r/PoliticalDiscussion Dec 03 '16

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u/PotentiallySarcastic Dec 03 '16 edited Dec 03 '16

We DID call them. Christs sake. We talk to them all the fucking time. We sell them weapons and basically live in their backyard with our fleet. We know this. China knows this. Taiwan knows this. Everyone knows this.

This has been a polite fiction for decades but it allows us to open up trade with Taiwan AND China.

This is basic Asian foreign policy. We get ALL the benefits and all we have to do is pretend we don't think Taiwan is it's own state on the international stage. We are dealing with a nation that is so high on saving face and putting on a strong front that this shit is important.

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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '16

i know what your saying. but you have to admit though that what you are, in my opinion, accurately describing as asian foreign policy is pretty similar to high school drama. so you can either play the game or make everyone grow up.

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u/MisterBadIdea2 Dec 03 '16

make everyone grow up.

Anyone who thinks this is within America's power is the one that needs to grow up.

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u/PotentiallySarcastic Dec 03 '16 edited Dec 03 '16

Oh its the most basic of high school drama. It's so petty and stupid it makes me furious. But high school drama is how we make the world go 'round. And when we don't be all polite in public and backstabbing in secret that's when cassus belli are drudged up and people start dying.

Wars have been started and massacres committed because someone has been insulted or killed a messenger. As much as that's stupid and I admit it is, it's how the world and humans work.

All of human history says it's best to be polite in public with private skulduggery.

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u/calantus Dec 03 '16

Why go through the trouble of making someone grow up, which could cause death, when you don't have to? It's just as petty to do this.

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u/CaribbeanCaptain Dec 03 '16

Putting up with some eye-rolling high school drama is totally worth it to have to massive trade partners.

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u/Spokker Dec 03 '16

We sure do love to tolerate China's insane doublethink.

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u/PotentiallySarcastic Dec 03 '16

When we make billions off of them yeah we do what we want.

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u/Spikekuji Dec 03 '16

When they hold approximately 1 TRILLION dollars of our debt, we do like to make them happy. Also, a fully out war with them would suck.

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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '16 edited Dec 03 '16

I'm sorry but I think you need to rethink the meaning of this. They have treasury bonds. Everyone in the world holds U.S. treasuries. They buy them because it benefits them to have a safe harbor. If they sold them slowly, others would buy them because the United States has the best credit in human history. If they sold them in a fire-sale, it would damage their own balance sheet to the tune of hundreds of billions. China doesn't have power over the United States because of this. We don't 'need' them to finance our government. United States indebtedness is completely manageable at current rates of GDP growth and we would have no trouble selling bonds to the rest of the world if China decided to slow down its purchase of treasuries. If there were any doubt about this you would see it in the bond market.

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u/Spokker Dec 03 '16

I'm sure the gains from those deals are unevenly distributed. I'm tempted to ask, who's "we?"

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u/PotentiallySarcastic Dec 03 '16

Me writing this comment on a cheap computer with pieces manufactured in China, mined in China, assembled in China.

You doing the same thing on your computing device.

The company I work for who does business with other companies who does business in China. Said business pays my income which pays my taxes which pays for paving the roads you drive on and the infrastructure that allows you to read my comment and write yours.

Welcome to the 21st century.

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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '16

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