{"id":2147213,"date":"2024-01-12T04:07:02","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T09:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/is-china-weak-or-just-pretending\/"},"modified":"2024-01-12T04:16:52","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T09:16:52","slug":"is-china-weak-or-just-pretending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/is-china-weak-or-just-pretending\/","title":{"rendered":"Is China truly weak or merely pretending"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fis-china-weak-or-just-pretending%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2147213&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Unraveling the Mysteries \u200dof China&#8217;s \u200cHigh-Profile Purges<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Several high-profile purges are said to have happened in China over the past few months. What do they mean?\u200d Do the\u2063 mysterious \u2064removals of \u200dcabinet ministers and\u200c generals signal weakness? Paranoia? Or something else?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Because China is a tightly controlled \u200dtotalitarian nation, getting good information on\u200c it \u2064is difficult. China even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2023-08-16\/china-is-hiding-more-and-more-data-from-the-rest-of-the-world?embedded-checkout=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ceased issuing certain reports about its economic \u200cperformance<\/a> last \u200bAugust while criminalizing \u2063the gathering of basic corporate performance data necessary \u2064to <a href=\"https:\/\/fcpablog.com\/2023\/08\/22\/has-china-outlawed-due-diligence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/someone-got-me-shark-tank-star-mark-cuban-loses-small-fortune-after-heist-clears-out-his-account\/\" title=\"Shark Tank's Mark Cuban Loses Big in Account Heist\">make sound investment decisions<\/a><\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-510429608\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2d1a664fa62c140a60e09eb63f7c6dec fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2d1a664fa62c140a60e09eb63f7c6dec\"><\/div>\n<p>In this context, everything coming out \u200dof\u200b China \u2064should be viewed with extreme\u2063 skepticism:\u2063 <em>Is \u2064this true,\u200c or is this \u200dsomething China wants us to \u2063think is true?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In World War II, Winston Churchill counseled, \u201cIn wartime, truth is so \u2063precious \u200bthat she\u2062 should always be attended by a bodyguard of \u2063lies.\u201d \u200cFor the Chinese Communist Party, rulers of the People\u2019s\u2064 Republic of China, it\u2019s always wartime, and\u2062 the truth must be hidden.<\/p>\n<p>Deng Xiaoping, a\u200d hardened \u2062revolutionary under Mao, ran \u200cChina for most of the\u200b \u201980s. His strategy versus America was to \u201cHide your\u200d strength, bide your\u200c time.\u201d It paid off \u2062when, in the wake of the\u200d Tiananmen \u200dSquare massacre in \u20641989 and\u2062 the \u2062fall of the Soviet \u2064Union two years later, the U.S.\u200d neglected to revise its Cold \u2064War marriage of convenience \u2062with China \u200cand instead granted China permanent most favored \u2064nation trading status in 2001, along with its accession to\u200c the\u2064 World Trade Organization.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Lack of Good Information<\/h2>\n<p>China is\u200c largely an\u2062 enigma, a \u2064black box \u2063by\u2063 design. It\u2019s simultaneously weak and strong: enormous government\u2064 debt, a sluggish economy, huge\u200b youth\u2064 unemployment \u2064\u2014 but with a ship-building capacity some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanmanufacturing.org\/blog\/chinas-shipbuilding-capacity-is-232-times-greater-than-that-of-the-united-states\/#:~:text=Specifically%2C%20Chinese%20shipyards%20have%20a,have%20between%20305%20and%20317.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">232 <em>times<\/em><\/a>  \u200dthat of the U.S.\u2063 supporting a massive expansion of the navy, a\u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/china-military-nuclear-missiles-pentagon-taiwan-ukraine-3040f2dd6d02c63924e94e5a873cfb1b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rapid nuclear weapons buildup<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-china-overreacted-on-taiwan-biden-to-meet-xi-face-to-face\/\" title=\"White House: China \u2018Overreacted\u2019 on Taiwan, Biden to Meet Xi Face-to-Face\">increasingly bellicose rhetoric<\/a> and actions against Taiwan and \u200bin the South\u2062 China Sea, mainly focused on \u2062the \u2064Philippines.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-eb47e3b673703a11031485726f2df966 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-eb47e3b673703a11031485726f2df966\"><\/div>\n<p>It\u2062 is said that paramount leader Xi Jinping has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/12\/29\/china\/china-names-new-defense-minister-dong-jun-li-shangfu-intl-hnk\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">purged \u200dhis defense minister months after his disappearance \u2063from the public eye<\/a>, allegedly\u200d for corruption. This is in addition to the purging of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rfa.org\/english\/news\/china\/military-corruption-01082024124408.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">multiple senior military commanders<\/a>. Just after \u200bthe New Year,\u200d this news was linked to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rfa.org\/english\/news\/china\/military-corruption-01082024124408.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a> from a midlevel\u2063 Chinese military defector that military personnel \u2063routinely steal rocket and jet fuel for use\u200c in heating food. Further, it was \u200cleaked \u2063that U.S. intelligence agencies believe many <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/world\/china\/china-missiles-filled-with-water-not-fuel-us-intelligence\/articleshow\/106627241.cms?from=mdr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chinese rockets \u2063have had their fuel replaced with \u2063water<\/a> and that their silo hatches don\u2019t work \u2014 again, all due to \u2063corruption.<\/p>\n<p>But absent the ultimate test\u2064 of \u2063war, we don\u2019t really know \u2062if that was ever the case, or is now the\u200d case, or how widespread the problem \u200bis.<\/p>\n<p>The purged officials might have been removed over legitimate charges of \u2062corruption. We don\u2019t\u200c know for sure. If not, some might have been cashiered over differences in defense policy.<\/p>\n<p>But perhaps some of these high-ranking men might not\u2062 have been removed at all. Consider the case of Gen. George S. Patton. Supposedly\u2062 \u201cpurged\u201d from command for 11 months after it was \u2062revealed\u2063 he slapped two soldiers for cowardice (they were likely suffering from PTSD), Patton was put \u200cin charge of\u2063 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.americainwwii.com\/articles\/pattons-ghost-army\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the First United\u2064 States Army Group (FUSAG)<\/a>, an entirely fictional command. FUSAG was \u2064composed of inflatable tanks \u2062and dummy headquarters pumping out voluminous \u2063amounts of radio traffic.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-bc347c0af17bed2102c0a4b8ec35d668 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-bc347c0af17bed2102c0a4b8ec35d668\"><\/div>\n<p>Of course, it helped \u2064that Patton \u2064had a\u200b flair\u2064 for putting on a public display. This \u2062showed the Germans what they \u2064wanted to see: that the Allies\u2019 best general was at the head of a \u200dbig \u200carmy at the narrowest spot in the\u200b English Channel, across from Calais in\u200d occupied France. It helped that German military culture could not conceive of an aggressive, successful \u2062general ever being punished for slapping a soldier. Patton was forced\u200b to \u200bmaintain the charade \u200buntil\u2063 he was unleashed\u2064 once\u200c again against the Germans on Aug. 1, 1944, at the head of the very \u2064real Third Army.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">China\u2019s Cooperation on Climate<\/h2>\n<p>The realm of China\u2019s supposed cooperation on reducing \u200bgreenhouse gas emissions offers another example. \u200cBiden\u2019s climate czar, former Secretary of State, presidential\u2064 candidate, and U.S. \u2064Sen. John Kerry, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/02\/as-america-self-destructs-with-green-energy-china-preps-for-war-with-coal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cites \u2064China\u2019s willingness to work with America on climate change as a major \u2063area of agreement<\/a> with the one-party dictatorship. \u2062Yes, \u2062China is building solar and wind power and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fastmarkets.com\/insights\/china-ev-sales-exceed-one-million-units-brm-prices-under-pressure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">producing millions of electric vehicles for\u2062 its domestic\u2064 market as well as export<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But China is also massively expanding its use of coal, with construction underway and plans to build the equivalent of America\u2019s entire coal fleet. \u200cIts coal fleet is already about 5 times larger than the U.S. \u2064coal fleet.<\/p>\n<p>Recall that China also snapped up a significant chunk of America\u2019s \u200cStrategic Petroleum Reserve \u2062when\u2063 Biden was\u200d selling it off in 2021 and 2022, all\u200b while China was also \u2064importing large amounts of \u200bsanctioned Russian and Iranian oil.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, while China seeks to convince useful idiots like\u200c Kerry of its\u200b green intent, another way of\u200b looking at China\u2019s actions yields a more sinister picture: preparing for war by making the \u2062nation largely immune \u200dto a cutoff in oil imports through the Strait of Malacca in the event of war with the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>China has done\u200c this by stockpiling oil and by electrifying a large portion of its transportation infrastructure with what are, in effect, coal-powered vehicles. This reserves oil for more valuable uses: fueling \u200bcombat jets, naval vessels, and armored vehicles.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Numbing the Enemy\u2019s Senses<\/h2>\n<p>Lastly, even China\u2019s relentless \u200druns at Taiwan\u2019s airspace, \u2062with \u2064frequent flights of dozens\u2064 of fighters, bombers, and drones, as well \u200das increasing naval \u2062exercises, are dismissed by many as\u2063 merely clumsy efforts to intimidate Taiwan\u2064 and influence its domestic \u200bpolitics.\u200c But these exercises serve another\u2063 purpose. They deaden \u2064Taiwan\u2019s senses \u200dto what could be the opening stage of an actual attack. Egypt successfully\u2064 used this same \u2063tactic in the run-up to the 1973 Yom Kippur War with Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, China\u2019s widespread and successful effort to \u201ccapture\u201d American elites \u200cin politics, academia, business, and the foreign service has served to deaden the senses \u2064of \u200dtoo many of those we rely on to defend the \u2064nation.<\/p>\n<p>China might \u2062be weak \u2014 or it might wish us to <em>think<\/em> so.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-515d3f65dc25011cb801bc5294068d77 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-515d3f65dc25011cb801bc5294068d77\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<\/div>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> How does China&#8217;s commitment to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/daniel-horowitz-war-on-energy-is-the-new-covid-fascism\/\" title=\"Daniel Horowitz: War on Energy Is the New COVID Fascism\">coal-fired power capacity<\/a> \u200bby 2025 align with its\u2064 efforts to\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-canadian-prime-minister-skate-through-meeting-without-mentioning-axing-of-keystone-xl-pipeline\/\" title=\"Biden, Canadian prime minister skate through meeting without mentioning axing of Keystone XL pipeline\">tackle climate change<\/a>?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  \u2062 Lectric power \u2063capacity\u2062 from coal by 2025. This\u200d fact \u200cis often dismissed or ignored, with the \u200bfocus instead on China&#8217;s renewable energy\u2062 efforts. \u200cIs China truly committed to tackling climate\u200d change, \u2062or is it \u2064using the \u200bissue\u200c as a smokescreen to build\u200b up\u200d its\u200c own power and influence?<\/p>\n<p>The truth \u200cis, it&#8217;s\u2064 hard to \u200dsay. China&#8217;s opaque political system and state-controlled media make it difficult \u200cto \u2062discern\u2062 the real\u200c motivations behind its\u2064 actions. The high-profile purges that have occurred recently only add \u200dto the mystery. Are they a sign of weakness or paranoia within the Chinese Communist Party? Or \u2064is there a different explanation altogether?<\/p>\n<p>One thing \u2062is clear: China wants to maintain a tight grip\u2064 on information and control the narrative both domestically and internationally.\u2063 It has been increasingly cracking down \u200don dissent, tightening restrictions on the media,\u200d and censoring online content.\u2064 This raises questions about the reliability of the information we receive from China and the true state of affairs within the country.<\/p>\n<p>As outsiders looking in, we\u2063 must approach news\u200c and \u2062information coming\u200d out\u2063 of China with caution and skepticism. The lack \u2063of transparency and the \u200bstate&#8217;s\u2064 control over \u2062the\u2064 dissemination of information make\u200d it difficult to separate fact from fiction. We must consider \u200dthe possibility \u200dthat what we see and hear is what China wants us to see and hear, rather \u2063than the\u2064 unvarnished truth.<\/p>\n<p>The recent purges in China may \u200cor may not have significance beyond what is being \u200dpresented to \u2064the public.\u2064 They could\u200b be a result \u200bof legitimate charges of\u2063 corruption or differences in\u2064 policy. \u200bThey could\u200c also \u200cbe part of a larger strategy by\u200c the Chinese Communist Party to consolidate its \u200cpower and maintain control over the country.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever the case may be, \u200bone thing is clear: China remains \u2062an enigma. Its economic and military prowess are undeniable, but so are its debt, economic \u200cchallenges, and internal struggles. Understanding the true nature\u2062 of China&#8217;s high-profile purges and its \u2062intentions remains a difficult task, given the limited \u200caccess \u2064to\u200c reliable information.<\/p>\n<p>In an era\u200d where disinformation and propaganda are\u2062 increasingly prevalent, it is \u2062more important than ever to maintain a critical eye and\u200b seek \u200bmultiple sources of \u200cinformation. \u200cUnraveling the mysteries of China&#8217;s\u2062 high-profile purges requires diligent\u200c research, analysis, and an understanding of\u200c the complexities of China&#8217;s political system and its aspirations for global \u200cpower.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, only time will tell what the true motives and implications \u200bof these \u2064purges are. Until then, we must remain \u200bvigilant and\u2064 cautious in our assessment of China&#8217;s \u2064actions\u2062 and their impact on the international stage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>China has witnessed numerous high-profile purges recently, leaving us to ponder their implications. Are these enigmatic dismissals of cabinet ministers and generals indicative of vulnerability, paranoia, or an alternative motive? Obtaining accurate information on China, a tightly controlled totalitarian state, remains challenging. In fact, China has even halted the release of specific reports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":563,"featured_media":2147214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2147213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/563"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2147213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2147214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2147213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2147213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2147213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}