The shape of things to come.

[serious_fun]

Imam Abdul Somad... imam Riza Muhammad...

I have absolutely NO idea who those people are. They were refused entry to HK? Well, so have many pro-democracy voices and journalists from free countries. It's better than being taken away and finding oneself in a prison on the mainland.

 

[jstar]

I have no idea. But I bet none of the protesters and western journalists do either. According to the German Foreign Ministry, with none of the eleven Germans who are in Chinese prisons there is any concrete evidence of torture and forced labor. But yes, I can imagine prison life there is more similar to a gulag than life in Sukasmiskin (Indonesia) for the affluent.

There you can see the huge difference between China and Indonesia. Over here 'coloring outside the lines' often is not punished esp. when you have a lot of money, or as with Rizieq and those hate preachers, have enough supporters who are willing to get on the streets.

Talking about western journalists, I can imagine someone who hosted a talk show with pro independence activists and who is allegedly entering on 'vacation', would be refused.

 

[harryopal1]

I imagine that in the overall scheme of things Indonesia would be seen by China as important as Australia. Here's a story today that is a run down of the lengths China has gone in Australia to shape a world view in its favour. I wonder what has been going on here.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/wor...ium=email&utm_campaign=Sunday Best - 20191201

 

[Dave70]

I imagine that in the overall scheme of things Indonesia would be seen by China as important as Australia. Here's a story today that is a run down of the lengths China has gone in Australia to shape a world view in its favour. I wonder what has been going on here.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2019/12/01/china-australia-threat-grows/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sunday Best - 20191201

I can see that US sinophobia/racism is spreading to Australia. Fortunately, I don't see it happening here because Indonesians have already grown-up.

 

[harryopal1]

There is an important difference between sinophobia and concern about the assertiveness of the CCP in all aspects of foreign policy. I accept that it is important to make sure that distinction is not lost. I don't regard myself as a Sinophobe (although I guess every racist claims they are not racist.) I have lived with Chinese friends over the years and have a great deal of respect for them as fellow human beings.

 

[vocalneal]

Quite a lot of assumptions in the article though.

Now of course Hong Kong shows us that there are more hot spots where we can see what happens when they 'take over'.

On the other hand, look at what happened with the allies of one of the largest democracies in the world. Like Chile, Uruguay, Guatemala, Iran, Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, ...

I think the risk of too much Chinese influence in this country is rather small. On the contrary, I see it happening that anti Chinese sentiment would raise its ugly head again. It was rather close the previous years (Ahok, presidential elections, gasoline price increase, ....).

Where can we find out what is/has happening in Equatorial Guinea.
Probably to do with fishing rights?

 

[Vulgarian]

Like when they are written in very good english, it is very unlikely it is the average middle class Chinese that wrote it.
The comment section on SCMP (South China Morning Post) is full of them.
And I am sure the US does same, albeit probably in a more subtil way.

Balifrog making sure that we don't mistake him for a middle class Chinese