung, a Taipei-based political scientist and member of the Kuomintang, told the Global Times on Monday. 

GLOBAL TIMES, August 16, 2021

Translation: Cut a deal while you still can. The US military isn’t going to even try to stop us, so we will take the island whenever we decide we’re willing to pay the price.

UPDATE: With some amazingly bad judgement that is only exceeded by his astonishingly poor timing, a presumably senile US Senator appears to have just handed China a casus belli to invade Taiwan. On Twitter, of all places.

A senior US senator, also a member of US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, on his social media revealed that the US has 30,000 soldiers stationed in China’s Taiwan island. Chinese experts said if this is true, it is a military invasion and occupation of China’s Taiwan and equivalent to the US declaring war on China. 

If the tweet is correct, China could immediately activate Anti-Secession Law to destroy and expel US troops in Taiwan and reunify Taiwan militarily, experts noted.

In the tweet, Senator John Cornyn listed the number of US troops stationed in South Korea, Germany, Japan, China’s Taiwan and on the African continent to show how the number of US soldiers has dwindled in Afghanistan. But in the process, Cornyn revealed the shocking news that there are 30,000 US troops in China’s Taiwan island. 

His tweet raised a wave of doubts among netizens with many commenting below his tweet: “how come the US still has troops in Taiwan,” “so the US army has a secret division in Taiwan,” “Cornyn must have mistaken the number,” and “this should have been before 1979.” 

As a senior senator from Texas, who was once a Republican Senate Majority Whip for the 114th and 115th Congresses, and now a member of US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Cornyn should be aware of the US government’s military intelligence. 

Thus, the possibility that the US is hiding 30,000 troops in China’s Taiwan island cannot be ruled out, and there is a probability the secret was accidentally spilled out by this senior US politician, Chinese observers said. As we know, the US has maintained military communications with China’s Taiwan including weapon sales and military trainings. 

GLOBAL TIMES, August 17, 2021

If there are US troops present on Taiwan island, China will crush them by force: Global Times editorial

“If that is true, the Chinese government and the Chinese people will never accept it. It is believed that China will immediately put the Anti-Secession Law into use, destroy and expel US troops in Taiwan by military means, and at the same time realize reunification by force.”

I wish I could say that even the converged gay generals in the Pentagon couldn’t possibly be that stupid. But as unlikely and as ridiculous as a secret stash of US troops on Taiwan sounds, it’s exactly the sort of Smart Boy strategery that laid the foundation for the recent Afghan debacle.

Discuss on SG.

China chooses life

In case it isn’t entirely clear that China has rejected the Prometheans and their path to national suicide through empire, China skeptics can’t even point to the now-outdated One-Child Policy anymore:

China is making a major change in how its citizens can form a family. Monday, the Chinese Communist Party said it would allow married couples to have as many as three children to combat the country’s aging population.

Got that? Couples in China are now allowed to have a third child.

The change comes five years after Beijing ended its infamous “one-child policy” to allow couples to keep a second child.

State-run, Xi Jinping-approved Xinhua News Agency says the new policy will “improve the country’s population structure, actively implement the national strategy to respond to the aging population, and maintain the country’s demographic advantage.”

And if the mere permission doesn’t work, who here doesn’t believe that China won’t be ruthless enough to offer serious financial incentives to married couples? Especially when Hungary is already providing lifetime waivers on personal income tax for women raising at least four children and large vehicle subsidies for large families.

Meanwhile, in the rapidly declining imperial USA, parents are being socially incentivized to put their little boys in dresses and sterilize their little girls with hormone blockers and surgery. 

This is why it is silly to pronounce any nation dead due to sub-replacement birth rates. In less than one generation, a single determined nationalist at the helm can turn it around. On the plus side, WWIII looks increasingly unlikely, by virtue of being unnecessary.

Yellow Fever syndrome

 A Chinese honeypot snares at least two mayors and one congressman:

As reported earlier, a Chinese spy raised money for Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA) and planted an “intern” in his congressional office.

A Chinese national named Fang Fang, AKA, Christine Fang targeted politicians in California between 2011 and 2015 at the direction of China’s internal spy agency and even had intimate relationships with two Midwestern mayors, according Axios.

According to Fang’s friends, she was in her late 20s or early 30s when she enrolled at a Bay Area university and began to target politicians and gather intelligence at the direction of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS).

Fang was a “bundler” for Eric Swalwell and other Democrat candidates but it is also believed the Chinese spy and honeypot had an intimate relationship with Swalwell.

Tucker Carlson’s team reached out to Swalwell’s office and asked if Swalwell had an intimate relationship with honeypot and spy Christine Fang and they replied they couldn’t comment because that information could be “classified.”

Swalwell cannot be trusted with classified information and should immediately be removed from the House Intelligence Committee.

What’s most interesting about this to me is the fact that local politicians around the country are being targeted by foreign spies, presumably because they know that local politicians often become state and federal politicians. This is why it is not even remotely implausible that the Georgia governor, Brian Kemp, is entirely compromised, as some sites are beginning to dig into the nature of his relationship with the Chinese government. 

As you might expect, the mainstream media is absolutely silent about this. Of course, it’s owned by foreigners too.

Perhaps it’s a busy news cycle. But I’m having a hard time resolving fact that this place went absolutely apeshit over foreign influence ops in US for the past 48 months and is now dead silent at news that @ericswalwell, a member of the intel committee, was seriously compromised.

But only the scope is new. The infiltration into the establishment isn’t:

China influenced American policies for decades through a covert network of “old friends” — sympathizers and agents — who had penetrated the highest levels of the U.S. government and financial institutions before the Trump administration, according to an academic linked to the Chinese government.

Di Dongsheng, a professor and associate dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University in Beijing, also suggested in a Nov. 28 speech that China’s Communist Party helped Hunter Biden, a son of presumptive President-elect Joseph R. Biden, obtain Chinese business deals.

“Now, I’m going to drop a bomb: Because we had people up there inside America’s core circle of power, we had our old friends,” said Mr. Di, adding that he needed to speak carefully because “I can’t sell out these people.”

The price of empire is always foreign infiltration and influence. That’s why empire is evil for the occupier and the occupied alike, and nationalism is the path to freedom. 

Extradition bill withdrawn

The Hong Kong government backs down

Hong Kong authorities officially withdrew the extradition bill that has sparked months-long massive protests and violent riots across the city. The city’s security chief John Lee announced that the bill was effectively withdrawn on Wednesday. In response, several opposition lawmakers tried to heckle Lee’s speech, demanding his resignation.

The bill, which would have allowed the extradition of criminal suspects from Hong Kong, China’s self-governing territory, to mainland China triggered massive protests in summer. Protesters and human rights campaigners feared that Beijing may use the legislation to target dissidents.

My guess is that this is a smart tactical move by the Chinese government to defang what had become an entry point by the CIA and the NGOs attempting to transform the organic protests into a Color Revolution. It surgically removes the nominal basis for the protests, thereby removing the moral high ground – such as it is – from the protests if they continue.

I don’t see this as being much of a victory for the protesters, though. I understand the fears concerning extradition being applied to dissidents, but is it really good news that murderers can continue to live in Hong Kong without fear of even being arrested, much less charged and convicted, for their crimes? It seems to me a compromise that limited extradition to being applied to those suspected of murder would be reasonable and serve the interests of both the mainland and the SAR.

Mailvox: a different perspective on Hong Kong

An update on the Hong Kong situation from a mainlander:

I wanted to send this to you last week but the outside internet has been completely inaccessible in China for the past two weeks because of the National Day holiday. They do this every year but it’s particularly bad this year.

A few days ago the ENTIRE Hong Kong metro system was closed because the “protesters” went on a rampage in response to a new law making it illegal to wear a mask in public. Every single metro station. Imagine if that had happened in a major American city of ten million people, what the police and the National Guard would do.

Pat Buchanan has an article in which he states, “The people of Hong Kong, who are surely being cheered by many on the mainland of China …” All respect to Pat Buchanan but he doesn’t understand this situation at all.

There is mutual hatred between Hong Kong and mainland people. NO ONE on the mainland is cheering the Hong Kong protesters. They think Hong Kong people are a bunch of spoiled brats who are now wrecking their own city and being used by the West because they think they’re better than mainland people. And Hong Kong people, meanwhile, think they ARE better than mainland people because they’ve had the benefit of a hundred years of imposed quasi-Western civilization and the result is a more well-mannered people and a more orderly society in a higher-quality environment.

But Hong Kong has been going downhill for decades now, due to various reasons that are not reducible to a simple statement, and the mainland has been in the ascendancy. But regardless, if Beijing sends in the troops, (which I don’t think they will do because the bad PR outweighs any other benefit; they’ll probably just let Hong Kong burn because they don’t really need it) I assure you that the vast majority of mainland Chinese will applaud this decision and love their government even more, seeing it as just desserts for a bunch of spoiled traitors, i.e. Chinese who don’t want to be Chinese and who collude with the yang guizi (foreign devils).

The global media would of course use any move by Beijing as a way to paint China as the new Nazis. You can see this narrative already developing and being pushed by Bannon and others, as well as the Hong Kong protesters themselves, who are quite obviously trying to provoke a violent response. But for the mainland Chinese, it would only solidify their sense of “us against the world.” My fear is that the people who want the next big war are actively pushing in this direction. I hope that Trump and Xi Jinping really are friendly, because they’re increasingly looking like Kennedy and Khrushchev.