• Schlemmy
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    10 months ago

    It’s an invasion. And that is the war they’re waging. Flooding the EU market with cheap products. Wish, AliExpress, Temu…

    Now they’re dropping these data collecting hubs and get even more eyes on the ground.

    • ComradeChairmanKGB@lemmygrad.ml
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      10 months ago

      Europe: literally invades the entire planet

      Crackers: that’s not an invasion, they were just spreading civilization

      China: sells some cars

      Crackers: it’s an invasion

      • Schlemmy
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        10 months ago

        True. We invaded, colonized, suppressed. That doesn’t make this a lesser invasion. It’s hard to have an open market and protect the local producers at the meantime.

        • Trudge [Comrade]@lemmygrad.ml
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          10 months ago

          That doesn’t make this a lesser invasion

          Are you sure about that? Selling cheap EVs does seem to be a lesser invasion than raping and pillaging European style, if it can even be called an invasion in the first place.

          • Schlemmy
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            10 months ago

            I meant it semantically, not literally. Of course. English is my third language.

        • Shinji_Ikari [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          10 months ago

          The western sphere has been running a racket against the global south for the last century, ensuring none of their resources can be owned by the citizens of the land, and forcing them to buy back the assembled goods, now you’re complaining that your precious less-than-free market is being undermined with similar tactics?

          • Schlemmy
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            10 months ago

            I agree and I’m not complaining.

        • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          10 months ago

          Your problem is with capitalism. You are against the profit motive that forces companies to expand into new markets or die. For some reason you are choosing to frame this in a way that equates market expansion with an actual military invasion.

          • Schlemmy
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            10 months ago

            The problem that I see is the EU governments not reacting accordingly.

            Chinese companies that are of a certain size have to allow govt representatives in the boards. The clear strategy is to take over and the way it’s organized has similarities with military strategy. They send out spies (and I’m not saying EU or US isn’t doing the same), they have illegal police stations in the EU to make sure people don’t defect (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2022-003838_EN.html).

            The objective is to weaken or destroy local production and gather as much Intel as possible. This is not about a company like BYD entering the market to claim their spot. This is about the government deploying a wider strategy. If you don’t like the word invasion than I’m sorry. I can’t find a better way to phrase it.

            And to make things clear I’m not judging anyone. It’s just something that I’m noticing.

            • idkmybffjoeysteel [he/him]@hexbear.net
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              10 months ago

              You understand the reason for this is to ensure that Chinese companies are held accountable to the people? Just like in Germany, where companies have board members from the bank that is financing them, to ensure that companies are held accountable to financiers

              • Schlemmy
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                10 months ago

                It goes deeper than accountability. If it would be confined to board memebers then the analogy would stick but there is also a mandatory représentation in management.

                Although the specific amendments vary by company, in many SOEs—and even some private companies—these “party building” provisions include giving the company’s internal Party organization a voice in management decisions and ensuring that key personnel of the Party organization also serve in management or board positions. Already required for SOEs, the CCP has recently begun to extend this system to private enterprises.

                In some companies it goes really deep.

                For example, in April 2018 a website run by the CCP Organization Department released an article about the Chinese internet giant Tencent, heralding the significant overlap between the company’s Party organization and its management. According to the article, Tencent’s information security management team, which also handles “public opinion guidance,” is led by a deputy secretary of the firm’s internal Party organization, and 80 percent of the team are Party members.The article also states that eleven members of the Tencent Party organization are company executives or heads of major business departments. This overlap between the Party organization and firm management suggests a deeper and more surreptitious influence on company operations than is commonly assumed, particularly as Xi Jinping has made clear that all Party members should “keep in mind that their first identity is as a Party member, and their first duty is to work for the Party.”

                I’m aware that this should be no surprise and all in line with China’s governmental structure but I’m not sure that European lawmakers are aware of this. China’s gonna China and they have the right to do so.

                https://www.csis.org/analysis/new-challenge-communist-corporate-governance

                  • Schlemmy
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                    10 months ago

                    I generally distrust state actors. Especially when they take up seats in companies. There are certain things you should never leave to private companies like water, electricity or public transport but there is no freedom when you install permanent supervision in every corner of society.

                    But I speak from a democracy. There’s no comparison when you speak from a single party government.

                    That’s it, I suppose. I would never trust the government. Not in the long run. Elected politicians have a program but, and I know that from actively writing legislation, after a few years it is hard to find a politician that is still on the same course as when elected.

        • Wheaties [she/her]@hexbear.net
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          10 months ago

          i’m all for using tariffs to expand your local productive capacity, but describing market forces as “invasion” is just silly. You want invasion? France is still running an old-school colonial empire – for fuck’s sake, they’re charging reparations for “”““freeing””“” the countries they violently took over in the first place!

          • Schlemmy
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            10 months ago

            Yes colonialism bad… But that’s not what we’re discussing here.

            If your government is deliberately funding industry so that they’re able to flood markets at stupid low prices, even at a loss and with the sole goal to destroy competition and take over than that can be seen as an invasion. I’m not saying any other country is doing better or worse. Yes, France is still doing bad stuff, so is the UK.

              • Schlemmy
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                10 months ago

                I never said that. As a country they are taking giant leaps and bringing prosperity to their civilians.

                But they are doing the same as, for example Uber. This company has never made any profit and is purposefully pushing competitors out of the market while they keep pouring funds into the bottomless pit. Same for Ryanair.

                Disruptors enter the market with war funds. They deliberately lose money with the promise that when the dust clears they will be the last man standing.

        • Tankiedesantski [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          10 months ago

          True. We invaded, colonized, suppressed. That doesn’t make this a lesser invasion.

          Well shit, if what we’re already doing is no lesser an invasion than what Europe did, we might as well burn down Versailles while we’re at it. Why not? It’s exactly the same level of evil to selling cheap solar panels.

    • Tankiedesantski [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      10 months ago

      It’s an invasion. And that is the war they’re waging.

      Fuck off Europe. You show up in China, wage war on our people, burn our monuments, loot our treasures, steal our land, and sell drugs at gunpoint but we sell solar panels to you and that’s an invasion?

      We’re even when the PLA is in Brussels setting fire to the EU Parliament and in France taking paintings from the Lovure, not a second earlier.

      This kind of language is like a convicted serial murderer constantly saying “boy, that was murder on my wallet” or “man I sat down and murdered that cake”.

      Fuck. Off.

      • space_comrade [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        10 months ago

        We’re even when the PLA is in Brussels setting fire to the EU Parliament and in France taking paintings from the Lovure, not a second earlier.

        sicko-wistful

      • Schlemmy
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        10 months ago

        Have you ever heard me saying EU countries are saints? They’re a global trade war at hand. That’s the fact. China is deploying a strategy that is very effective because western countries have no response to it.

        • Tankiedesantski [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          10 months ago

          Fuck off with your both sides bullshit. Even if every single allegation levied at China was true (they are not), unfair trade practices are not equivalent to the repeated invasions that Europe inflicted on China.

          This is Bill Cosby going “I never said I’m a saint, but those court settlements really r*ped my bank accounts.”

          Europe deserves everything it’s getting and much, much worse.

          • Schlemmy
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            10 months ago

            It’s nice having a mature conversation with you.

            It is an invasion. There is intent on destroying economical structures. Is it malicious? We’ll see. China is playing by the rules set by the EU. The fact that companies in the EU have to play by different rules concerning minimal wage, social security, etc… is up to the EU, not China. If you don’t have a level playing field you get run over, that’s not China’s fault. They’re just using the system.

            And yes, there’s an historical deficit. Same for climate adaptation. We’ve had our industrial revolution 200 years ago. We’ve polluted the sky to such extent that black snow fell in the UK. How can we be mad at African countries for wanting progress and be demanding degrowth?

            I get what you’re saying but I see a system crashing and I’m not really sure that I want to see people get hurt. I see a local bus factory shutting down because our local government has bought hundreds of Chinese busses because they sell for about 30% under local market value. In short term this is great. Electric transport, less pollution en less money spent. On the other hand, within a year about 300 people will be fired. 300 families will be struggling. I live in a small country. There is no solution to this so they’ll be on welfare. In the long run this is damaging our system.

            • idkmybffjoeysteel [he/him]@hexbear.net
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              10 months ago

              Dude if you think China is destroying Europe and not four to five decades of neoliberal economics, you need to take a break from “the news” and read a fucking book. I would suggest you begin with Michael Parenti’s “Inventing Reality” for a real wake up call. Your opinions are not your own.

              • Schlemmy
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                10 months ago

                I’m no fan of neoliberalism. I see the everyday results of a society that raises welfare without being attentive to wellbeing.

                I don’t watch the news and read plenty of books. I’ll take up your recommendation. Of course my opinions are not my own. I became who I became through the influences that made me but I’m willing to learn.

                And, to be clear, I don’t think China is destroying Europe. We’re pretty capable of doing so by ourselves.

                • idkmybffjoeysteel [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                  10 months ago

                  I wonder how you seemingly acknowledge some realities yet still say the things that you do. It feels like you are being pedantic, maybe? It is hard to put my finger on. It is just strange to buy in to the dialogue which is 100% being pushed by all mainstream media about a Chinese invasion, the danger presented by China, etc., and yet you have shown you know all these issues could be avoided simply by not having a shit government that values profit and capital accumulation over nurturing domestic industries.

                  It is really worrisome to people like me, because if you buy into the current narrative, that makes me think you would probably support the US military encirclment of China, and the arbitrary tariffs which are not designed to benefit anyone, only to punish China.

                  We are in a world today with the war in Ukraine and the destruction of the Nord stream pipeline, where there is a lot of evidence that the US hegemony is only interested in handicapping Europe and strangling its enemies in Russia, China, The Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, as it has done for a century already, and this is why you are getting such a hostile reaction here, because even if you don’t support the current regime, you really strongly sound like you do. It’s puzzling. You say something we think is stupid, we come back to you, and you say yeah yeah I know all that, I agree, you’re right, nevertheless. I am not sure what to make of you. Do give the book a read though, or try some lectures on YouTube, Parenti is very entertaining and easy to get into, and I get the vibe you would like him, even if you are not all the way there yet. His stuff is especially good as even though most of it is now 20 years or more out of date, he still exactly describes the current state of affairs.

                  • Schlemmy
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                    10 months ago

                    I’m sorry if I come over as pedantic. I’m an autist and sometimes have difficulties expressing my thoughts. I am sincere in my opinions and non judgmental. I want to understand.

                    As for these matters, I’ve learned a lot from discussing with an aquintance of mine who’s an expert on thes matters, Jonathan Holslag. https://www.jonathanholslag.be/

                    I strongly feel we are being played by the powers that be. I see the US as big of an evil as I see China when it comes to these matters. I am aware of the role the EU played in the past but in the meantime I am a child of my generation that saw the EU unfold as a beautiful ideology. From Benelux to what we are now, a giant bureaucratic system that has lost it’s way.

                    Again, I’m sorry if my responses confuse you. I’m better with spoken words.

    • SSJ2Marx@hexbear.net
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      10 months ago

      Flooding the EU market with cheap products

      It is fully within the power of the EU to invest in European manufacturing and weaken the Euro, making local goods cheaper and imported goods more expensive. They choose not to do this because to do so would even out the system of unequal exchange that the European economy is currently built on - but unlike Europe, China’s manufacturing economy is entirely built on the blood, sweat, and tears of Chinese workers, which is why they don’t have that problem.

        • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          10 months ago

          Are you simultaneously so seething and so cartoonishly racist that you both immediately see some scheming terror in a joint policing agreement, and immediately think to post it back here almost a week later? Unironically seek help for this

          • Schlemmy
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            10 months ago

            You mean a general distrust against surveillance states is racist? I distrust governments in general. How is that racism?

            I follow up on the attacks on my networks and if it’s not the Chinese state then at least some Chinese citizens are heavily targeting us. But no less than Middle Eastern or American states.

            If you read the reports on how Chinese underground police stations were operating on European soil a healthy distrust would be in place.

            There’s no conspiracy theory. Large nations are en masse collecting our data. Everyone’s data. Whether you’re a hairdresser or a politician. Cambridge analytica showed us how that knowledge can be weaponized. So yeah, it bothers me that the tin foil hat card is drawn when I point out genuine risks to our society.

              • Schlemmy
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                10 months ago

                Racism where? If anyone says something you don’t like, you pull the racism card?

                  • Schlemmy
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                    10 months ago

                    The Chinese government isn’t a race. I distrust all governments. I distrust all religions. Islam isn’t a race. I hate partisan politics.

                    You do you but keep it intellectually fair.

        • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          10 months ago

          Dawg your phone and car are all sending your personal data to the five eyes governments and a billion data collection firms to be sold to advertisers and insurance companies. I’m way more worried about my “democratic” western government, who dissappears and kills protestors, getting my data, and they already have it. Everything you’re saying is projection, except the parts where you’re correctly assessing the inherent contradictions between free markets and nation states, but then just choosing to blame the inevitable outcomes of those contradictions on the country that we paid to make all our shit for us.

          • Schlemmy
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            10 months ago

            And I don’t agree with that either. I’m not blaming anyone.

            • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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              10 months ago

              And I don’t agree with that either. I’m not blaming anyone.

              It’s an invasion. And that is the war they’re waging.

              God you’re spineless. Lie to yourself all you want, your lies to others are incompetent.

              • Schlemmy
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                10 months ago

                You ok? I’m here to discuss. I’m fine with you having a different opinion but where are the lies?

                I’m no China fanboy nor a EU fanboy. the world isn’t binary.

                I see a world at war. In some parts the war is explicit but there’s a trade war at hand as well. You can’t be blind to that.

                You’re free to block me but I’d rather discuss in an orderly manner.

                • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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                  10 months ago

                  You ok? I’m here to discuss.

                  Reddit Cares.

                  You’re free to block me but I’d rather discuss in an orderly manner.

                  Id rather you suck my taint in an orderly manner.

      • Schlemmy
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        10 months ago

        It’s leaving the door open and then being surprised someone is taking advantage of the situation. But yeah, it’s stupid and hard to trace back on your steps.