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Comment by esperent | Hacker News Reader

Well, to play devils advocate, as a random Irish guy it seems like my choice is between Chinese companies spying on me or US companies spying on me. I don't see that huge a difference - although I do acknowledge there's a difference in freedom of speech and culture in the US, that applies to US citizens and when it comes to spying on people outside the US the difference is much smaller.

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Consider Document Number 9[1], and the fact that the CCP considers your existing Irish political system and liberal ideology as a threat and one which it is actively working to undermine. You already know what it's like living in a world which the US is a dominate super power, that's what the West has experience in the past 70 years and it had created some of the greatest prosperity both the US and West have experienced in their existence.

A dominant China is interested in promoting their own values of Xi thought. And they're working very hard to promulgate it. Their coercive ability is remarkable in how it's already transformed Hollywood. Their ability to do so will only increase.

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

> Consider Document Number 9[1], and the fact that the CCP considers your existing Irish political system and liberal ideology as a threat and one which it is actively working to undermine.

You have quite literally also just described the US.

"China and Communism are a threat which we should seek to undermine". It works both ways.

This.

Xi Jingping considers the promotion of liberal values, human rights, and democracy at their core to be "arrogance, prejudice and hatred". This goes beyond one power vs another, every democracy is under threat.

[1]: https://www.politico.eu/article/xi-jinping-turned-me-into-a-...

> the fact that the CCP considers your existing Irish political system and liberal ideology as a threat and one which it is actively working to undermine

For the last decades, the US has been actively trying to undermine -- mostly covertly, sometimes more openly -- leftist parties and organizations in Latin America (more often than not completely unrelated to China), so...

Similar boat, but I see a pretty big difference. Every time I have to fill out a FATCA form, I'm reminded of how much power the US government can wields over me - a non US citizen/resident.

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