Now that China is the most advanced and dominant country, best place to learn Chinese?

China has maintained a policy of not lauching nukes first. That has been their policy since they obtained nuclear weapons capability. But they are patient, extremely patient. However, if the trade is blockaded, then they will invade India, Vietnam, South Korea via North Korea, etc. They will do that first and secure those positions on the disputed territory to stretch our resolve in those areas.

 

Its just not in the cards ... How you going to blockade from 1000 miles away in the first place ? even if you wanted to. Sure you could patrol around and seize ships . most will get through .. and there are some really nasty things that China could do in retaliation .. disrupting our shipping trade .. blowing ships up left right and center ... all over the world ...

If you think Iran's drones were impressive .... and I certainly do .. just wait until you see what China has to offer .. launched a hypersonic glide vehicle that circumnavigated the planet a year or two ago.. Their new Space Station will be fully operational by end of the year ..

Not gonna happen ..

 

You can't blockade Chinese ports, there are too many of them. However, if somehow we do or a group of nations do blockade China for whatever reason, China will retaliate by invading and forcing us to make a decision to either blockade or support our allies and friends. And that can't happen because we do not have the military strength to do so.

 

When Chairman Mao met US Republican president Richard Nixon in 1972, he expressed his fondness for right-wing politicians.

"I like rightists," Mao told Nixon. "I am comparatively happy when these people on the right come into power."
...
In Henan province, there is a property management consulting firm called Trump Consulting. It has no connection with Mr Trump, but says on its website it is inspired by his property empire.
...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-35839782

R's have long been trying to get us to learn Chinese. Chinese are who they are today, because of R's.

 

Unless you are planning to go live in China, "Chinese," is not the most useful language to learn. The majority of single language, speakers of Chinese, are in China. The world's language of commerce, is still English, and I wouldn't expect that to change, anytime soon. Also, it should be noted, that there are various different, Chinese dialects, from which to choose.

If you were (let's pretend) going to be doing much world travelling, you'd find it easier to find speakers of English & other colonial European languages, than to find Chinese speakers, outside of China. There might well still be more French speakers, than speakers of Chinese, even in Vietnam. Obviously, Spanish comes in handy, in much of the Western Hemisphere: most of South America (and would still be of some use, in Brazil) plus all of Central America, and, in North America, in Mexico as well as more & more, in the U.S. Arabic is spoken throughout the Middle East, w/ a few exceptions (hey, if we're gonna pretend you might go live in China, why not plan you a vacation, in the Mid East?).

Though they were not successful colonizers, Germans are known for being world travellers, and it is a widely known language. Also, it would probably be easier for you to learn, as English is a Germanic language, so there will be, for instance, many similar words. And if economic strength is your litmus, the combined strength of all the economies of English-speaking nations, plus Germany, is rather substantial.

 

All are behind the First, Second and Third Island chain from which we would contain an expansionist China should the need arise.

If our allies and friendly neighbors were to side with an expansionist China against the containing Free Navies, they would no longer be either allies or friends.

 

LOL, to properly intercede with the few ships we have, you will need bearing, speed, and distance. And that involves three aircraft carriers and about a half dozen Hawkeyes on a continues 24 hour rotation, which means some 24 Hawkeyes in total. We don't have that many in the entire Pacific Fleet, including reserves. But it can't happen. We do not have the numbers in ships or planes or the will.

China is not our enemy here, at least not economically. But if you want that, then OBL will cut production even further. You think we have gas shortages now? It will not compare to what will happen if we follow your plan.

 

If they don't get froggy we won't have any problems. If they do, the Free Nations will bury them.

China cannot steal Taiwan or the Senkakus, or anything else in the region if a vast number of their ships are sunk and their sailors drowning.

Best bet is they don't attack their peaceful neighbors.

 

Most Chinese can and do speak English, especially the younger crowds, from high school to the twenty-somethings and even some thirty-somethings. One service that is unique to China are Business English Translators even though the boss can converse to you in English. But for tradition and for to save face, they will speak in their Native Language and have a professional Translator there if you are tying to negotiate a business deal. Interesting.

However, if you are planning to travel, learning a few words and phrases is helpful. It shows respect for that culture and country while you are visiting. And when you say I can only speak English in their native Language, they will understand. However, speaking is not the only option. For instance, depending on where you go, negotiations is still the norm and no one pays full price. So, if they offer you a deal on sunglasses for X RMB, you can say I want this for XX RMB. And they usually will agree or make a counter offer. Then other times, because you are a "Westerner" they may assume you are there just for sex no matter what you say. And that can get interesting as well. Was lost, asked for directions in Chinese, and was offered a girl in return. And yet, I was married and had the ring on my wedding finger. That was an awkward moment for all of us.

 

I thought people such as yourself loved to prattle that the "U.S. has more aircraft carriers than the rest of the world combined.".

 

All of the free nations rely on them just as much as we do, even Japan, although they will never admit it publicly. It is still a pipe dream with disastrous consequences. And for some odd reason that happens, your next destination will be 13 steps.

 

We do, we have 11 of them stretched from one end of the ocean to the other. We have five in deployment, five in dock for repairs and replenishment, and one undergoing a major overhaul. We have three in the Pacific on patrol at any one time from the 7th fleet to the 3rd fleet. We have another 5 in the Atlantic to keep an eye on Russia and a few other places. But the key is I have a pretty good idea of what our capablitiies are and what it takes. It is not that hard, it is just numbered if you know how to do the numbers of a deployment. Take for instance an aircraft carrier. there is over 5000 personnel generally. Some 2500 for the ship and 1500 for the airwing. They rotate 6 hours on and 6 hours off for 24/7/365 while deployed. Take that same principle and apply it to the E2-C Hawkeye which has a maxium range of about 250 to 300 miles 360 for surface detection. And we have not talked about China's capability in submarine warfare, which you too have to account for.

Call this three-dimensional chess or one big Axis vs Allies game with moving pieces constantly.

 

Are you claiming that if they engage in a war of conquest against their free neighbors, that the free nations will not jointly stop them?

Tell us the last time the Free World did that, and how it worked out.

 

They will launch the war against their neighbors to put pressure on us to make a hard decision, blockade or defend those allies and friends of ours. Which choice will you make?

The last time the "free world did this" was in 1998 called tthe Balkans War. But the military might of Serbia is in no way compared to that of the PRC at all. That is why the smaller nations always lose. A nation like China or Russia, with military action, will not lose. their military is still too strong. The only difference, Putin may be crazy enough to launch ICBMs if we did that because that is an act of war.

 

We'd be fools to engage them with our Carriers within the 3,000 km range of their missiles. The key to stopping them is sinking their navy without getting our navy sunk.

I suspect we would fight them from the outside with our bomber forces using stand off weapons, followed by our stealth forces unleashing a ship sinking hell beyond anything they conceived, but, only if justified as a response to act of aggression by the Lying Outlaw Slavers of Beijing.

As a trade adversary I'd like to see a GOP Congress ban all slave produce products on US markets and to begin hitting gross polluters with tariffs that would be reduce as more responsible environmental progress was certified. But, GOP Congresses are great at a lot of loud bluster and posturing while never actually doing much of anything other than getting personally very rich.

In general China has demonstrated that it is not a reliable trade partner and American Corporations are already well engaged in moving supply chains out of China. That will have a substantial impact on this so called "rising China" just as it had a profound effect on the "rising Japan" of the 1990's. If China were smart, it would be developing their domestic markets to absorb their industrial production, but they fear that an empowered people will rise up and slaughter them, and they probably would. That's what happens when you use the whip to remain in power. At that point they have mounted the tiger and at some point that ends in violent revolution as the much larger population slaughters the much smaller group of Authoritarians unjustly controlling them.

That's why our nation is one of the longest surviving nations in existence today. In our system Power resides in the People, so we have no reason to revolt in order to regain power, we already have the power we would gain through revolt. That is why sensible Americas stand so firmly against Authoritarianism. Authoritarianism is on the road to bloody revolution, and we are much better served by avoiding that.

 

I would like to see our Congress take action to stimulate various parts of our domestic production especially in medical equipment and vital medicines.

 

And yet you are one of the posters who wants a war with China nonetheless.

there are several books out there with the title or part of the title "China Rising." I have a book called "China, Inc." I have a few other audio books about China's venture into the free market enterprise after Deng Xio Ping reforms from the 1970s and 80s. And there are a few others. You have the world's largest middle class who want to spend money. They tend to be very materialistic in nature. Although altruism is considered an honest endeavor, it is rarely practiced, To sum up, China is a country of duality. The government is communist, but its business practices are almost pure capitalistic. They are courteious and friendly, but they rarely show you what they are really thinking, all to save face for you and them. They are curious, especially the younger crowds when they meet a foreigner. They view all Westerners from the movies they see. If you say you are from England, then they expect you to be a Lord or Lady of some type., If you are from America, they expect you to be "rich." If you are from Texas, they think you fight cowboys and Indians all the time. And if you are from California, then you must know Jackie Chan and every other Asian martial artist actor there.

As I said before, economically, we are alike. Politically, we are not.

 

Fake News. If you have to make things up, you've conceded the point.

I stopped reading after your false claims about my position.

 

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All you do is gossip about ppl in your butchered Yiddish. Talk about insecure

 

You're absolutely right!

 

We kinda did with the CHIP Act. But for manufacturing, that is not going to happen for a variety of reasons from cost is way too expensive here to trade. We have not invested in our ports since the early 2000s when loading and unloading trade. And that does involve rail service as well from those ports to the more inner parts of the country. We currently have the Mississippi River that is drying up in certain parts, and that is due to climate change, a topic that GOPers do not want to discuss at all and pretty much ignore.

 

Shall we look at what you originally said:

The part I highlighted in bold was your position that you think it is easy to blockade their post in reference to "dependence on trade" argument. Did you not forget what you said.

Then you said this:

Again, you were arguing that blockading the coast would be easy and therefore implied it should be done. This is in direct contrast that I was arguing AGAINST a blockade

Then you said this:

What slave trade. YOu are making the mistake that everything around the world costs the same to everyone with China intentionally paying substandard wages. However, if you work in a factory in China, you make about 4500 RMB a month or 55,000 RMB a year. 4500 RMB can get you "home", pay for the food, and pay for your kids to go to school with the family still saving around 10% to 20% of that money. It cost to send your kids to a state school, and even more expensive to private school. And some Chinese parents will work two or three or even four jobs if they want their kid to go to private school even though they are a factory workers. But the point is that there is no such thing as "slave labor" unless you are talking about prisoner labor making things here in the states or abroad.

But again, you are arguing a type of blockade here based on politics and that can be considered an act of war. We have the Trans-Pacific Agreement that originally excluded China. China started its adversarial policy because of that and that was on Obama. Then Trump nixed the whole Trans-Pacific Agreement and our ASEAN allies said they will go with China now. Now that it is back on the table, the Trans-Pacific Agreement is back on the table with China now participating, it should ease tensions between our two nations eventually.

What you are proposing is similar to the Smoot Hawley Act, which raised the prices of imports to unaffordable levels and it caused our exports to diminish. We are seeing this in the UK now after Brexit because British exports have remained stagnant, dropping in some cases, with loss of jobs and revenue. Small British Firms are now creating companies outside the UK and inside the EU, like in France, to continually to expand their business. That too will happen here if we decide on protectionist policies again that will lead us into a severe recession or depression. Except this time, no one to blame but the GOP.

 

EXACTLY! I am learning Spanish and I tried to explain my wife what is the best way to improve my Spanish, her answer - 'I agree with you, I am going to learn Italian , French and Sweden".

 

Just to expand on my post. I typed in "Learning Chinese" in the TikTok search and was surprised by the number of videos that came back. A lot of them seem to be made by attractive Chinese women which is a main staple of TikTok but some of them are hilarious. Not sure if it will help you learn Chinese but it may offer you some hours of amusement.