China is the greatest enemy to freedom – US intelligence chief | Hacker News Reader

China is the greatest enemy to freedom – US intelligence chief

bbc.com

50 pointsDarkContinent47 comments

Beijing was preparing for confrontation with the US and intended to dominate the world "economically, militarily and technologically".

Well, yes. China has 4x the population of the US, just passed the US in GDP, is way ahead in manufacturing output, and has a far higher growth rate. Of course they're going to dominate the world.

Passed US in GDP? Where did you find those numbers?

Sorry, I'd heard that, but apparently not yet. US US$21 trillion, China US$14 trillion.

I think OP meant in terms of GDP by PPP (Purchasing Power Parity), not nominal (the actual current value). But I agree it's confusing without that clarification.

The final competition is going to be naval power which is where your "of course" has to be qualified. Naval power is what backs the dollar and lets US act as the hegemon which the world can rotate around. Challenging that is a highly destabilizing act.

US is in the process of becoming a true empire which can only be gimped by international institutions like the IMF which would reduce its currency-based influence as well as otherwise monopolizing decision-making power in channels of aide and diplomacy. But if the US can recover its political will then it still has more hard power than China can clamor for, and most of its allies which were on the fence are reorienting back to US partnerships.

No one should want this kind of engagement to be enacted. It can get hot and messy in the worst way. But here we are. You lie in the graves you dig.

The only GDP metric China has surpassed USA on is in purchase parity power (since 2014), which is no small feat btw.

https://mgmresearch.com/china-vs-united-states-a-gdp-compari...

That is absolutely not given. It is understood that China's gdp are generally fudged/overstated, and also we could have a Japan scenario.

In the late 80s/early 90s, it was thought that Japan was going to dominate technology and cars and that just didn't happen.

Japan is doing fine, but not 'dominating' in any way. Japanese cars are doing fine in the US, but just can't compete well in the European market.

Same way with China. It is becoming a significant world power and market, but not dominate anything.

China had a long way to go before they reach a Japan situation, their GDP per capita is so small and they only need to bump it a few K to overtake the US. They might asymptote before then but my money is on afterwards, perhaps when they're 1.5-2.2x bigger than the US.

Nothing actually happens when your nation becomes wealthier than another one. What matters most is who has the most advanced military and civilian tech and who controls the majority of commonly used international resources. It also matters if you are theoretically able to produce all of the essential resources you need if the other nations decide they don’t want to trade cards with you.

See "Made in China 2025".

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_China_2025

One good thing that Trump did is that he stood up to the bully CCP. Let's hope the upcoming administration will continue to do so.

Freedom is over rated.

Definitely

Dont worry biden will stand up to them.

You forgot /s

Yeah, he will surely increase tariffs and steal them mobile apps, that will teach 'em commies!

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