China Can't Win
25 comments
·October 20, 2025est
bee_rider
If anything, we should send them more Office licenses to slow them down. If they start putting things in wikis we’ll never catch up.
ckemere
I’m confused about who will make our stuff if we decouple from China. As far as I can tell (trying to order advanced parts in smallish quantities), anyone other than China is a ~10x price difference? I have to assume labor cannot fully explain this, but I have yet to see anyone seriously trying to onshore cheap manufacturing?
Gathering6678
Where this current administration is leading, the US does not need an enemy to "lose".
Sytten
That guy is taking a couple of data points and running with them. The US could not AT ALL freeze 2.5T of Chinese assets without major consequences. They froze 300B of russian assets and all other central banks are running away from the dollar. The share of reserve currency in USD is now at its lowest in many decades at 40% and gold is soaring.
itake
I don't mind people using AI to assist with writing, but when I see the markers of ai assistance, I wonder if the author actually reviewed what the AI wrote(hallucinated?) before publishing the article.
Also the ChatGPT writing style in this piece is really annoying to read.
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> Author’s Note: What follows is entirely my own opinion
is it? ChatGPT wrote most of it...
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> they import 30% of soybeans from us
I thought they stopped importing soybeans from the USA?
> Some legacy manufacturing
Where does the author think iPhones, automotive parts, computer / IT equipment, medical devices, machinery tools, are made?
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If the author is here, can they talk about Trump's TACO strategy? Its one thing to say Trump is just doing a chaos monkey, but if he always pulls back on his promises, then Trump is being consistent, not unreliable.
bee_rider
It is hard to say what percentage is ChatGPT. Maybe he has some weird prompt?
But usually ChatGPT is stylistically quite good, just missing deeper meaning, right? With this text it was stylistically quite poor (it spends more time reveling in how “everybody’s missing” something, than telling us what that thing is!), and I have no idea if it has deeper meaning because the style was too grating.
tock
What did China even do to be seen as this super evil enemy? Apart from actually challenging American economic superiority?
soramimo
Well if you care about democracy, they are the only power that can arguably undermine it, not just at home, but worldwide (tiktok, fueling division, funding antidemocratic parties like Germany's AfD).
Further, look into their support of Russia in their war of conquest against Ukraine, the treatment of their neighbors like the Philippines and look into what their fishing fleet is up to worldwide.
tock
> if you care about democracy
I do
> they are the only power that can arguably undermine it
Stares at current administration
> tiktok
Meta. Myanmar. Report: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/09/myanmar-faceb...
> fueling division
Again stares at current administration
> funding antidemocratic parties like Germany's AfD
Elon. Vance. Report: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/us/politics/vance-far-rig...
> support of Russia in their war of conquest against Ukraine
Agree. Looks over at Palestine.
> the treatment of their neighbors like the Philippines
Venezuela. Today.
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hker
Sending planes close to Taiwan, threatening invasion everyday, like what Russia did before invading Ukraine?
Was Russia merely challenging American superiority?
tock
What Russia is doing is horrific. I am not saying China is a kingdom of goodness. Rather I am saying the US does the same. We have invaded plenty and is supporting an invasion in the middle east right now. The problem we have with China isn't moral. We have plenty of allies who are morally bad. But they aren't challenging us economically unlike China.
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_DeadFred_
I like the Chinese people, Chinese history, and loved visiting. My dad was a hippie with lots of books in the house in support of China's communist revolution.
That said I think the big one is that China did not keep their word to the UK regarding Hong Kong. So that moves them to 'suspect' as far as trust goes with Western nations.
I think their secret police stations imbedded/hidden in western nations and their supposed use for secret forced repatriation of people really soured a lot of people/nations on trusting China's behavior.
They are doing a lot of saber rattling regarding Taiwan. Lots of flights as well as naval movements that have raised concerns.
People really don't like what they believe has been happening in Xinjiang.
tock
This is all true. From a western perspective this is bad. From an non-western perspective this is just what the west has been doing forever. That's my sentiment about the whole thing. The US is just mad that China is challenging them in their own game especially economically. And I am not saying thats bad either. Every country wants to maintain superiority.
pazimzadeh
The big assumption is that the US can be fully independent from China's rare earth metals in 3 years. Is there any evidence this is possible? A quick search/promt suggests no way, 10-15 years needed for full chain autonomy.
Overall, terribly written useless AI slop.
whatever1
China is not a free market. Capitalism is a new thing for them, their regime will not hesitate to go back to the old ways even if they have to starve the entire population to death to ensure that the regime survives.
yanhangyhy
China people can buy Huawei and Apple phones, but the U.S. cannot buy Huawei phones. China people can buy BYD, Telsa and various other countries’ cars, but North America cannot buy BYD(and any other chinese brands).
whatever1
Not even the Party claims that China is capitalistic. I don't see the point you are trying to make.
You cannot succeed or do any sort of business in China unless you have the blessings of the Party.
Whether your are an unimportant shop owner or Jack Fucking Ma.
When the time comes to close completely the borders, the Party will not look at the stock market or the house prices. They will do what they think is the best, for itself.
These are not new things, they happened in the previous generation in Eastern Europe.
coumbaya
I'm so tired of reading ChatGPT output. It really distract from the topic.
alganet
I don't think China wants to fight.
What would Trump be without an enemy? I think that's the question we need to answer here. Can he thrive in a world in peace? I have difficulty imagining what he would do.
I would go even further: most countries in the world right now don't need an enemy. There is just a few of them that are defined by persistent war.
hujun
really unfortunately, these few have capability and will to drag everybody else into war
_DeadFred_
China has been saber rattling/preparing for war with Taiwan prior to Trump's current US policy direction.
China also switched to wolf warrior diplomacy for close to a decade now.
throwaway295729
Why do some countries always seem to need an enemy?
> No equivalent to Windows/Office for enterprise (yet)
Chinese govn't has been using Linux based OS exclusively with WPS Office[1] (co-founded by Xiaomi's Leijun in the 90s)
Private sector use Win+Office though. But tech companies all choose Web based office like Feishu. docx/xlsx/pptx were just for compatibility only and interop with customers. Windows was like a Browser launcher anyway.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPS_Office