The CCP doesn’t really adhere to international law and any agreements they make aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.
Yeap. While it's true that the CCP's adherence to international law and agreements can be inconsistent, it's crucial to engage with China through the framework of international laws and diplomacy. By holding China accountable to these standards, we can prevent isolation and promote cooperation on a global scale. The 2016 international arbitration ruling on the South China Sea dispute serves as a prime example of this approach. Following the ruling, countries like the Philippines and Vietnam have strengthened their ties with the US and the West, underscoring the significance of upholding international norms. It's ironic that Vietnam, once a battleground in the fight against communism, now aligns more closely with Western allies against Chinese assertiveness. This demonstrates the power of international law and diplomacy in shaping regional relationships.
I don’t like nor trust Xi Jinping but I agree isolating the PRC is a dangerous strategy. The consistent message needs to be that PRC expansionist aims are going to be opposed not just by the US but many countries. At the same time trade and diplomatic ties are very open. Chinese goods and people are still welcome.
Yes, nudge them back into the global elite world order (or whatever you want to call the world order conspiracy). Xi is facing huge economic challenges now—he needs the world more than the world needs China; but cooperation would benefit both much more than his current approach.
The success of the PrC was built on market reforms and opening up the country by Deng Xioaping. Xi has been deliberately pushing back against that by emphasizing nationalism and even communist rhetoric. The more that Xi can portray things as that most of the World is against the PRC and wants to weaken and carve up China like what happened in the 19th C. The more support he gets internally and the more it emboldens the country to act aggressively.
We've debated about this point before and there should be more pushback against the revisionist history the PRC peddles to maintain its legitimacy. I need to read that book Kotkin is referencing. The first chapter is publicly available As for the second point, I don't think Xi needs internal support to do the things he's doing. Were the white paper protests even mentioned on here?
It’s a pretty obvious that the PRC was remarkably successful following Deng Xiaoping’s reforms. Xi has greatly consolidated power but he doesn’t appear to have as much control as Putin does in Russia and where he appears to be hesitant on expansion and even pulled back on some of his aims and rhetoric might be due to internal opposition. I’ll admit though internal politics within the CCP is very hard to determine from the outside.
A military expert lays out a scenario where the PRC could seize control of Taiwan in a lightning strike.
