China has upset many countries in the Asia-Pacific region with its release of a new official map that lays claim to most of the South China Sea, as well as to contested parts of India and Russia, and official objections continue to mount. What is the map, and why is it upsetting people so much?

It seems significant, then, that Beijing chose to release the map on the heels of a late August meeting of the BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – and just before China is to participate in top-level meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Group of 20 rich and developing nations.

In releasing the map now, Beijing is widely seen as signaling it has no intention of backing down on any of its claims and is making sure that its positions are fresh in the minds of other countries in the region.

  • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The current population of the United States of America is 340,304,529 as of Friday, September 1, 2023, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data

    The current population of China is 1,425,587,668 as of Friday, September 1, 2023, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data.

    I’m sure some of those people would say China has a lot of flaws and fucks up a lot but I’d have them a hundred times over America.

    Stop being egocentric.

          • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Hope you feel better soon. I continue to struggle with anger issues. What helps me is focusing on my breathing and reminding myself that I control my emotions, they don’t control me. Then I dissociate and try to objectively understand what is making me angry. Are you angry with me because I don’t view the world as you do? Or, because I’m challenging beliefs you’ve long held? Realize that not everyone has to believe the same, but a consensus reality, or basic truths, are necessary.

      • *Tagger*@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I mean I don’t agree with them but they could easily really with: “You’re fine with restricting women’s rights? You’re fine with a country controlled by corporations? You’re fine with police summarily killing people in the streets? You’re fine with a media that intentionally lies to manipulate parts of the population into attempting a coup? You’re fine with a small ghetto of inflected officials making arbitrary decisions on laws that take away fundamental rights based purely on religious and political ideology?”

        A better argument would be to point to statistical data that shows that the US is still a better place to live than China. e.g. the US scores a 8.73 ^1 on the Freedom indeed while China only scored a 5.57 ^1.

        Or direct to each country’s amnesty report. ^2 ^3

        ^1 https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/freedom-index-by-country

        ^2 https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/asia-and-the-pacific/east-asia/china/

        ^3 https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/americas/north-america/united-states-of-america/

      • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        They prefer to live where they prefer to live. 1,425,587,668 people. 1,000,000,000 more people than the US. You’re deluding yourself if you think they are all prisoners.

          • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            You presume that I defend China, I do not. Just because America genocided Native Americans, and carried out extrajudicial executions in Vietnam and Iwo Jima, doesn’t mean that they are evil. The same metric should be applied to China. Maybe both countries are bad. Don’t limit your understanding. I’m rooting for you.

              • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                They are not the same, but comparable. China hasn’t invaded a country since Vietnam. America unjustifiably invaded Iraq in 2003. My goal is not to defend China, but to make people aware that America isn’t the arbiter of justice in the world. Both countries are using propaganda to demonize the other. You don’t have to pick a side.

                • JC1@lemmy.ca
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                  1 year ago

                  You’re doing a poor job of it though… What your doing is going on posts that have nothing to do about America and saying “yeah, but America is bad”. Most people here are aware that america does a lot of bad things. But denying that China is magnitude worse for its citizens isn’t “not to defend China”.

                  You sound like a China apologist more than anything. You convince nobody by doing that.

                  • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    I don’t defend China at all. They are imperialist just like America. But I tire of the hate for China propagated by western media to justify war.

                    But denying that China is magnitude worse for its citizens isn’t “not to defend China”.

                    How do you know that China is magnitudes worse for its citizens?Everything you believe you know about China is filtered through the lens of western media. I don’t apologize for any nation. I don’t think nations should even exist. We are all humans. Try not to forget that. If I’m doing a poor job of it and not convincing anyone, why did you feel the need to reply?

                  • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    Why do you feel the need to pick one over the other? Depending on what you value, one might be better than the other. But they can both be bad in different ways. You’re convincing yourself that they’re mutually exclusive, when it’s really a false dichotomy. They can both be bad, and we, as a civilization should seek to do better than either has to offer.

        • groupofcrows@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          I guess you didnt see all those videos during covid when people had their front doors nailed shut by the government so they couldn’t leave, or the travel bans between cities. Or maybe your definition is different from mine or maybe the citizens prefered being dragged to a covid facility because someone in their household tested positive.

          • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            China’s zero COVID policy saved lives. source So, unless you love death, that’s not a good argument. In fact, I wish America had been more disciplined during the pandemic, which is not over. But the wheels of the economy must turn.

            • groupofcrows@lemmy.ca
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              1 year ago

              China is definitely more disciplined. Like when that Chinese doctor first discovered covid he was disciplined by the Chinese government, the coverup might have worked if covid was less dangerous but it was allowed to spread throughout Wuhan. When the world suspected something was wrong and wanted to close their border with China the CCP called it a over reaction. As things got worse the CCP finally admitted their was a problem and decided to stop travel out of Wuhan but gave everyone 24 hours notice, by than tens of thousands were able to flee to other parts of China and the world. blah blah blah and finally the step where other countries could have done something to stop the spread of covid happens. Yes, the USA should have been more disciplined and they could have been more effective at slowing down covid but by that point China had made it impossible to stop covid. None of this was the Chinese covid policy, just general cover your butt policy. Since China was so proud it created sinovac the CCP could not admit mRNA vaccine was more effective, how many more lives could have been saved if Chinese policy could admit to making mistakes? Sure, a high number of people in the west died doing stupid things like taking horse deworming medicine to fight a virus, but it was their choice. Unlike all the other people who took the necessary precautions and still died or the countless people in China who died from covid or they starved to death because they couldn’t get food - countless because the CCP covered up the number of cases and deaths. Check the WHO website for worldwide covid deaths. USA had 100 million confirmed cases (probably too low) and 1 million deaths (too low). China has four times the population but also has 100 million cases and only 120 thousand deaths. You are right, the CCP hates death - that’s why their made up number is so laughably low. If we assume deaths are 1% of cases than China deaths are 8 times less than what they should be. BTW my parents would agree with you 100%, my mom watches countless mainland media and my dad has dementia and even they would never want to live in China.

          • *Tagger*@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            edit: deleted as I realized I was defending China and I don’t want to do that. There are a great deal of massively problematic issues with their government which the comments here brought back to the front of my mind and I don’t want to get into an argument where I’m defending Whinnie the Pooh’s government.

              • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                European? You’re still bombarded with American propaganda. We all are, they have cultural hegemony.

                • JC1@lemmy.ca
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                  1 year ago

                  You should learn about something called free press and specifically the consequences on the societies that have that compared to others. It doesn’t immunize a population against propaganda, but its effects are much more tame. Also free press also means that you can have main stream media that goes against the government’s narrative. This is just not possible everywhere.

                  Of course we are bombarded by American culture, but science and investigative journalism still exists and where I live, we don’t lock people up for having “bad” beliefs or for simply investigating and sharing ideas.