China competing with the Americans in every field of interests

 For 30 years the West keep deluding themselves that they are the top dogs in every sector. They can just concentrate on using its military power and US$ hegemony to continue to control the world forever and they can ignore and brush China aside as backward, destined to mire in poverty and are good only to be cooks and laundrymen.

The rude awakening facing the Trump administration when they suddenly started realizing that the USA and the West are now fighting China in every sector. China is what they now call a 'peer competitor', not a competitor in just one or two sectors e.g. electronics or cars.

China now competes with the USA and the West in military capabilities, space exploration, AI, EVs, clean energy generation, telecommunication equipment, consumer electronics, mobile phones, chips manufacturing, shipbuilding, and aviation. Aviation is the only sector that China has not dominated yet, but China is trying to climb that ladder as well.

China just sent up three astronauts to their Tiangong Space Station and welcomed back three others who had completed their six months stay working at the TSS. Such a task seems so easy and it like a walk in the park.

China is well on its way to be self-sufficient in chip manufacturing by 2027, if I am not mistaken. It is even exporting chips, five billion pieces and even making its own lithography machines and selling them cheap to the rest of the world. Why is that important? Most smaller countries, not competing at the top end, do not need the really high-end chips and matured chips are sufficient for their industrial demands. China's lithography machines should find a ready market for small countries in the global south. They could hardly afford ASML lithography machines that costs US$200 million each. China already warned ASML not to play the sanctions game too aggressively, as one day China will be selling lithography machines like washing machines bought off the shelf, LOL.

I still remember the days when good quality photocopying machines from Xerox were as big as a small car and cost even more than a car then. Cars were really inexpensive, with a Mercedes just costing around S$15,000 around 1973. Today, we can get a printer cum copying machine for about S$250. The irony is that cars are now terribly expensive, in Red Dot of course.

Anonymous

PS. China is miles ahead of the Americans in space technology. The fake American moon landing has been exposed as a cheap American lie to con the Russians and the world. The Americans have NEVER been to the moon. They can't even get to the ISS without help from the Russians.

Dynamics of US China rivalry and the alienating of Muslim states

 China is looking at a rail project or pipeline across Pakistan and Afghanistan right into Western China, without having to rely solely on the sea route via the Straits of Malacca chokepoint, for its energy imports from the Middle East.

China is simultaneously developing the Gwadar Port in Southern Pakistan that is instrumental to its strategy to bypass the points of blockade by the USA in the event of confrontation. China is also developing the Chancay Port in northern Peru to bypass the Panama Canal, for its trade in commodities with South American countries, particularly Brazil.

China's oil and gas imports from Russia is already largely via pipelines and cannot be blockaded. This flow of energy to China is a growing concern for the USA, hence the recent warning and threat by Yellen and Blinken during their visit to China.

What the USA had been planning and plotting for decades to blockade China is now all falling apart, which is why the USA is using threats to stall the Isthmus of Kra project, the Nicaragua Canal project and the Iran/Pakistan pipeline project among others.

The sabotaging of the Nord Steam pipelines was another of their vile mission. That succeeded because of the co-operation of all the Anglo-Saxon co-conspirators from Europe, including the UK. The Europeans found out too late that they were cutting off their noses to spite their faces. But they seem to care more about the USA's interest than their own. Stupidity has no cure has been laid bare for all to see.

How the USA pushed Russia towards China was a real blessing in disguise for China. How also a Muslim country like Pakistan could not be used by the USA was also a blessing in disguise for China to capitalise on. This development should also be thankful to India that Hindus in India and Muslims in Pakistan could not see eye to eye and are not on friendly terms, and the USA cannot be seen to be straddling two boats at the same time.

Some things have to give way and Muslim Pakistan is closing ranks with Muslim Iran and old ally China. The USA had tried its regime changing moves in Pakistan by bribery in Pakistan's Parliament and the military recently, leading to the ouster of former leader Imran Khan. The USA is still fermenting turmoil in Pakistan but cannot change the geopolitical landscape. Pakistan's close relations with Iran are a good indication of which side the dominoes are falling. 

Anonymous

Americans benefitting from India's 'slave wage'

 The West never talk about the widespread child labor in India. Neither will they talk about 'slave wages' being paid to Apple and Foxconn workers among others in India.

When India does become the next China, if it could, the USA and the West can continue with their 'freeloading' from India instead of China, which is ending with de-coupling. De-risking is just another sleight of hand and is the same as de-coupling.

Therefore, India is important to the USA and the West and cannot be condemned for paying 'slave wages' for the moment. The USA and the West are betting big on their dependence on India going forward, with USA investments rising in India, like the Chips sector. They never want to talk about India's lack of skilled engineers to provide the factories with manpower nor the supply chains absent in India and needed to be set up. They are putting the cart before the horses instead.

Elon Musk saw the picture more clearly - the skills, the supply chains, the market are all not in India. That is why his main focus is still on investing more in China. And not only Musk, but leaders of industry from Germany, France and even USA are still positive on China, despite all the hubris about a collapsing China hype up by all the anti-China juvenile delinquents paid to do so by the US$ and the West.

China is not going to collapse anytime soon, with more than 5,000 years of existence behind it. It is not going to happen just because someone thinks so, or some country wants it to. They lapped up Gordon Chang's 'The Coming Collapse of China' like Hector Biden's drug addiction. Twenty years later, China is still standing tall, with Gordon Chang's prediction being postponed on a yearly basis. Who is to believe in a blotched prediction that works on a yearly renewal basis, like a subscription that must be renewed annually? Laughable indeed!

How will Modi take it, knowing he had been given the cold shoulder by Musk? Musk was supposed to meet the No. 1 of India, but he instead went to meet the No. 2 of China. What a letdown for India!

Anonymous

American Police brutality against students and professors in Emory University, USA

 

Two short clips showing police violence against student protestors in Emory University. The brutish thugs in uniforms, supposedly the pride of America, the protector of American citizens, behaved like gangsters and savages, attacking women and girls, students and professors, like they were hardcore criminals. They even fired rubber bullets at the students.

This is American police violence on display to the world. They were real cowards, only acting tough against unarmed women and girls. What a show of bravery of the savage brutes. They are more feared than the thugs on the streets of America. The students and professors need to be protected from these violent thugs in uniforms.

America must be very proud of them. They are definitely better than the Hong Kong police. Everyone is very proud of the men in blue, the gangsters in uniform of the USA.

Pelosi must be grinning widely watching these beautiful sights to behold.

Student protests started in Columbia University, are spreading across the USA and also in universities in other parts of the world. It is not only a nation wide protest in the USA. It is a universal movement against the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza by the Americans and Israelis.

Health subsidies scheme like no subsidies at all

 As a senior, I used to be very thankful for the health subsidies given by the govt, particularly in dental care. I could go for a filling and walked out not paying a cent as the cost was mostly absorbed by the subsidies for seniors. I only visited NTUC Dental Care.

My last couple of visits were quite shocking. For a small filling, and did not ask for scaling but this was done, I had to pay out of pocket in cash, more than $200 despite the subsidies for seniors. On another visit, I specifically said no scaling, thinking that I could bring down the amount of cash that I had to pay. I still had to pay about $200. The additional increase was for counting the teeth and blank in my mouth. This was once a one time procedure when one first seen by a dental surgeon, called consultation fee. Now it seems that this is a regular procedure, think, once every 6 month or something like that, because after 6 months, the dental surgeon can claim subsidies from counting teeth and blanks in your mouth. And for this action, the amount charged is about $60 or $70. Daylight robbery?

After my last visit, I received an SMS message for feedback. One of the question asked, would I recommend people to visit the clinic. My answer is NO. Though the quality of service was expected from a professional dental surgeon, the cost is just too high. Mind you, this is after subsidies for Pioneers.

Would the govt step in to really reduce the cost of medical and dental care. $200 or more for a visit to a dental clinic for a simple filling and other minor services that may not be needed, is just too high for seniors and retirees, especially after substantial subsidies from the govt. Can you imagine how much was the total bill without subsidies for such simple procedures?

This is a red flag incident and must be investigated and stopped immediately before more seniors and pioneers are made to pay so much for so little, despite the govt's intent to bring down the cost for the poor seniors with substantial subsidies. Something is not right.

This can be something for the new PM to look at.

PS, Cleaning up this dental subsidy scheme to help the seniors from being robbed is a job cut out for Lawrence Wong.