this post was submitted on 25 May 2026
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China is doing a lot of bothering people right now.
They’ve been doing a lot of saber rattling at their neighbors, particularly Japan and Taiwan.
Which has nothing to do with Iran or Israel.
It does though, as US is burning through patriot interceptors they’re leaving a very low stock for a hypothetical war with China or North Korea, which is something US allies such as South Korea, Taiwan and Japan are rather concerned about.
Oh, can't have a discussion without whaboutisms, of course.
I’m responding to the very specific claim by OP that China and North Korea are bothering nobody.
The whataboutisms were in OP's addendum to the post body.
While the PRC has, the US has done its fair share of rattling at them, too.
So it's more rattling back at the US by proxy.
(Though obviously the best way to weaken US power in East Asia would be to recognise Taiwanese independence and then slowly pull it back into orbit by geographical and cultural proximity.)
When? Where?
Venezuelan fishing boats would like a word…
Granted, I’d like it if we weren’t doing any pointless fucking threatening.
Military exercises with Japan and South Korea in East China Sea? Exercises with Philippines and Vietnam in the contested waters the PRC claims despite international court rulings to the contrary?
A lot of use of language calling China a threat?
Hmm... What are those military exercises responding to? Hmm? What's China doing around the Philippines and Japan right now? Do you know? Hmm? I await your response
Responding to Chinese exercises responding to US joint exercises responding to Chinese exercises responding to US joint exercises responding to China responding to...
Not sure what your point is. I said PRC and US both did it. So you agree with that, right?
No. It's very simple really and your attempt to downplay it is really pathetic. China has been aggressively expanding fishing and territorial operations in international waters. So this lame whataboutism you can shove it where the sun don't shine.
Its funny of you to call my response to a post calling out China "whataboutism" when part of the idea of the original post is that the countries called out as hostile have done far fewer wars than the PoV nation-Empire The USA.
How dare I complicate a "China = bad, US = good" by exploring that the PRC might have reasons that make sense for it's actions.
How dare I not assume that China's aggressive expansion of fishing started in the 1970s when Korea and the US were engaging in anti-Communist war games around the DPRK and PRC after the Korean War.
Vietnam, Philippines, and the RoC are also part of the mess which is the South China Sea dispute (which really kicked off in the 70s too, with the discovery of oil there (how dare I write this aside insinuating which country is known best for its violations of international law, norms, and rules for a little bit of the black gold)) which to be clear I'm not on the PRC's side on (or indeed any of the claimants on the whole. The South China seas is a mess, and needs to be settled; obviously the PRC has much greater clout and military power than the other claimants, so it won't follow any arbitration that doesn't give it most of what if wants - following the precedent set by the US with the UN and ICJ (there's that "whataboutism" again, right? How dare I draw parallels and recognise similarities between hegemonic powers).
You're desperately trying to pivot the conversation about current issues to historical context hoping that that a absolves anything. It doesn't.
I never said the US was good, but, again, nice try to derail the conversation. I never absoved the US of past actions either. You guys do this a lot, I notice. These are all debate tactics to derail the discussion. They don't work any more. We can see through the bullshit. It doesn't change the fact that China is violating international waters. So shove it. Every country did bad things a hundred years ago. It's not an excuse to do what China is doing in the present.
Brought to us by the same sources who obfuscate the truth and outright lie and who else?
Ah yes, imperialism is good if it’s red.