Extortion

[Ivorythumper]

@89th said in Extortion:

Maybe they'll stop ordering Aussie wine.

You say that as if its a bad thing.

[Mik]

Yeah. I'm not much of a fan either. By and large I'm not a fan of southern hemisphere wines.

[Aqua Letifer]

Oz is even more economically tied to China than we are. By a lot. But what's weird is they stand to lose a lot by pissing Australia off, too.

This is going to be interesting.

[taiwan_girl]

@Aqua-Letifer

I agree. I think that if China follows with some type of action, traditional Australia allies (UK, USA, etc), will come to the side of Australia and retaliate against China

[Aqua Letifer]

Be interesting to see what the UK does, but if this escalates, we're absolutely going to get involved here.

[Mik]

China has no room for belligerence today. They would be wiser to back off and exert some humility.

[George K]

@Mik said in Extortion:

China has no room for belligerence today. They would be wiser to back off and exert some humility.

I think you underestimate their arrogance.

[Mik]

I don't think it's arrogance. I think it is fear and the best defense if a good offense.

[Doctor Phibes]

Dictatorships are always hopelessly insecure. They can brutalise their own people into submission, but good luck trying that out on the Aussies.

[xenon]

China may have a small window to get their house in order before things stop going in their favor.

They've invested like crazy to bootstrap domestic industries. Some have worked (manufacturing, batteries, telecom). Some are still works in progress (compute, AI, etc.)

But they're running out of time. They've invested like crazy in certain sectors and their demographics get worse day by day.

Also - they may be richer. But richer people don't want to work shit jobs, but they're not rich enough and well-trained to compete well for the good jobs either.

Can the regime withstand multiple years of stagnation or worse?

I'd agree - they're scared, insecure and lashing out.