China is not our friend and does not want to be our friend, at least from the government and military. The CCP is on the attack 24/7, pushing propaganda in various ways to stop our advancements, and it is real, and it does work. Their current path is to take or build islands outside of their domain, and right now they are threatening the Philippines and others in the Pacific. We need to send a message that this is unacceptable.
The CCP pushes lies using AI images that look real, and there are many of them. So, how many sheep read and pass on the lies? China is the force behind the push to ban data centers so they can impede the U.S. from leading in AI, the power of the future. And of course we have enough socialists and communists to spread misinformation.
China is not our friend any more than Russia or North Korea, and we need to tread softly and always keep our eyes wide open. All IMO.
“Escalating clashes this week between Communist Chinese paramilitary forces and the Philippines in the South China Sea are likely escalating in tandem with deepening American involvement in the Iran war, a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute says.
Bryan Clark, a former United States Navy submarine officer, says the ongoing Chinese pressure campaign that ramped up to physical violence against a Philippine sailor on Monday may be a Chinese test of American resolve.
“I think that part of it is China’s looking at the US as being distracted and maybe is looking at this as an opportunity to take advantage of US efforts being focused elsewhere,” said Bryan Clark, now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.
China and the Philippines are skirmishing over partially submerged coral reefs west of the Philippines, claimed by that nation and within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone. They’re Beijing’s latest target in a construction campaign in the South China Sea where the Chinese move in on disputed reefs and rocky outcrops.
“There’s been this effort by the Chinese to create a series of military installations on these reefs by piloting a bunch of gravel and sand and dredged material on top of them, and then paving it over,” Mr. Clark said.
On Monday, Chinese forces in small boats approached Philippine sailors near the Second Thomas Shoal and struck one in the head with a wooden baton. On Thursday, two Chinese vessels drove back a Philippine ship that approached the Scarborough Shoal.
The United States and the Philippines have a mutual defense treaty, meaning the American military is required to defend the Philippines in the event of a foreign attack. But it’s unclear whether ship rammings, water cannon cascades and fisticuffs by Chinese forces amount to the level of an armed attack.
“This is part of their gray zone warfare,” Mr. Clark said of the Chinese. “They use these non-military forces to gain control over an area or establish and basically occupy a maritime area and then establish control over and then just sort of act like they own it. But they never use their military so it never comes across as a military attack.”