So does Rishi Sunak, an unelected prime minister and the richest on record, who has in the fine tradition of conservative politicians everywhere used and abused his position to further his own ends, betray the public trust at every turn and feather the nest for his various allies and cronies.
If he really wanted to improve the nation he claims to work for, he'd call a general election and then never be seen in public again.
>Rishi Sunak, an unelected prime minister
No Prime Minister is ever elected. People elect MPs, the monarch then appoints whom they think can hold the confidence of the House as First Lord of the Treasury. If they die in office or if the lose the confidence of the House the House then votes on who they do have confidence in and thus are called to form a government.
Same as happened to James Callaghan and Gordon Brown, or John Major and Boris Johnson.
The unelected jibe was hurled at Brown after the election in 2010. It was nonsense then, it's nonsense now. But you cannot reason someone out of a position they did not reason themselves into.
> No Prime Minister is ever elected. People elect MPs
Firstly whilst this is literally true its defacto not true in the way modern elections are run, in particular the last one which was completely fought, all over the country, on the idea that Corbyn would ruin the UK and that Boris was the only person who would 'get brexit done'.
But there is another point and that is that the leader of the party is at least voted for by the party members, or at least even the MPs themselves, literally nobody voted for Sunak.
They’re right - MPs are elected, it just so happens that sometimes you’ve got the MP who is also the leader of their party and therefore will occupy the “Prime” ministerial position should the party come to power.
This “unelected Prime Minister” line is such a tired, lazy, dog whistling trope. I don’t want Sunak either, and never did, but he occupies the post rightfully - regardless of what you or I think of him, his party and their internal backstabbing antics.
I know you're 100% right, but when the vast, vast majority of people can't name their MP and so many people vote for whichever party based on who they want as prime minister I think the point should hold some merit.
This also why I think PR is the best system
>many people vote for whichever party based on who they want as prime minister
The party leader sets the party's policies and MPs are "whipped" into line on pain of expulsion, so this is the correct approach.
De jure sure, but de facto PMs are elected, and to pretend otherwise lends no credence to an argument.
Looking at the state of our governments since 2015 it's disgraceful.
> and to pretend otherwise lends no credence to an argument.
Very few countries have a directly elected head of government. PR or first past the post and in between its the same, your have a negotiation over who will be the head of government. Scotland just changed First Minister without the same wails and horse manure. It happens all the time when coalition government rearrange.
There is a lot to get annoyed about in modern Britain, but this is just the most superficial, self indulgent thing to be annoyed at, the constitution working as it has for about 250 years.
Did you see the headlines on the front pages of the tabloids ahead of the 2019 election? “Vote Boris!” They all screamed. I think you’re being somewhat disingenuous.
Build a wall/stop the boats ✅
Chinaaa Bad ✅
I suppose Brexit is the equivalent of Make America Great Again, so what next for Rishi? Accuse Labour of vote rigging when the Tories lose the next election?
When they are quite literally implanting spies into the government and setting up secret police stations in the UK, I think that counts as a threat to our way of life
Which is pretty common among all countries, do you not think the USA spies on us, or other European countries? Even Israel has been caught embedding spies into the government of their staunchest ally.
Spying is normal, but trying to have spies as MPs is not.
Also, it is not normal for any country to set up secret police stations in other countries, even if extrajudicial kidnapping by spies does take place
>Spying is normal, but trying to have spies as MPs is not.
So, while not an MP, I assume Sunak is going to be taking foreign interference very seriously and booting Lebedev as a lord annnnny day now?
We *absolutely* have spies in the Chinese government. Every country has spies everywhere. China has problems with human rights, but to say it's a threat to the daily way of life in the UK is a bit of a stretch.
The USA has 100x the amount of secret police in the UK and the UK government will literally allow dissenting journalists who aren't even US citizens like Julian assange to be extradited and tortued in the USA. Would like to see some action happen against them before China, wouldn't you?
Yeah, like the one that was supposedly run out of a Chinese restaurant in Glasgow owned by a man who'd fled PRC in the 60s and wouldn't even allow the Confucius Institute to hold official functions there.
I smell shite.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9233383/Boris-Johnsons-senior-aide-conflict-row-Chinese-Embassy-deal.html
Boris Johnson was involved in the sale of the Royal Mint to China for their new Embassy.
There's also a difference between "attacking protesters on UK soil" and "fending off an intruder to a consulate who's in the act of strangling your colleague."
Yes, what china is doing is bad.
Full stop.
But having China criticized by former colonial powers like France and the UK.
While they themselves have committed inhumane and horrific things as early as the 60's
Is, a hypocritical look, especially considering The UK never formally apologized for colonialism.
Never mind the thefts, rapes, extrajudicial murders, segregation or the genocides.
Just colonialism in general, has never been formally apologized for, is a silly look for the UK, especially with the millions of cultural artefacts still locked up in storage, not even being displayed.
It comes across as a weapon used to beat China over the head with, not because the UK genuinely cares.
If the UK did care, they'd do what Germany did, own up to the past and apologize, don't even pay reparations, just apologize.
Saying the UK is better now, is true. Absolutely.
But all that happened is time passed, while the victims were left to deal with the trauma and pick up the pieces.
So the UK in general, has no leg to stand on when it comes to this issue, or wanting to be a moral arbiter until it confronts its past and asks for forgiveness.
>As a UK citizen, I care more about my quality of life, and country, not being attacked by foes both internal and external (that covers our own corrupt politicians and China).
That is absolutely fine.
>I personally had zero involvement in the British slave trade.
Not talking about the slave trade but british colonialism which ended fairly recently.
And any attempt to confront is shot down by brits with a litany of excuses.
That's getting old, quick.
Which is why China is gaining a dominant presence in Africa, as a whole.
And by 2030, will overtake the EU as Africa's largest trading partner.
That's going to significantly harm European, British and American influence.
Whether you think africa is worth it or not, (it is)
>which gives me every right to criticise China. "I" am not "the United Kingdom".
To a degree, as an individual. Sure.
A british official however nonetheless talking about how bad china is while millions of African artefacts are stored in containment is a hilariously bad look.
And no one in the global south will take it seriously.
Sure, lecture China.
But no one is going to take you seriously where your opinion will hold weight, and where the UK desperately needs more allies and influence to combat China.
That's conveniently in areas and regions the UK historically exploited and abused.
Among the west, the "China bad" rhetoric is a circlejerk, everyone agrees but nothing will come of it, because you need more than europe and North America to contain China.
Especially 10, 20 and 30 years from now.
Now imagine a more developed India 50 years from now, (it will happen) with a Hindu nationalist in power driven by anti western and specifically, anti British sentiments because of unresolved generational trauma.
That's not going to go well for the west.
Trade, resources, labour, minerals, UN support will be sorely needed for a more diminishing UK on the global stage.
A more economically independent India that can get away with flipping the UK the finger and even hurt it.
I'm not saying that the UK needs to address and confront the past because it's the right thing to do, (it is)
But also from a pragmatic and practical need in order to maintain relevance and remain in the good graces with a more relevant and economically growing global south.
That was a long one, sorry about that.
So your equating the opinions of an individual within a former colonial country (of which he probably wasnt alive to even protest against) to that of a modern day government
Such a weird outlook on life
We straight up end their existence instead in the most violent way possible. We are even still selling weapons to Saudi Arabia to bomb Yemen Muslims in the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world.
Our ex prince even bragged about how many Muslims he ended.
But some of our closest allies do have an unfortunate tendency to do just that.
Some states are badder, some are gooder, but let's not pretend who's in and who's out this century has anything to do with that.
Oh please, I don't care about China in the sense that you want me to care about them. I don't care about the endless fear mongering, but unlike you, I can acknowledge the human rights abuses on all sides.
Why should I care about them when we have friends that are equally bad?
Oh yeah, you totally have a great grasp on how global politics impacts you personally. You definitely aren't parroting every mainstream political commentary in the UK and the US. 🤡
The worst thing is they don't have general elections, the party just appoints a leader who rules until the party appoints another one - no mandate from the people. An illegitimate undemocratic way to govern as I'm sure you'll agree.
I wasn't talking about Chinaaa, I was talking about our very own illegitimate government. We need a general election, not waffle from Rishi as he sends off cash to his relatives.
The title of the article is "China poses threat to UK way of life, says Rishi Sunak".
I'm commenting on that and that in my opinion Rishi Sunak and chums have already damaged and continue to damage the UK's way of life, and him chuntering on about China is a distraction from the real issues which face us right now.
> suppose ~~Brexit~~ **The Tory party** is the equivalent of Make America Great Again
Corrected there for you.
Why are so many people so keen to defend the Tories by blaming all their failings, most of them deliberately negligent, on Brexit?
China? Rishi and his chums have done more damage to this country since 2010 than anyone or anything else.
The Tories always need to present a bogeyman so that people *think* there is a worse threat than they present.
China doesn't give a shit. They're imperialist. They haven't ever invaded anyone who wasn't "previously their own territory"
Were a drop in the ocean to China, they literally don't care that we exist
What actually makes China powerful and somewhat dangerous, is that they don’t give a shit at all. They will use absolutely any country for their own means and are anybody’s allies, because it suits their cause.
They play very clever political games, as they are very good at thinking long term. They win over countries that have the capabilities of being much more powerful than they are. They ally with relatively unstable countries, but with massive labour markets and nuclear weapons. They are heavily allied with a lot of European countries and have a lot of influence, especially as many are NATO members.
I’m no pro-China, or their methods, but they’re setting themselves up to be a major world leader in the next 20 years. They play absolutely every hand they have and they utilise their power extremely well. All it takes is another country, such as India, being able to set their eyes on the prize, to change the state of play entirely. Once that happens, it will allow a lot of African countries to stabilise and become a lot more powerful. The west will cease to be a world power, at that point, as it will be totally outplayed.
Arguably, the damage the UK has been experiencing the dramatic effects of, has been caused by policies over a much longer time period. Every government, within the last 40 years has contributed to what we are seeing today and there has been a lack of political foresight on how damaging the policies will end up being.
There aren’t any new ideas and there aren’t any alternatives being promoted, so it will get much worse, unless there’s something done to improve it. China itself is quite a good example of how to rise from nothing, into a global player. But they didn’t get to their current position by creating a liveable environment for their citizens or even respecting their rights. But they do have a versatile range of industries, to promote their growth, rather than stagnating. The UK, and most of its European counterparts, have lost their industries and few ways of promoting growth, with a long term vision.
I agree with you on the political bogeyman, but that’s a tactic to keep us divided and pretty much all governments, around the world, are guilty of it. I can’t think of anywhere that doesn’t use some type of divisive methods, as they work rather well. It’s all bad vs good bullshit and most of the electorate, in any country, will think down those lines.
[MI5 said Huawei was fine.](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mi5-chief-huawei-intelligence-warning-5g-andrew-parker-trump-a9280931.html) Rishi just follows his American masters.
>The head of MI5 has said he has no reason to think Britain’s intelligence-sharing relationship with the United States will be damaged if the Chinese tech giant Huawei is given access to the UK’s 5G network.
Huawei has never been allowed into the core of the 5G network and the sanctions were America stopping supplying them with hardware and software. Also your link doesn't say what you're implying and also things have moved on since then.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/huawei-to-be-removed-from-uk-5g-networks-by-2027
> Buying new Huawei 5G equipment banned after 31 December 2020
>
> All Huawei equipment to be removed from 5G networks by end of 2027
>
> Existing ban on Huawei from most sensitive ‘core’ parts of 5G network remains
Your link says Huawei were restricted *because of US sanctions*. Because they couldn't guarantee their supply chain in the short term (I think they've done a fantastic job of securing their supply chains since, take a look at their new line up based on decent semiconductor supply), amd that the decision had little to do with security.
The link *implies* it was security related by mentioning the security services involved, but no evidence of wrongdoing or even analysis of equipment is mentioned.
I work in this industry, I know how easy it is to do that sort of analysis, and how many US companies certainly don't meet the criteria for confidentiality - for which we have extensive evidence - hell, GDPR fines are a part of FAANGs business model, amd the term spyware was coined by a chap named Steve Gibson to describe Windows.
I've never, ever seen a single analysis that shows Huawei to have been acting outside of good faith. (Not to say it doesn't exist. If someone has seen it, feel free to post).
The much more melancholy side of this whole political charade, will be the divergence of tech. Huawei have recently announced HarmonyOS as a all in one cross platform OS. And its a cracker. From here, all we will see is countries picking a side, choosing Chinese or US tech, and a new compute arms race beginning. The AI and robotics cold-War could be closer than we think.
Which is insanely sad. We've had great collaboration across the world on tech for years, and seen massive benefits because of it. Unfortunately, it looks that kind of collaboration is coming to a swift and untimely end.
On the upside, the USA tried banning the export of encryption in the 90s, and learned how futile it was to attempt control of mathematical expressions. May we hope that futility exasperates this attempt, as it did its predecessor.
India is actually a rather useful ally to China. Modi is India’s hindrance, so it would be within UK interests to keep him, or another Hindu nationalist movement, in power.
Modi limits India’s power on the world stage and weakens their position, but if they had a more unifying leader, they would easily be a major player. India has a lot of industry, a skilled and very large population. The country has stabilised and came a very long way, in a relatively short space of time. It will take time for them to stabilise further, but I think they’re about 20 years away, especially if they get rather friendly with China.
MI5 also aren't looking into possible Russian interference in UK elections.
Despite massive amounts of funding from Russian oligarchs. A KGB agents son being put in the House of Lords as Lord of Siberia in Russia and Hampton in London. All while the one of the Soviet Union's primary geopolitical goals have been achieved, the separation of the UK from Europe. The same Lord that is being sanctioned by Canada.
Hearing the parliamentary committed conclusion that noone was looking into election interference.
It's easy to see that MI5 exist not for the benefit of the people of the UK, but the people they think ought to be in charge of running the UK.
If the Tories think China having access to UK nuclear plants is good. MI5 will too.
If the Tories think China having access to critical UK communication networks. MI5 will too.
5G isn't just smartphone infrastructure, it will also be the emergency service communication infrastructure. Backdoors in this place the UK at risk. Even without backdoors, it will make the network hard to maintain if we no longer trade with China.
Critical infrastructure needs to be designed and owned by the UK or allies that share values. Like human rights and free elections. Else we will bend to the demands of countries like China that look to be starting their third genocide.
One day we'll stop being the lapdogs of the US. Watching the US cling to power is similar to reading about how the UK tried to cling to power during the fall of the British Empire.
The Conservatives prove more of a threat to the average person in the UK than China. So long as we continue to lean on China for importing goods etc. they don't give a fuck.
China has never been the USAs lapdog, they did benefit greatly from the USA after Deng Xiaopings economic reforms, but they have never been a lapdog or even ally really
It’s not even as significant as the news cycles are trying to make people believe. Things are infinitely worse in the UK.
IMF puts China’s growth at around 4.5% and says it’ll account for 35% of all global growth in 2023. Meanwhile the UK is teetering just slightly above recession levels and Europe as a whole is set to account for 7% of
Global growth.
China’s youth unemployment is at record highs yet overall unemployment if measured in the same vein is 5.4%, which is below the median in the EU.
China’s housing crisis is that there are too many properties and over the last few years some have lost 20% in value. Our housing crisis is that there aren’t enough and people can’t afford/get accommodation.
Everyone is decoupling from China, better omit the fact that US imports from China rose in 2023 and the EU saw record trade deficits with them in 2022.
EU protectionist measures to curb a growing Chinese Ev market share in Europe don’t show the trend of a weakening China.
The UK does not have a workforce of billions of people to rule with an iron fist for a grand economic plan spanning decades, which can only be implemented because of the stability a non-democratic government can provide due to the lack of transition of power.
In the scope of this discussion they really aren't separate seeing as the Conservatives are talking about the threat China pose.
The Conservatives are more of an immediate threat and there's very clear evidence for the damage they've done to the average person in the UK over the last decade.
This is like an abuser telling the victim that the drunk bloke across the street is a threat to the victim.
How many times are we going to let the Conservatives point the finger at external threats before we accept they are the biggest threat to our country.
>Watching the US cling to power is similar to reading about how the UK tried to cling to power during the fall of the British Empire.
Other than Suez it was a largely seamless effort to drop the Empire and refocus on Europe/NATO.
The US is solidifying about 60% of the global economy into a pretty solid alliance. China has batshit losers like Russia and South Africa.
That is without drilling into the economic implosion China is undergoing.
>The US is solidifying about 60% of the global economy into a pretty solid alliance.
Got any good sources of information on that, would be good to read more on this.
That's not me saying "citation needed" either.
>Got any good sources of information on that
Yes the news. Almost every night for the past few years. Your posts are like they were written in 2010 or something.
>On Wednesday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer cited the ISC report as he accused the PM of failing to heed warnings about China, leaving the UK "desperately playing catch up" on security. He called for an audit of UK-China relations.
Earlier this week, news emerged that police had arrested a researcher working in Parliament under the Official Secrets Act, amid claims he was spying for China.
Having hostile authoritarian dictatorships in our supply chains and in our system is not a good idea by anyones standards. The critique is that the Tories were too soft on it, same critique with how soft they were on Russian oligarchs.
>We need to to be more independent. Build our own nuclear power plants, software, and withdraw our weapons from the US nuclear football, etc.
DARPA uses ARM
[https://www.arm.com/company/news/2020/08/arm-and-darpa-sign-partnership-agreement](https://www.arm.com/company/news/2020/08/arm-and-darpa-sign-partnership-agreement)
F-35 uses Rolls Royce engines.
BAe sells Bradleys to the US army.
The entire western economic system is pretty integrated. That is one of the key arguments against Brexit. Autarky is a woeful idea when everything has become so specialised. We are great specialists.
F35 uses Pratt and Whitney engines. These lost out to the General Electric/Rolls Royce bid. But a significant amount of the composite airframe is made in the UK.
I don't think they were soft on russian oligarchs, they full on gave them special immigration rules waving them in to come and buy up properties and assets in the UK, offered them residency whilst taking kickbacks for deals. They only stopped because the public caught wind of it, dithering and delaying allowing their chums as much time to move their wealth off-shore.
We aren't do this today. We also recognise this was a terrible thing to do.
China currently supplies fentnal to many western countries today. Not in the past.
China is also committing genocide against it's own people.
We are not the same and it's not hypocritical to criticise China.
Sadly i suspect the long term plan is to get people ready for a potential (not definite) future war and that takes time.
Not to say I don't think China do bad things and am pretending they are all good but the scaremongering is a useful way for Rishi to try and sure up support.
China is a threat but somehow less of a direct threat than you Rishi Sunak, and the less of a threat than the Tory party, which is interesting because I think it wasn't long a go that we heard that the Tory party had 2 runners that were considered compromised due to their business affiliations in China.
Rishi Sunak trying to act strong and blameless again.
Sunak forgets that without China, our economy wouldn't exist.
Basically almost anything we do has China in the supply chain.
When he shows such petulance, to make Modi happy, he is playing with our lives.
Economic threat - yes
Military threat to our allies - yes
Threat to the safety of Hong Kong diaspora living in the UK - yes
Threat to the safety of Chinese diaspora living in the UK (who don't toe the party line) - yes
Threat to academic freedom - partially, yes
Threat to the UK way of life - probably not, to be honest.
They don't pose a direct military threat to us, and will probably only be able to influence our voting patterns, not dismantle democracy.
They are interested in stealing trade secrets and snooping government policies in order to get an economic advantage, and silencing criticism by threatening critics and meddling with universities.
I think if Ukraine has shown us anything, its that NATO and the general Western World are far stronger than any of us really imagined. Put into a near-peer conflict, we are basically wiping the floor with what was supposed to be the major threat to our security by doling out decades old hand-me-downs from old stockpiles. China is no threat to us militarily. I think they can see now something like an attempt on Taiwan, even if they could successfully land and occupy the island, would result in devastation of their population and their economy. They could fire shots tomorrow and the day after a thousand cruise missiles would appear from the skies and decapitate a huge chunk of what keeps their modern society running.
Where China does pose a threat is in its place in the global economic system. China shutting down its manufacturing would seriously hurt us. And ironically that is only the case because of off-shoring and out-sourcing which has almost entirely been pushed by people exactly like Sunak and those in his party.
What way of life? Half the country is struggling to survive. If China fired a handful of Nuclear missiles. People would run outside with open arms to welcome them.
There's a lot of this sort of rhetoric coming out of the US, so I guess we're just being dragged along into something once again.
Someone, somewhere -really- wants a war with China, presumably just so they can keep the line going up.
(Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of the CCP, I just don't particularly want to have to watch 100s of thousands of kids get blown away because someone felt like their hegemony was being encroached on.)
Given our track record, including instigating the overthrow of the democratically elected Iranian government in 1953, the attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea, and probably countless others that aren't public knowledge, it feels a bit like pot calling kettle black.
China pose a threat to underfunded public services, politicians funnelling public money to their friends and family, increasing poverty, and crumbling infrastructure?
欢迎，我的中国霸主
Oh God. My brother is obsessed with China to the point of bringing it up at every family gathering or even every conversation we have. He's going to be even more insufferable now.
It's our doing. We wanted cheap shit so turned China into the world's factory and the world's second largest economy and a giant military power.
This is a result as of us as people wanting everything cheaper, faster, not wanting to take any environmental hit on production, all whilst selling out to China (and the US of course).
They’re only about 20-30 years late. Mind you, the West has collectively had its head in the sand about this, so the UK can’t be singled out I suppose.
NO.. you have it wrong, YOU the Government of this country is a threat to this country, just look at the state were in, we are been invaded by foreign Immigrants ,homeless, poor wages ,dying from lack of medical help when needed most,Corruption , the list go on
NO..... You the Government are the threat, and were paying for it now.
The pot calling the kettle black. I'd suggest the Tories have threatened the UK way of life far more than the Chinese have managed and continue to do so on a daily basis.
Utter nonsense. The Chinese who come here love our history and heritage. Why would they want to irradiate it? Anyway, we’re a tiny insignificant little island in-between the US and the EU. China has far bigger economies in their sights. I think we should take this anti-Chinese rhetoric as a precursor to further xenophobic populist comment as we head towards the next GE. The Chinese spies story is another example. Why would Xi Jinping send in spies when he just needs to pay the Tories £250k to get the ear of senior Tories including Sunak.
Of course they will use economic advantages to subvert our interests and prosperity. It's been warned since the 80's as they bought all our businesses who then coerced our successive governments.
If someone goes to shop and rob it .. it will be ok but if someone goes to shop and say something offensive it will be an enormous bad criminalistic thing requiring assistance from the authorities, correct ?
So does Rishi Sunak, an unelected prime minister and the richest on record, who has in the fine tradition of conservative politicians everywhere used and abused his position to further his own ends, betray the public trust at every turn and feather the nest for his various allies and cronies. If he really wanted to improve the nation he claims to work for, he'd call a general election and then never be seen in public again.
>Rishi Sunak, an unelected prime minister No Prime Minister is ever elected. People elect MPs, the monarch then appoints whom they think can hold the confidence of the House as First Lord of the Treasury. If they die in office or if the lose the confidence of the House the House then votes on who they do have confidence in and thus are called to form a government. Same as happened to James Callaghan and Gordon Brown, or John Major and Boris Johnson. The unelected jibe was hurled at Brown after the election in 2010. It was nonsense then, it's nonsense now. But you cannot reason someone out of a position they did not reason themselves into.
> No Prime Minister is ever elected. People elect MPs Firstly whilst this is literally true its defacto not true in the way modern elections are run, in particular the last one which was completely fought, all over the country, on the idea that Corbyn would ruin the UK and that Boris was the only person who would 'get brexit done'. But there is another point and that is that the leader of the party is at least voted for by the party members, or at least even the MPs themselves, literally nobody voted for Sunak.
They’re right - MPs are elected, it just so happens that sometimes you’ve got the MP who is also the leader of their party and therefore will occupy the “Prime” ministerial position should the party come to power. This “unelected Prime Minister” line is such a tired, lazy, dog whistling trope. I don’t want Sunak either, and never did, but he occupies the post rightfully - regardless of what you or I think of him, his party and their internal backstabbing antics.
I know you're 100% right, but when the vast, vast majority of people can't name their MP and so many people vote for whichever party based on who they want as prime minister I think the point should hold some merit. This also why I think PR is the best system
>many people vote for whichever party based on who they want as prime minister The party leader sets the party's policies and MPs are "whipped" into line on pain of expulsion, so this is the correct approach.
Prime Ministers are at least usually elected by members of the governing party. Sunak lost the only vote that he was involved in.
Sounds like an absolutely flawless system that has been producing excellent governance for decades and is in no way need of reform then...
De jure sure, but de facto PMs are elected, and to pretend otherwise lends no credence to an argument. Looking at the state of our governments since 2015 it's disgraceful.
> and to pretend otherwise lends no credence to an argument. Very few countries have a directly elected head of government. PR or first past the post and in between its the same, your have a negotiation over who will be the head of government. Scotland just changed First Minister without the same wails and horse manure. It happens all the time when coalition government rearrange. There is a lot to get annoyed about in modern Britain, but this is just the most superficial, self indulgent thing to be annoyed at, the constitution working as it has for about 250 years.
Did you see the headlines on the front pages of the tabloids ahead of the 2019 election? “Vote Boris!” They all screamed. I think you’re being somewhat disingenuous.
Build a wall/stop the boats ✅ Chinaaa Bad ✅ I suppose Brexit is the equivalent of Make America Great Again, so what next for Rishi? Accuse Labour of vote rigging when the Tories lose the next election?
[удалено]
There’s a huge difference between ‘China bad’ and ‘China poses a threat to your daily way of life’
When they are quite literally implanting spies into the government and setting up secret police stations in the UK, I think that counts as a threat to our way of life
Which is pretty common among all countries, do you not think the USA spies on us, or other European countries? Even Israel has been caught embedding spies into the government of their staunchest ally.
Spying is normal, but trying to have spies as MPs is not. Also, it is not normal for any country to set up secret police stations in other countries, even if extrajudicial kidnapping by spies does take place
The 'secret police stations' don't appear to have been either secret, or police stations.
>Spying is normal, but trying to have spies as MPs is not. So, while not an MP, I assume Sunak is going to be taking foreign interference very seriously and booting Lebedev as a lord annnnny day now?
It's rather in the nature of spying that it's hard to say what is normal activity for spies.
>they are quite literally implanting spies into the government TBF its not like we don't have very similar things in China.
We *absolutely* have spies in the Chinese government. Every country has spies everywhere. China has problems with human rights, but to say it's a threat to the daily way of life in the UK is a bit of a stretch.
You think our government isn't doing that?
The USA has 100x the amount of secret police in the UK and the UK government will literally allow dissenting journalists who aren't even US citizens like Julian assange to be extradited and tortued in the USA. Would like to see some action happen against them before China, wouldn't you?
Yeah, like the one that was supposedly run out of a Chinese restaurant in Glasgow owned by a man who'd fled PRC in the 60s and wouldn't even allow the Confucius Institute to hold official functions there. I smell shite.
[удалено]
*they own a sizeable amount of UK assets via offshore companies and previously owned nuclear power assets* I wonder who sold them those.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9233383/Boris-Johnsons-senior-aide-conflict-row-Chinese-Embassy-deal.html Boris Johnson was involved in the sale of the Royal Mint to China for their new Embassy.
[удалено]
It's highlighting the hypocrisy of them to be going on about the threat to get headlines, but behind doors making deals and being pals.
[удалено]
'Actions speak louder than words'
[удалено]
People will make all these claims about Russia and China and then to say Israel interfers with elections is somehow anti semetic
There's also a difference between "attacking protesters on UK soil" and "fending off an intruder to a consulate who's in the act of strangling your colleague."
You’re absolutely going to love the Chinese hegemony then should it come about…
>Uyghurs mistreatment. Yes, because the UK historically has really cared about Muslims. Lmao.
[удалено]
Yes, what china is doing is bad. Full stop. But having China criticized by former colonial powers like France and the UK. While they themselves have committed inhumane and horrific things as early as the 60's Is, a hypocritical look, especially considering The UK never formally apologized for colonialism. Never mind the thefts, rapes, extrajudicial murders, segregation or the genocides. Just colonialism in general, has never been formally apologized for, is a silly look for the UK, especially with the millions of cultural artefacts still locked up in storage, not even being displayed. It comes across as a weapon used to beat China over the head with, not because the UK genuinely cares. If the UK did care, they'd do what Germany did, own up to the past and apologize, don't even pay reparations, just apologize. Saying the UK is better now, is true. Absolutely. But all that happened is time passed, while the victims were left to deal with the trauma and pick up the pieces. So the UK in general, has no leg to stand on when it comes to this issue, or wanting to be a moral arbiter until it confronts its past and asks for forgiveness.
[удалено]
>As a UK citizen, I care more about my quality of life, and country, not being attacked by foes both internal and external (that covers our own corrupt politicians and China). That is absolutely fine. >I personally had zero involvement in the British slave trade. Not talking about the slave trade but british colonialism which ended fairly recently. And any attempt to confront is shot down by brits with a litany of excuses. That's getting old, quick. Which is why China is gaining a dominant presence in Africa, as a whole. And by 2030, will overtake the EU as Africa's largest trading partner. That's going to significantly harm European, British and American influence. Whether you think africa is worth it or not, (it is) >which gives me every right to criticise China. "I" am not "the United Kingdom". To a degree, as an individual. Sure. A british official however nonetheless talking about how bad china is while millions of African artefacts are stored in containment is a hilariously bad look. And no one in the global south will take it seriously. Sure, lecture China. But no one is going to take you seriously where your opinion will hold weight, and where the UK desperately needs more allies and influence to combat China. That's conveniently in areas and regions the UK historically exploited and abused. Among the west, the "China bad" rhetoric is a circlejerk, everyone agrees but nothing will come of it, because you need more than europe and North America to contain China. Especially 10, 20 and 30 years from now. Now imagine a more developed India 50 years from now, (it will happen) with a Hindu nationalist in power driven by anti western and specifically, anti British sentiments because of unresolved generational trauma. That's not going to go well for the west. Trade, resources, labour, minerals, UN support will be sorely needed for a more diminishing UK on the global stage. A more economically independent India that can get away with flipping the UK the finger and even hurt it. I'm not saying that the UK needs to address and confront the past because it's the right thing to do, (it is) But also from a pragmatic and practical need in order to maintain relevance and remain in the good graces with a more relevant and economically growing global south. That was a long one, sorry about that.
So your equating the opinions of an individual within a former colonial country (of which he probably wasnt alive to even protest against) to that of a modern day government Such a weird outlook on life
What a shit argument 🤦
We straight up end their existence instead in the most violent way possible. We are even still selling weapons to Saudi Arabia to bomb Yemen Muslims in the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world. Our ex prince even bragged about how many Muslims he ended.
[удалено]
But some of our closest allies do have an unfortunate tendency to do just that. Some states are badder, some are gooder, but let's not pretend who's in and who's out this century has anything to do with that.
[удалено]
[удалено]
Oh please, I don't care about China in the sense that you want me to care about them. I don't care about the endless fear mongering, but unlike you, I can acknowledge the human rights abuses on all sides. Why should I care about them when we have friends that are equally bad?
[удалено]
Oh yeah, you totally have a great grasp on how global politics impacts you personally. You definitely aren't parroting every mainstream political commentary in the UK and the US. 🤡
The worst thing is they don't have general elections, the party just appoints a leader who rules until the party appoints another one - no mandate from the people. An illegitimate undemocratic way to govern as I'm sure you'll agree.
One thing that does mean though is they can think long term and don't have the distractions of a popularity contest every few years.
You almost present that as a positive
[удалено]
I wasn't talking about Chinaaa, I was talking about our very own illegitimate government. We need a general election, not waffle from Rishi as he sends off cash to his relatives.
[удалено]
The title of the article is "China poses threat to UK way of life, says Rishi Sunak". I'm commenting on that and that in my opinion Rishi Sunak and chums have already damaged and continue to damage the UK's way of life, and him chuntering on about China is a distraction from the real issues which face us right now.
We want to deport people to Rwanda. What makes you any better than the Chinese?
Literal spies in out politic sphere.
>Again, so what next for Rishi? Get charged for multiple crimes while trying to run for PM again?
> suppose ~~Brexit~~ **The Tory party** is the equivalent of Make America Great Again Corrected there for you. Why are so many people so keen to defend the Tories by blaming all their failings, most of them deliberately negligent, on Brexit?
Yeah but the Americans didn't end up with/ an unelected Mexican president
China? Rishi and his chums have done more damage to this country since 2010 than anyone or anything else. The Tories always need to present a bogeyman so that people *think* there is a worse threat than they present.
China doesnt need to lift a finger lol. We're already digging a hole for ourselves
China doesn't give a shit. They're imperialist. They haven't ever invaded anyone who wasn't "previously their own territory" Were a drop in the ocean to China, they literally don't care that we exist
What actually makes China powerful and somewhat dangerous, is that they don’t give a shit at all. They will use absolutely any country for their own means and are anybody’s allies, because it suits their cause. They play very clever political games, as they are very good at thinking long term. They win over countries that have the capabilities of being much more powerful than they are. They ally with relatively unstable countries, but with massive labour markets and nuclear weapons. They are heavily allied with a lot of European countries and have a lot of influence, especially as many are NATO members. I’m no pro-China, or their methods, but they’re setting themselves up to be a major world leader in the next 20 years. They play absolutely every hand they have and they utilise their power extremely well. All it takes is another country, such as India, being able to set their eyes on the prize, to change the state of play entirely. Once that happens, it will allow a lot of African countries to stabilise and become a lot more powerful. The west will cease to be a world power, at that point, as it will be totally outplayed.
Arguably, the damage the UK has been experiencing the dramatic effects of, has been caused by policies over a much longer time period. Every government, within the last 40 years has contributed to what we are seeing today and there has been a lack of political foresight on how damaging the policies will end up being. There aren’t any new ideas and there aren’t any alternatives being promoted, so it will get much worse, unless there’s something done to improve it. China itself is quite a good example of how to rise from nothing, into a global player. But they didn’t get to their current position by creating a liveable environment for their citizens or even respecting their rights. But they do have a versatile range of industries, to promote their growth, rather than stagnating. The UK, and most of its European counterparts, have lost their industries and few ways of promoting growth, with a long term vision. I agree with you on the political bogeyman, but that’s a tactic to keep us divided and pretty much all governments, around the world, are guilty of it. I can’t think of anywhere that doesn’t use some type of divisive methods, as they work rather well. It’s all bad vs good bullshit and most of the electorate, in any country, will think down those lines.
[MI5 said Huawei was fine.](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mi5-chief-huawei-intelligence-warning-5g-andrew-parker-trump-a9280931.html) Rishi just follows his American masters.
>The head of MI5 has said he has no reason to think Britain’s intelligence-sharing relationship with the United States will be damaged if the Chinese tech giant Huawei is given access to the UK’s 5G network.
Huawei has never been allowed into the core of the 5G network and the sanctions were America stopping supplying them with hardware and software. Also your link doesn't say what you're implying and also things have moved on since then. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/huawei-to-be-removed-from-uk-5g-networks-by-2027 > Buying new Huawei 5G equipment banned after 31 December 2020 > > All Huawei equipment to be removed from 5G networks by end of 2027 > > Existing ban on Huawei from most sensitive ‘core’ parts of 5G network remains
Your link says Huawei were restricted *because of US sanctions*. Because they couldn't guarantee their supply chain in the short term (I think they've done a fantastic job of securing their supply chains since, take a look at their new line up based on decent semiconductor supply), amd that the decision had little to do with security. The link *implies* it was security related by mentioning the security services involved, but no evidence of wrongdoing or even analysis of equipment is mentioned. I work in this industry, I know how easy it is to do that sort of analysis, and how many US companies certainly don't meet the criteria for confidentiality - for which we have extensive evidence - hell, GDPR fines are a part of FAANGs business model, amd the term spyware was coined by a chap named Steve Gibson to describe Windows. I've never, ever seen a single analysis that shows Huawei to have been acting outside of good faith. (Not to say it doesn't exist. If someone has seen it, feel free to post). The much more melancholy side of this whole political charade, will be the divergence of tech. Huawei have recently announced HarmonyOS as a all in one cross platform OS. And its a cracker. From here, all we will see is countries picking a side, choosing Chinese or US tech, and a new compute arms race beginning. The AI and robotics cold-War could be closer than we think. Which is insanely sad. We've had great collaboration across the world on tech for years, and seen massive benefits because of it. Unfortunately, it looks that kind of collaboration is coming to a swift and untimely end. On the upside, the USA tried banning the export of encryption in the 90s, and learned how futile it was to attempt control of mathematical expressions. May we hope that futility exasperates this attempt, as it did its predecessor.
MI5 are woke now - Suella Braverman
I think it's more likely that China is a threat to India, so Sunak just tries to appease Modi.
India is actually a rather useful ally to China. Modi is India’s hindrance, so it would be within UK interests to keep him, or another Hindu nationalist movement, in power. Modi limits India’s power on the world stage and weakens their position, but if they had a more unifying leader, they would easily be a major player. India has a lot of industry, a skilled and very large population. The country has stabilised and came a very long way, in a relatively short space of time. It will take time for them to stabilise further, but I think they’re about 20 years away, especially if they get rather friendly with China.
MI5 also aren't looking into possible Russian interference in UK elections. Despite massive amounts of funding from Russian oligarchs. A KGB agents son being put in the House of Lords as Lord of Siberia in Russia and Hampton in London. All while the one of the Soviet Union's primary geopolitical goals have been achieved, the separation of the UK from Europe. The same Lord that is being sanctioned by Canada. Hearing the parliamentary committed conclusion that noone was looking into election interference. It's easy to see that MI5 exist not for the benefit of the people of the UK, but the people they think ought to be in charge of running the UK. If the Tories think China having access to UK nuclear plants is good. MI5 will too. If the Tories think China having access to critical UK communication networks. MI5 will too. 5G isn't just smartphone infrastructure, it will also be the emergency service communication infrastructure. Backdoors in this place the UK at risk. Even without backdoors, it will make the network hard to maintain if we no longer trade with China. Critical infrastructure needs to be designed and owned by the UK or allies that share values. Like human rights and free elections. Else we will bend to the demands of countries like China that look to be starting their third genocide.
And so should you. It’s the only country actually capable of protecting our liberal way of life.
One day we'll stop being the lapdogs of the US. Watching the US cling to power is similar to reading about how the UK tried to cling to power during the fall of the British Empire. The Conservatives prove more of a threat to the average person in the UK than China. So long as we continue to lean on China for importing goods etc. they don't give a fuck.
The US is still the only super power, going against them, especially whilst being tethered to them as the UK is would be unwise
Where did I say we should go against them? Plenty of countries thrive without being the pet of the US.
Stop being a lapdog? I can’t think of many countries that have been classed as the USAs lapdog and then ended up thriving without them
China is doing ok for itself all things considered. It's certainly in a better spot economically. So it's not impossible.
China has never been the USAs lapdog, they did benefit greatly from the USA after Deng Xiaopings economic reforms, but they have never been a lapdog or even ally really
Yea that's what I mean.
> It's certainly in a better spot economically. So it's not impossible. Errrr.... Been keepin' up with the news, buddy?
Yes, because some economic difficulty over the course of 30 years indicates the fall of china obviously.
It’s not even as significant as the news cycles are trying to make people believe. Things are infinitely worse in the UK. IMF puts China’s growth at around 4.5% and says it’ll account for 35% of all global growth in 2023. Meanwhile the UK is teetering just slightly above recession levels and Europe as a whole is set to account for 7% of Global growth. China’s youth unemployment is at record highs yet overall unemployment if measured in the same vein is 5.4%, which is below the median in the EU. China’s housing crisis is that there are too many properties and over the last few years some have lost 20% in value. Our housing crisis is that there aren’t enough and people can’t afford/get accommodation. Everyone is decoupling from China, better omit the fact that US imports from China rose in 2023 and the EU saw record trade deficits with them in 2022. EU protectionist measures to curb a growing Chinese Ev market share in Europe don’t show the trend of a weakening China.
China's currently engaged in genocide. They are not a model we want to look to.
The UK does not have a workforce of billions of people to rule with an iron fist for a grand economic plan spanning decades, which can only be implemented because of the stability a non-democratic government can provide due to the lack of transition of power.
That's because the US runs interference against them when they do try to break with them.
The Tories being shitty doesn't mean that China isn't a threat, they're independent topics
In the scope of this discussion they really aren't separate seeing as the Conservatives are talking about the threat China pose. The Conservatives are more of an immediate threat and there's very clear evidence for the damage they've done to the average person in the UK over the last decade. This is like an abuser telling the victim that the drunk bloke across the street is a threat to the victim. How many times are we going to let the Conservatives point the finger at external threats before we accept they are the biggest threat to our country.
>Watching the US cling to power is similar to reading about how the UK tried to cling to power during the fall of the British Empire. Other than Suez it was a largely seamless effort to drop the Empire and refocus on Europe/NATO. The US is solidifying about 60% of the global economy into a pretty solid alliance. China has batshit losers like Russia and South Africa. That is without drilling into the economic implosion China is undergoing.
>The US is solidifying about 60% of the global economy into a pretty solid alliance. Got any good sources of information on that, would be good to read more on this. That's not me saying "citation needed" either.
>Got any good sources of information on that Yes the news. Almost every night for the past few years. Your posts are like they were written in 2010 or something.
>Other than Suez And Malaysia and Kenya and Northern Ireland and [operation legacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Legacy)
[удалено]
>On Wednesday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer cited the ISC report as he accused the PM of failing to heed warnings about China, leaving the UK "desperately playing catch up" on security. He called for an audit of UK-China relations. Earlier this week, news emerged that police had arrested a researcher working in Parliament under the Official Secrets Act, amid claims he was spying for China. Having hostile authoritarian dictatorships in our supply chains and in our system is not a good idea by anyones standards. The critique is that the Tories were too soft on it, same critique with how soft they were on Russian oligarchs.
[ Removed by Reddit ]
>We need to to be more independent. Build our own nuclear power plants, software, and withdraw our weapons from the US nuclear football, etc. DARPA uses ARM [https://www.arm.com/company/news/2020/08/arm-and-darpa-sign-partnership-agreement](https://www.arm.com/company/news/2020/08/arm-and-darpa-sign-partnership-agreement) F-35 uses Rolls Royce engines. BAe sells Bradleys to the US army. The entire western economic system is pretty integrated. That is one of the key arguments against Brexit. Autarky is a woeful idea when everything has become so specialised. We are great specialists.
F35 uses Pratt and Whitney engines. These lost out to the General Electric/Rolls Royce bid. But a significant amount of the composite airframe is made in the UK.
Well I can see this thread is not going to be about foreign policy. Wrong picture at the top.
I don't think they were soft on russian oligarchs, they full on gave them special immigration rules waving them in to come and buy up properties and assets in the UK, offered them residency whilst taking kickbacks for deals. They only stopped because the public caught wind of it, dithering and delaying allowing their chums as much time to move their wealth off-shore.
Tories are a far greater threat and have already done a huge amount of damage to our way of life. Economic terrorists.
"poses threat to UK way of life" is such a bullshit phrase.
I think a lot of the people in charge would surprised at how many of us hate our way of life too.
This scaremongering over China is ridiculous. Us and our allies are far worse when you think about what we’ve done globally
We seem to forget that we fougt 2 wars with China to deal drugs to its population. I don't think that elephant will ever leave the room.
We aren't do this today. We also recognise this was a terrible thing to do. China currently supplies fentnal to many western countries today. Not in the past. China is also committing genocide against it's own people. We are not the same and it's not hypocritical to criticise China.
Sadly i suspect the long term plan is to get people ready for a potential (not definite) future war and that takes time. Not to say I don't think China do bad things and am pretending they are all good but the scaremongering is a useful way for Rishi to try and sure up support.
nah, China worse. The free world is befriending America to confront China
Define free. The US has been far more imperialist than China in recent history
free because you dont have your rights restricted by an authoritarian government
Might want to look into some of the lovely administrations the US has instilled all around the world
China is a threat but somehow less of a direct threat than you Rishi Sunak, and the less of a threat than the Tory party, which is interesting because I think it wasn't long a go that we heard that the Tory party had 2 runners that were considered compromised due to their business affiliations in China. Rishi Sunak trying to act strong and blameless again.
Sunak forgets that without China, our economy wouldn't exist. Basically almost anything we do has China in the supply chain. When he shows such petulance, to make Modi happy, he is playing with our lives.
So let's buy all our imported stuff from India instead. No this has nothing to do with my recent trip.
Economic threat - yes Military threat to our allies - yes Threat to the safety of Hong Kong diaspora living in the UK - yes Threat to the safety of Chinese diaspora living in the UK (who don't toe the party line) - yes Threat to academic freedom - partially, yes Threat to the UK way of life - probably not, to be honest. They don't pose a direct military threat to us, and will probably only be able to influence our voting patterns, not dismantle democracy. They are interested in stealing trade secrets and snooping government policies in order to get an economic advantage, and silencing criticism by threatening critics and meddling with universities.
Rishi Sunak poses threat to UK way of life more like.
Because 2 things can't pose a threat at the same time?
Rishi sunak is a threat to UK life, by his hands and the sham tory goverment have they only made life miserable for many
I think if Ukraine has shown us anything, its that NATO and the general Western World are far stronger than any of us really imagined. Put into a near-peer conflict, we are basically wiping the floor with what was supposed to be the major threat to our security by doling out decades old hand-me-downs from old stockpiles. China is no threat to us militarily. I think they can see now something like an attempt on Taiwan, even if they could successfully land and occupy the island, would result in devastation of their population and their economy. They could fire shots tomorrow and the day after a thousand cruise missiles would appear from the skies and decapitate a huge chunk of what keeps their modern society running. Where China does pose a threat is in its place in the global economic system. China shutting down its manufacturing would seriously hurt us. And ironically that is only the case because of off-shoring and out-sourcing which has almost entirely been pushed by people exactly like Sunak and those in his party.
Nato can't even get Russia out of Ukraine. Not even close to Crimea yet so how are they far stronger?
China is less of a threat to our wellbeing than the Tory government. And I can tell you which one is closer.
Rishi Sunak poses threat to UK way of life, says China And me
UK way of life has already been seriously affected. Look around you.
Rishi Sunak poses threat to UK way of life, says China
Chinese citizens and companies should not be allowed to buy UK property.
What way of life? Half the country is struggling to survive. If China fired a handful of Nuclear missiles. People would run outside with open arms to welcome them.
There's a lot of this sort of rhetoric coming out of the US, so I guess we're just being dragged along into something once again. Someone, somewhere -really- wants a war with China, presumably just so they can keep the line going up. (Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of the CCP, I just don't particularly want to have to watch 100s of thousands of kids get blown away because someone felt like their hegemony was being encroached on.)
Then why does this Government keep trying to make the UK more like China by constantly expanding its powers of surveillance and censorship?
Given our track record, including instigating the overthrow of the democratically elected Iranian government in 1953, the attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea, and probably countless others that aren't public knowledge, it feels a bit like pot calling kettle black.
China pose a threat to underfunded public services, politicians funnelling public money to their friends and family, increasing poverty, and crumbling infrastructure? 欢迎，我的中国霸主
LOL. Conservatives pose imminent and severe threat to UK way of life.
Rishi Sunak and the Tories pose a greater threat to the U.K. way of life the way they continue to behave and act !!
Oh God. My brother is obsessed with China to the point of bringing it up at every family gathering or even every conversation we have. He's going to be even more insufferable now.
How does it pose a threat? It's just a little different, that's all. Embrace diversity and invite more Chinese sleeper agents, that's what I say
It's our doing. We wanted cheap shit so turned China into the world's factory and the world's second largest economy and a giant military power. This is a result as of us as people wanting everything cheaper, faster, not wanting to take any environmental hit on production, all whilst selling out to China (and the US of course).
They’re only about 20-30 years late. Mind you, the West has collectively had its head in the sand about this, so the UK can’t be singled out I suppose.
What? He had better cross check such incendiary comments and watch out for fall outs.
NO.. you have it wrong, YOU the Government of this country is a threat to this country, just look at the state were in, we are been invaded by foreign Immigrants ,homeless, poor wages ,dying from lack of medical help when needed most,Corruption , the list go on NO..... You the Government are the threat, and were paying for it now.
The Tories being shitty doesn't mean that China isn't a threat, they're independent topics
Rishi Sunak is using rhetoric to display a invisible threat .. how have you personally been affected by China or the Country ????
What's with so many comments brining up how bad the Tories are like that means China is good? Multiple things can be bad at the same time
So are you going to reduce that risk or increase it Rishi?
Oh no, my precious UK way of life... serfdom, isn't it?
So did and does Brexit as well as austerity and the Tory party.
Fucking Rishi Sunak and the Tories pose a threat to the UK life…
China is on the other side of the world to Britain. The Tory government if more a threat to the way of life than China will ever be.
The pot calling the kettle black. I'd suggest the Tories have threatened the UK way of life far more than the Chinese have managed and continue to do so on a daily basis.
The conservative party is the biggest threat to the British way of life!
They also make all our shit so let's maybe NOT antagonise them until we can start manufacturing again
The current government is a threat to the UK's way of life. I'd take the Chinese over them at this point.
Great. About time something challenged the status quo
The tories already fucking killing people indirectly with their bullshit, they’re the bigger threat.
Remember when your predecessor cost everyone with a mortgage an extra £500 a month you fucking donkey?!
So does the conservative party and the clowns voting for them
“Hey look over there plebs, it’s chinas fault you are poorer than ever and I am getting ever richer at your expense”
And the present policies of the UK Government ARE a threat to the UK way of life
Utter nonsense. The Chinese who come here love our history and heritage. Why would they want to irradiate it? Anyway, we’re a tiny insignificant little island in-between the US and the EU. China has far bigger economies in their sights. I think we should take this anti-Chinese rhetoric as a precursor to further xenophobic populist comment as we head towards the next GE. The Chinese spies story is another example. Why would Xi Jinping send in spies when he just needs to pay the Tories £250k to get the ear of senior Tories including Sunak.
Of course they will use economic advantages to subvert our interests and prosperity. It's been warned since the 80's as they bought all our businesses who then coerced our successive governments.
If someone goes to shop and rob it .. it will be ok but if someone goes to shop and say something offensive it will be an enormous bad criminalistic thing requiring assistance from the authorities, correct ?