7 ms·

Not being a single-party, notionally communist dictatorship may be helping with the image too? I don't know, spitballing here. I think the default approach in

Not being a single-party, notionally communist dictatorship may be helping with the image too? I don't know, spitballing here. I think the default approach in the West - and that's not a US-specific thing - is to treat exotic faraway lands with a mix of curiosity and awe. But China is a geopolitical rival with a political system that rightly makes many Westerners queasy, so it doesn't benefit from that anymore.

kibwen 4mo ago
> Not being a single-party, notionally communist dictatorship may be helping with the image too? I don't know, spitballing here. No, everyday people are perfectly content to warm to brutal dictatorships who successfully put on a friendly face. Case in point: Dubai.
- lacewing 4mo ago
  I don't think there are many people in the West who profess love for the UAE. But there are several reasons why it's not as disliked. First, it's a monarchy, and monarchies are harder to parse, given that many European countries are notionally monarchies too. Second, it's not by any stretch of imagination a serious geopolitical or economic threat to the West. Third, although it is authoritarian, by most third-party assessments, it's not nearly as authoritarian as China.
  - Pay08 4mo ago
    People seemingly often forget how brutal Chinese authoritarianism can be. I don't know whether it's the fault of the news or if it's selective amnesia, but there are few worse cases of authoritarianism than the country that welded people into their apartments.
    - kibwen 4mo ago
      You're giving people too much credit. People in general simply do not care about whether or not a government has committed atrocities, even when that includes their own government, as long as they think (rightly or wrongly (usually wrongly)) that atrocities won't be happening to them.
eunos 4mo ago
Laugh in Plaza Accord and 80s anti Japan scare. At one point American was more concerned with Japanese economy than Soviet lmao/
- ajmurmann 4mo ago
  Not being worried annoy the Soviet economy makes sense though
  - eunos 4mo ago
    Is not economy per se. Japanese economy was putting more pressure than Soviet military in perception

kibwen 4mo ago

> Not being a single-party, notionally communist dictatorship may be helping with the image too? I don't know, spitballing here. No, everyday people are perfectly content to warm to brutal dictatorships who successfully put on a friendly face. Case in point: Dubai.

lacewing 4mo ago
I don't think there are many people in the West who profess love for the UAE. But there are several reasons why it's not as disliked. First, it's a monarchy, and monarchies are harder to parse, given that many European countries are notionally monarchies too. Second, it's not by any stretch of imagination a serious geopolitical or economic threat to the West. Third, although it is authoritarian, by most third-party assessments, it's not nearly as authoritarian as China.
- Pay08 4mo ago
  People seemingly often forget how brutal Chinese authoritarianism can be. I don't know whether it's the fault of the news or if it's selective amnesia, but there are few worse cases of authoritarianism than the country that welded people into their apartments.
  - kibwen 4mo ago
    You're giving people too much credit. People in general simply do not care about whether or not a government has committed atrocities, even when that includes their own government, as long as they think (rightly or wrongly (usually wrongly)) that atrocities won't be happening to them.

eunos 4mo ago

Laugh in Plaza Accord and 80s anti Japan scare. At one point American was more concerned with Japanese economy than Soviet lmao/

ajmurmann 4mo ago
Not being worried annoy the Soviet economy makes sense though
- eunos 4mo ago
  Is not economy per se. Japanese economy was putting more pressure than Soviet military in perception