Meanwhile - how secure is China's position.
As the US president prepares to visit Beijing, he may have ended his hosts’ decades-long growth miracle
www.telegraph.co.uk
As YZT580 referenced elsewhere - this is an economic war.
Ronald Reagan defeated the former Soviet Union by appearing to create new weapon systems which the Soviets bankrupted themselves trying to match. Perhaps China in particular is using the same tactics on us. Our left wing parties are profligate spenders on all sorts of things; some good some a total waste of money. In the meantime we are yielding to forces that would restrict our earnings and the development of our resources. In the name of global warming we are attempting to revert to the 19th century form of living only without the coal to keep us warm. We are bankrupting ourselves building costly alternatives to nuclear, coal and natural gas. Just the cost of the infrastructure is more than we can afford. How many billions will go into providing the electricity and infrastructure to supply it to the proposed HS trains? And it is all borrowed. How many acres of good cropland will be dedicated to carrying your MP from Toronto to Ottawa in 2 hours? Would be cheaper to purchase a couple of Dash8s for the military to provide shuttle service between Downsview and Ottawa and you would have another transport asset to boot.
I am an older gentleman so I am accustomed to determining the source of the funds before making any purchases; that is the way I was brought up. I also side with the former Premier Harris: no handouts unless you have made a valiant attempt and failed to obtain employment. And finally, we are theoretically an intelligent group of people so why is it we are creating an attitude of guilt in our children towards using the resources around us whilst looking for ways to ensure that we are using them responsibly and sustainably where feasible. Is it possible that China is influencing our attitudes in such a way as to encourage our entry into bankruptcy?
I think it is reasonable to suggest that China wants to break the system on which western advantages rely. Cicero is still right about money being the sinews of war.
If they can break our sinews while maintaining their's they have a shot.
The problem seems to be that their economy is so tied with ours that their sinews are being sfretched as well.
Which Chinese sinews are being strained?
"...three ticking time bombs sitting beneath China’s economy: its reliance on bloated factories churning out exports, its spiralling budget debts and its alarmingly shrinking population."
"Xi hopes to defuse these problems by winning the global race on AI, quantum computing and robotics. But the Communist Party is also keen to stay in control, so it may struggle to make the most of this disruptive juggernaut."
Innovation is a two-edged sword. It demands a resilient society that can both exploit the opportunities that randomly appear when they appear and survive the equally random disruptions that result.
....
"Trump deferentially calls his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, “the Highly Respected President of China”.
"But that doesn’t mean Trump is making things easy for Xi.
"First he choked off the half a million daily barrels of oil that China was buying from Venezuela. Now, his attack on Iran, leading to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has squeezed another 40pc of Chinese crude supply.
"An oil crunch is never good news, but Beijing was prepared for this. Through price caps, export bans, fuel stockpiles and home-grown alternatives to imported oil and gas, China has managed to stave off the early economic threat from the Gulf war.
"If the conflict drags on and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, however, China could start to feel the pinch.
"A global slowdown or recession could cut demand for its exports, which have been almost single-handedly propping up the Chinese economy ever since the country’s great property crash of 2021."
....
2024 - TetraWatt-Hours Consumed
48,500 - Total
37 - Biofuels
2,046 - Solar
2,432 - Wind
3,304 - Hydro
652 - Other Renewables
8,471 - Total Renewables (17% of Consumption)
25,599 - Coal (52% of Consumption)
4,344 - Gas (9% of Consumption)
29,943 - Fixed Plant Production (61% of Consumption)
8,964 - Oil (18% of Consumption)
Data on Energy in China
ourworldindata.org
....
Oil is predominantly used for transportation.
While China has moved a lot of shorthaul transportation, intracity, to electricity, largely fuelled by the steady rise in coal fired plants, it is still reliant on oil for longhaul trucking, marine transportation and to power its army, navy and airforce.
"First he choked off the half a million daily barrels of oil that China was buying from Venezuela. Now, his attack on Iran, leading to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has squeezed another 40pc of Chinese crude supply."
....
Xi has his problems.
Not least with finding acceptable leaders who will stay followers.
"As of early 2026, President Xi Jinping has overseen an unprecedented purge of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), with estimates suggesting over 100 senior military officers have been officially purged, missing, or potentially investigated since 2022" per AI.
Analysis of a groundbreaking dataset shows that purges within China’s military are far more extensive than previously understood.
chinapower.csis.org
