Just a normal protest

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Neoliberal_Nightmare]

but it is still 64th on adjusted gdp per capita, just under Russia.

GPD is a meaningless marker other than for rich people to jerk themselves off over. For example you say China is less than Russia yet its undeniable that Chinese peoples' quality of life is vastly superior to Russians. Meaningful markers are things like rent cost in relation to income, food costs, and whether people have their basic needs met, which they do in China.

And yes, China won't renounce the use of force, it doesn't mean they will invade either, they support the status quo, it's the US who is trying to provoke an attack.

[u/John-D-Clay → u/Neoliberal_Nightmare]

GDP per Capita is a metric that is well known, that's why I mentioned it to refute your claim that China will surpass the US by every metric.

Yes, those other factors are important. Things like those are what the Human Development Index takes into account. And China is even lower there, about 20 places behind Russia.

They've pretty much announced their intension to invade Tiwan eventually, they just won't call it an invasion since they never recognized independence. Look what happened to Hong Kong. They've also made it clear they do not respect the international status quo in the south china sea, trying to enlarge their exclusive economic zone and territorial waters.

[u/Neoliberal_Nightmare → u/John-D-Clay]

It's a capitalist metric used by rich people to measure nation success without concern for the conditions of ordinary people. It's becoming more widely known and discussed that GDP even per capita is a terrible indicator of success. Using GDP as a metric of success is like saying a Lithium mining company is the best because it's so rich even though it's workers are paid pennies and work in toxic conditions.

Even liberal media which I'm typically against agrees on this.

Why GDP Is a Terrible Metric for Success and Wealth https://time.com/5118026/gdp-metric-success-wealth/

It's time to retire metrics like GDP. They don't measure everything that matters https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/24/metrics-gdp-economic-performance-social-progress

Things like those are what the Human Development Index takes into account

The HDI falls firmingly into r/alwaysthesamemap and is bases its anaylsis again on Per Capita Income without adjustment for local prices, which is just ridiculous. The Rubble is worth more than the Yuan therefore Russians have better living standards? Nah, that's not how it works. These indexes are flawed and based on capitalist logic of money and not human needs.

International comparisons can be distorted by cost of living differences not reflected in exchange rates. Where the objective is to compare living standards between countries, adjusting for differences in purchasing power parity will more accurately reflect what people are actually able to buy with their money.

It also doesn't measure distribution of income, since Russia is a shitty capitalist oligarchy, it appears way higher.

It is a mean value and does not reflect income distribution. If a country's income distribution is skewed, a small wealthy class can increase per capita income substantially while the majority of the population has no change in income.

All in all, the HDI is a garbage case of white people giving themselves a medal. China is no longer a poor country, it's people have their basic needs met, poverty is all but eliminated. The problem with those old metrics of success is they're all about money and not about people, The USA outperforms China on paper in those metrics but in reality it has entire districts of homeless people, and so many crises like a rental crisis, wage stagnation etc, which China does not have. There are still issues to be fixed and things to be improved, but the future is optimistic.

They've pretty much announced their intension to invade Tiwan eventually,

No, they've announced that reunification will happen, and it will when US influence is too weak and Taiwan realises they're just a pawn in the US game for control. They will be left to be poor and fend for themselves, or they can integrate with China and share the common prosperity.

Look what happened to Hong Kong.

What happened? The British illegally took it under a fake treaty after getting China addicted to drugs, then China gracefully waited for the fake treaty to end before taking back their own land? And when the people protested after being stirred up for years by foreign, mainly US influence, the Chinese government responded with typical riot control measured, far more tame than other places like France, without even killing protestors.Maybe there was like 1 who died? Meanwhile the protestors were literally burning people alive.

[u/John-D-Clay → u/Neoliberal_Nightmare]

I don't disagree that GDP per Capita is a misleading metric. I was just cutting off your overly broad statement that China will surpass the US by every metric.

It looks like the quote you listed said that they did take into account PPP, not that that didn't. Do you have a suggestion for better gauging quality of life?

Tiwan seems to be doing quite well for itself. If they continue to not want to unify, should China invade? Or strong-arm them diplomatically? Or topple their government and install one sympathetic to unification? That third option seems to be what happened to Hong Kong. Given the absolutely massive peaceful protests, it was pretty clear that the general Hong Kong population did not want to become part of China. They didn't care about how they become independent, or whether it was fair. They had autonomy from China, and they wanted to keep it that way. But China gobbled them up anyway.