General world politics chat

US or China?

China are in the market for this right now, but both do it. Id say China. Didnt they also get a new base topside of Aus?

I know they tried in WA. But I think the Federal Government blocked it siting security. Not to sure about the topside, unless you are refering to Soloman Islands?

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Yes there, did it go ahead, do they have military presence yet?

WA? do you mean near western Aus? If so I don’t know about this and where could they?

People forget China by far have the worst combat record of all the major world States. I dont think its that easy to just steal tech copy it and build a clone army that can take over the world! But they are a different proposition now. I genuinely think the ambition is limited to Taiwan. Do you think Aus is under a real threat or is it simply strategic containment?

Japan have hammered them numerous times! :grin:

I am pretty sure that they voted in favour of the guy pushing for closer ties to China, but can’t remember. In terms of how quickly China could get a base built, I have no idea I remember some of the bases they built on those manmade islands were fairly quick.

The WA one was China trying to buy several airfields in WA near the mines and doing deals with the Victorian state Premier at the time to back huge infrastructure works. I can’t remember which one the F.G. stepped in to block, but they did block one deal sighting national security

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white-man implies something else.

I have no idea what’s she talking about. Sounds like rambling. Remember, she is someone very much like Netanyahu. However, there’s been some strange developments here in the last few days/weeks. One of her key henchman, the former chief of RAB and Police, has been arrested on corruption charges. Finally, Bangladesh has always been in the cross-hairs of regional and global powers due to our strategic location.

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Only read the article after I posted that. Seems to be implying US with that comment in my opinon

That’s my implication as well.

She did mention East Timor so it’s likely the US…or the Aussies! They might be looking for a new beach vacation destination after invading Bali

Here’s the thing…it isn’t. Bangladesh isn’t in a globally strategic location. It borders mostly India, and a country no one particularly cares about in Myanmar. All of the major shipping lanes are closer to neighbouring countries. The entire eastern shore of the Bay of Bengal is inconsequential. The only country it matters to directly is India. Were the US to wish to escalate conflict with India, building a base in Bangladesh is a fairly obtuse way to go about it. If the US is doing it to support India, it is not a particularly effective mode, Christian country carved out or otherwise. The only country that particularly cares to use Bangladesh is China, and even they would appear to have most of what Bangladesh can offer by way of Myanmar.

That is correct , If you look at Bangladesh and how close it is to Nepal at one end , that’s something where a China can come in. And India’s very wary of that.

As to why a Christian Country be carved out with the emphasis on Christians , The number of Christians are about half a million , less than 0.5% of the country’s population. I think the main interest (If the offer was indeed made) is to get a bit more of the Myanmar coastline to frustrate China. This is one of China’s shipping lanes if the South China sea is blockaded. And if the deal with Pakistan for Gwadar doesn’t work out. That’s the only thing which makes some semblance of sense , apart from the rohingya refugee crisis.

The threat of a dirty bomb is real

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There is a concern that the Chinese forces aren’t battle hardened enough. They rarely if ever have fought a war which they could claim to have won (the 1962 war with India being one noticable exception but that was more due to the then Indian govt’s naivety in dealing with China).

But that said , the technology upgrades which China have done right now (after stealing the initial techs) makes them a very real threat. Imagine having the factories making gps chips and other hardware related ones which can be repurposed into war factories in very little time. It’s frightening.

I don’t know how well the Chinese made tech would work but the sheer volume of the production would be enough to frighten a lot of countries.

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And India’s having to do their bit trying to contain China especially when China’s made their overtures in debt trapping Srilanka , Maldives to ensure that their shipping lanes stay safe firstly and also to try and offset India in their presence in QUAD.

Not to mention the fact that China have made Pakistan essentially a client state.

India really does have two very bad neighbours. Sheer bad luck.

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This is probably why there should be a secondary interest in Myanmar and their ongoing atrocities concerning Rakhine and Rohingya. Firstly to get them their right to self determination as opposed to their current living conditions now. And secondly there is a road route from Rangoon(Yangon) to China which enables China to potentially get in their goods faster. Faster than getting them across through the SC sea. Any deal with Myanmar has to have the economic/geopolitical matters to account for as well. Right now , the shipping lines there come under Indian territorial waters , seeing as Andaman and Nicobar Islands belong to India. But that can change if China builds a proper base in South Myanmar and stations its fleets there.

And this. They control quite a lot of towns in the Myanmar - China border as well.

One more long delayed initiative. To say that Myanmar doesn’t have strategic value is untrue.

I nearly went into this, you’re right. The automation and remote warfare may be scary, but Ive not examined any Chinese military gear to know if, like most things, they are also cheap imitations. The Chinese AK replica is dog shit Im told.

I just hope, and believe, when the Chinese hacked the US, they got some older blueprints.

Damn, moving to northern India was my escape plan. I see the encircling of India by China and in Ladakh. Thats because they want a land passage through Pakistan to the middle east.

You’ll probably know better than me, but is this right, China staged the coup on Myanmar? So were the charges on Aung San Suu Kyi fitted up?

Is India also isolated politically now, I sense they arent as amenable to the West as they once had to be, but is it fractured?

India has never been that „amenable“ to the West. Indira Ghandi flirted with the USSR for example. They have always attempted to keep friendly relations with all sides and that’s still true today.

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