John Pilger says that there is a lot of senseless China-bashing right now. He's right. Bob Parry said that we should report the facts regardless of what we think about them. He was right too.

My experience - some positive truths about China

The Chinese internet has the best internet connectivity of any country in the world that I have experienced. In the six years I've had a Linux install my wireless has never required more than a router restart in China. That is how established and reliable wireless technology is (although many people around the world may not know it because they don't have that browser experience). China does not censor by cutting off people's wireless in my experience. Ever. The Cambodian internet is also completely flawless in this regard (but I only stayed there for 2.5 months). Having a reliable internet connection is essential in getting things done in the modern world. If you don't have one you will soon know what I mean.

China is also an incredibly safe place for tourists. I have left expensive items on trains and in public places and recovered them with no trouble at all. I'm in no doubt that if I dropped my passport there somebody would pick it up and hand it back to me. I've never heard of any fellow expats getting anything stolen in China.

What about global Chinese influence? There is a massive Chinese presence in Cambodia with plenty of infrastructure projects and other building projects currently running and a lot of Chinese people, Chinese restaurants and shops. There's massive economic growth but a lot of economic displacement, so many local people are affected, and don't like it.

Going South from Cambodia I found very, very little. Perhaps this means that China is not trying to exert a lot of influence on people globally, or that it's influence falls mostly in the field of business and economics, anyway, it does not effect your daily life at all.

Ok. To sum up your argument :1/China has great internet.
2/ China is very safe for tourists.

But I don't understand this bit at all. Could you explain ?

Going South from Cambodia I found very, very little. Perhaps this means that China is not trying to exert a lot of influence on people globally, or that it's influence falls mostly in the field of business and economics, anyway, it does not effect your daily life at all.

britscienceteacher wrote: ↑Sun Oct 07, 2018 1:55 pm
Going South from Cambodia I found very, very little. Perhaps this means that China is not trying to exert a lot of influence on people globally, or that it's influence falls mostly in the field of business and economics

Military base in Djibouti, Africa
Military base on Spratly islands (belonging to Philippines)
Trying to block navigation in the South China sea
Trying to set up potential bases in places like Sri Lanka, Vanuatu etc
Demanding all airlines around the world refer to Taiwan as part of China

One word. Naive.

Military influence, yes, but you'd have to admit that it does pale in comparison to other world powers with similar sized economies. My emphasis, however, is on personal experience and influence of people. If you have always holidayed in allied countries, or stick to the expat clubs in non-allied countries, you probably won't have experienced the difference, and hence may not understand the point. Everybody has a different life experience, people adapt their views and behaviours in order to adapt to that experience

A related thread:
the-rest-the-world/china-aims-make-chin ... 13490.html

Dammit I can't update my status there! Nor can I Google this day in history! Damn communist!!

"Chinese net best in the world" uh, no this is demonstrably not true. Not only that but even if it was true in terms of speed and connectivity (which it isn't), those things are irrelevant when large swaths of the internet are banned due to censorship.

You have a point on direct censorship. It's especially true for Chinese language, but not really that bad for English language. I was simply raising the issue of censorship by connectivity which I believe is widely practiced around the world and very unpleasant if you experience it personally. Of course it can easily be blamed on the router or other issue - this makes it a hidden form of censorship.

Bubble T wrote: ↑Sun Oct 07, 2018 3:24 pm "Chinese net best in the world" uh, no this is demonstrably not true. Not only that but even if it was true in terms of speed and connectivity (which it isn't), those things are irrelevant when large swaths of the internet are banned due to censorship.

Exactly it was tested at 2.4 Mbps in a report below.

Why China lags behind in global broadband speed ranking. China may have the most internet users in the world, but its average broadband internet speed is just 2.4Mbps -- putting it in 141st place among 200 countries tested, according to a new report.Jul 12, 2018
https://www.google.com/search?q=interne ... refox-b-ab

Here are the 23 countries in the world where broadband internet is fastest.

Singapore — 60.39 megabits per second.
Sweden — 46 megabits per second. ...
Denmark — 43.99 megabits per second. ...
Norway — 40.12 megabits per second. ...
Romania — 38.6 megabits per second.
Belgium — 36.71 megabits per second. ...
https://nordic.businessinsider.com/the- ... -speeds--/

China ranks worst in world for internet freedom, says report
Country claims dubious honour for third year as Beijing tightens online grip

China has been awarded the dubious title of the country with the world’s worst internet freedoms, taking top spot for the third consecutive year over the likes of Syria and Iran, according to a new report.

The study by Freedom House, a US state-funded non-profit organisation, found that a new regulations have further tightened already heavily restricted Chinese access to cyber space.https://www.ft.com/content/4110a3e8-c91 ... 9fb7d6163e