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I'm baffled by perceptions of China and Chinese products in the West. There seem to be two camps:
Normie camp. China is the new evil empire. They spy on everyone and steal everything. Everything they make is fake and falls apart (Temu, electronics). Their "technical excellence" is just aping stuff America could do effortlessly a decade or more ago (lunar lander, Nei Zha 2, Black Myth Wukong) or it's kabuki theater (Deepseek is stolen tech and/or is a facade to hide massive investment and manpower to make it look like China is catching up). They cheat their allies on the global stage (crappy infrastructure built in Africa in exchange for minerals).
Contrarian camp. China is the new techno-cyberpunk future of the human race. Drone swarms shaped like dragons. Everything on your smartphone. Technical excellence matching that of America but at less cost (Nei Zha, BM:W, Deepseek). Futuristic Chinese cities. Transhumanism unfettered by Christian hangups. They offer their allies purely aboveboard transactional deals with no moralizing strings attached.
I even see it on this forum. My info is a bit dated now, but I used to be heavily interested in China and hooked in to Chinese culture and politics. My takeaway from my time over there living with and working alongside Chinese people was that China could never truly be a more attractive partner than America on the world stage because their core civilizational ideas are just not attractive or reassuring to non-Chinese. Most Americans see themselves as part of a universal brotherhood of nations due to America's enlightenment roots, but China see itself as the "middle kingdom" that should rightfully be at the center of Asia, and ideally the world. It is a civilization founded on ethnic chauvinism and an inward orientation. Barbarians ways are not to be understood or mimicked save for instrumentally in order to gain some advantage that furthers the Chinese race. Deals with other nations are entered into not out of any sort of altruism or common ground, but as purely transactional interactions, and deals only need to be honored so far as they continue to benefit China and the Chinese -- as soon as all the juice has been squeezed, the contract can be shredded and discarded, and former partners can simply be gaslit about the prior agreement.
The obvious counterpoint is that America's foreign policy establishment is just as ruthless and amoral, and perhaps even moreso since they distract from their misdeeds with platitudes about universalism and human rights. I think this is a fair point, but I would counter that the American establishment does actually have some true believers and that it is at least somewhat constrained by what the American voting public can stomach. China has no such checks. I would also counter that America's amoral foreign policy is a deviation from its core civilizational values, one from which (hopefully) it is beginning to course correct, while the ethnic chauvinism of China is core to its civilization self-identity and is thus much more deeply ingrained and less likely to change. I think we may see a few countries defect toward China, but I wager after a decade they will learn their lesson and either return to the American fold or take some sort of third-worldist position.
While I agree with your view, the other counterpoint is that they don't have to be attractive to non-Chinese. They just need to be attractive to those who rule the non-Chinese.
Many countries would prefer having purely transactional interactions. A standard Chinese strategy is to loan money to countries that don't like the strings the IMF attach to their loans. Of course, China has its own reasons for offering those loans and will happily snap up the collateral.
The populace are not and have not ever been much of a concern in places where they lack power.
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Now where have I seen that... I'm pretty sure it had something to with hats making something great...
This is de facto US foreign policy for the next four years or possibly longer.
Why would they when the Trump administration is doing their utmost to let everyone know that US is not interested in anything other than at best a transactional relationship (with a sideline of threatening to just take what they want)? An alliance requires trust. "I've just altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it again." isn't exactly the type of message to inspire anything like that.
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China has technical excellence and no taste. (at least in the way that the west can appreciate)
Black Myth Wukong & NeZha 2 were major points of contention because people couldn't decide if they were sufficient indicators of taste. The arguments scissored on if you believe taste is universal or cultural. IE. Should Chinese expression of taste be understandable from a western lens ?
Which was the crux of my original post. An America that believes in so called 'American values' is irresistible. Trump's America is not that. Trump's America is not an attractive place. (specifically this 2nd iteration).
The possibilities for what voting Americans can stomach has expanded toa point of discomfort with Trump's return to power. Perceptions matter. China's boogeyman status is based on perceptions / propaganda (whataboutism around Tiananmen) and so is America's 'prosperity for all' free world order. I agree with your impression of China. But, nations can be oddly shortsighted when China comes knocking with a wad of cash in tow.
This is a good summation of China today, I'm going to steal this.
Re. your last paragraph, I still think that MAGA has yet to prove that it's a paradigm shift rather than simply a temporary setback in Enlightenment Cthulu's endless leftward journey. Fat stacks of Chinese cash may inducen strategic myopia in weakly aligned nations, but if MAGA turns out to be a half-decade long fad, America and its core values will still offer the more attractive and reassuring bargain.
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