It's Time To Tell China To Get Nicked

[rederob]

Unless a lot of media organisations are way off the beam, the consensus is that power rationing is due to the coal ban.

‘The Whole City Was Dark’: China Rations Electricity for Millions (Published 2020)

Warning of coal shortages, officials are trying to curb energy usage by telling residents not to use electric stoves and extinguishing lights on building facades and billboards.

www.nytimes.com

‘It hit us badly’: China’s businesses left cold by worst blackouts in decade

Provinces across China are struggling with the worst blackouts in nearly 10 years, as authorities try to curb energy use by imposing restrictions on businesses and residents.

www.scmp.com

‘Politics come first’ as ban on Australian coal worsens China’s power cuts

Factories and street lights shut down to save energy as embargo contributes to shortages

www.ft.com

There is little evidence that media organisations have a good handle on China.
China's command economy provides a capped coal "allocation" to provinces for the year, and 2020 has thrown a few other spanners in the works: Earlier and colder winter onset, safety issues curtailing local coal output, exceptionally high year to date energy demand, and year on year exports for November being 21% higher.

The above chart shows China's exceptionally high electricity generation for 2020, especially the second half.
And the chart below shows how the capped allocation affects coal imports:

The media could do a little more research and become more credible, but it ruins a really good story (which @qldfrog has already shown lacks cuisses de grenouilles).

In the long game that China plays, it knows that presently the rest of the world is unable to fill the manufacturing gap that covid has caused in the West, so unfilled orders for now will carry into 2021. And if China actually cared about curtailment problems affecting its economy, it would simply start unloading the 80 or so coal carriers already idle in their ports.
Just to add further context, the 5 provinces in the linked article have a total population of about 300 million, so a few percentage points increase in energy demand over and above record existing demand for this time of year is not that easy to plan for.

 

[SirRumpole]

Only my opinion, maybe gloating and smugness is the new Australia and I'm more old school.

Maybe having free trade agreements that one side can violate at their whim is the new world order and the rest of us who expect deals to be complied with are "old school" ?

Just my opinion.

 

[moXJO]

Maybe having free trade agreements that one side can violate at their whim is the new world order and the rest of us who expect deals to be complied with are "old school" ?

Just my opinion.

That's the sound of a power shift.
Makes covid look like strategic cover the way China is going.

 

[sptrawler]

It always was the case, you had a contract with them, until they didnt like t he contract, then they want a new contract.
Nothing new, except they now supply the western world with most of their critical supplies, so now it is on their terms.
The only one getting in their face, has been removed.
We showed em. Lol
Hopefully Biden can grow a pair, because we are going to need them IMO.

 

[dutchie]

Australia is under attack by foreign spies and faces a greater espionage threat than at the height of the Cold War, Peter Dutton says​

• Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton gave the chilling warning in Parliament
• The government has boosted intelligence funding to highest level in 70 years
• Attorney-general warned spies were targeting information about foreign policy
• Education Minister also said spies were targeting Australian universities

Australia faces its greatest threat ever from foreign spies

Australia faces its greatest threat ever from foreign spies, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said on Wednesday.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Our Universities seem very vunerable.

 

[rederob]

Australia is under attack by foreign spies and faces a greater espionage threat than at the height of the Cold War, Peter Dutton says

• Attorney-general warned spies were targeting information about foreign policy

Let's hope they have success and tell us what it says?? .

 

[satanoperca]

Australia is under attack by foreign spies and faces a greater espionage threat than at the height of the Cold War, Peter Dutton says​

• Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton gave the chilling warning in Parliament
• The government has boosted intelligence funding to highest level in 70 years
• Attorney-general warned spies were targeting information about foreign policy
• Education Minister also said spies were targeting Australian universities

Australia faces its greatest threat ever from foreign spies

Australia faces its greatest threat ever from foreign spies, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said on Wednesday.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Our Universities seem very vunerable.

They're coming to get you, so put your tin foil hat on, to save your soul.

 

[SirRumpole]

They're coming to get you, so put your tin foil hat on, to save your soul.

Back to the Menzies days of "reds under the bed".

Of course, it could all be true, or at least partly so. The Chinese diaspora provides a rich vein of information, cooperation and coercion for the CCP. People who can be threatened by the line "you have family in Bejing".

The government is on to something, but it's going to be used as an excuse to invade the rights of the rest of us.

Just don't let any Chinese, Russians or potential terrorists in here in the first place.

It's not rocket science, we have no obligations to admit people who could be a threat.

 

[mullokintyre]

The latest "lesson" being taught to OZ is that China can and will come from any angle it suits.
The latest is a China led ambush on the Great barrier reef.
From The Australian

Australia has been blindsided by a push by a China-chaired UN committee to declare the Great Barrier Reef “in danger” without proper consultation or scientific process.
Australian government officials learned of the draft World Heritage Committee decision on Friday, despite an assurance just weeks ago from the Paris-based World Heritage Centre that the reef’s health status would not be downgraded.

The decision, which was due to be made public by UNESCO overnight, will be presented for ratification at the 44th meeting of the World Heritage Committee in China from July 16.

The draft decision said the committee noted with “utmost concern” that “despite positive achievements”, progress in protecting the reef had been insufficient in meeting key targets, particularly in relation to water quality.

Australia has expressed its “grave concerns” at the proposed “in danger” listing, which was not backed up by any on-the-ground scientific assessment.

The move comes amid a surge in both Chinese influence and climate activism within the UNESCO system.

READ MORE:China aided by left’s contempt for democracy|MPs revolt over China’s grip on coal port
Any downgrading of the reef’s status would threaten the 64,000 jobs and $6.4bn in tourism revenue linked to the natural wonder in a normal year.

Australia is a member of the 21-nation World Heritage Committee, but the body – under the chairmanship of China’s Vice-Minister for Education Tian Xuejun – is considered likely to accept the recommendation.

China also holds the position of UNESCO deputy director-general, the presidency of UNESCO’s International Union for Conservation for Nature, and is head of Asia at the World Heritage Centre – all three of which contributed to the World Heritage Committee’s draft decision.

I guess the Chinese and by connection, UNESCO, don't see any irony or hypocracy from a Country that has pillaged most of the Oceans of the world, including those that are contentiously claimed by other countries, has blown up numerous reefs and atolls in the South China sea to enable them to build military bases, has some of the worst pollution in the world, managed to screw its neighbours over water extraction via the three gorges dam, contributes about 30% of greenhouse gases to the environment, with the passive approval to keep on increasing those levels until 2030, just to name a few. But its wants to punish Australia for the treatment of the GBR.

 

[SirRumpole]

The latest "lesson" being taught to OZ is that China can and will come from any angle it suits.
The latest is a China led ambush on the Great barrier reef.
From The Australian


I guess the Chinese and by connection, UNESCO, don't see any irony or hypocracy from a Country that has pillaged most of the Oceans of the world, including those that are contentiously claimed by other countries, has blown up numerous reefs and atolls in the South China sea to enable them to build military bases, has some of the worst pollution in the world, managed to screw its neighbours over water extraction via the three gorges dam, contributes about 30% of greenhouse gases to the environment, with the passive approval to keep on increasing those levels until 2030, just to name a few. But its wants to punish Australia for the treatment of the GBR.

Maybe time to start ignoring the UN and its agencies, they are obviously being politically driven.

 

[Beaches]

Phone survey conducted by the Lowy Institute in March this year

Australians have rebounded strongly from a traumatic 2020, but nervous eyes are fixed on various looming threats, with distrust of China at record levels.​

That is, in brief, the picture painted by the Lowy Institute's Annual Poll for 2021, which gauges Australians' feelings on everything from the local economy to world affairs.​

​

Only 16 percent of Australians said they trusted China "a great deal" or "somewhat" to act responsibly in the world – down from 52 per cent in 2018.​

Most Australians now see China as a greater security threat than an economic partner, though there is a reluctance to join the US in any hypothetical conflict with Beijing, with 57 per cent of respondents opting for neutrality.​

However, Australian distrust of China appears to be focused on government actions and policy, with most Australians saying Chinese history and culture, and Chinese people they meet, positively influence their view of the rising superpower.​

Australians optimistic after horror 2020 - but trust in China plunges

www.9news.com.au

.

 

[SirRumpole]

However, Australian distrust of China appears to be focused on government actions and policy, with most Australians saying Chinese history and culture, and Chinese people they meet, positively influence their view of the rising superpower.

I would agree with that.

The vast majority of ordinary Chinese want what anyone else wants, peace , security and prosperity.

The aggression is driven by the CCP, and that is driven by one man, Xi Jinping.

 

[rederob]

Maybe time to start ignoring the UN and its agencies, they are obviously being politically driven.

Maybe we should ignore the opinions of people who do not use science as a baseline?

 

[moXJO]

Maybe we should ignore the opinions of people who do not use science as a baseline?
View attachment 126502

Maybe we should let China dragnet over the top of it. Or fish it out like they did round the Galapagos islands.

 

[macca]

Maybe we should let China dragnet over the top of it. Or fish it out like they did round the Galapagos islands.

And Vanuatu, New Guinea and a few other places.

Naturally China needs to feed itself but if you have these large trawlers that can go anywhere it seems rather inconsiderate to strip the seas around these smaller nations.

Building a new pier or wharf does not really help if there are no fish left in the sea

 

[moXJO]

And Vanuatu

And everywhere.

 

[mullokintyre]

The definition of Chutzpah. From Washington Examiner

The Chinese Foreign Ministry is calling for the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is at the center of controversy over the coronavirus pandemic’s origin, to be awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine.

“The award is mainly given to individuals or research groups who have made or demonstrated significant achievements in the past five years ... China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson stressed at Thursday’s press conference that scientists working at the WIV should be awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine, rather than being blamed for being the first to discover the gene sequence of the novel coronavirus,” said a report from Chinese state media.

It will probably be awarded to them too.
Mick

 

[rederob]

While western media portrays China negatively, its citizens have a much higher trust in what their government does.

Why Chinese People Support Their Government​

We might like to think we are important to China, but it has 20 provinces with populations greater than Australia, and 5 provinces with a similar population.
China also has land borders with 14 other countries, and their concerns generally take precedence over matters relating to a very distant Australia.
Telling China to get nicked would hardly raise a ripple in China's ocean of concerns.

 

[greggles]

Why Chinese People Support Their Government

Probably the key sentence in that article:

For more than 2,000 years, the Chinese nation has been infused with Confucianism, which argues that individuals should obey the state in the name of the common good.

Like every authoritarian regime throughout history, the masses in China have been expected to obey and bow down to the authority of the state. The reason, of course, is that it is easier to maintain order (and the ruling party's grip on power) when the populous is obedient. The 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre stands as a testament to what happens when some of the population living under an authoritarian regime cease to be obedient.

"The common good" is simply a euphemism for keeping current corrupt mob of power mongers in power for as long as possible so they can enrich themselves and extend and consolidate their power. With the judiciary as an extension of the state, things are made even easier.

 

[rederob]

The 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre stands as a testament to what happens when some of the population living under an authoritarian regime cease to be obedient.

There were protests throughout China beforehand, mostly due to failed promises to end official corruption and for political and economic reform.

"The common good" is simply a euphemism for keeping current corrupt mob of power mongers in power for as long as possible so they can enrich themselves and extend and consolidate their power. With the judiciary as an extension of the state, things are made even easier.

Just so you understand, commonweal - the common good - is the basis of our commonwealth, so what you say must be applicable here?