I replaced it with a more detailed source. Perhaps your confusion is stemming from the way you’re conflating foreign workers and immigrants.

It isn’t “sentiment”. Japan is very well-known for being exceptionally unwelcoming to immigration in general, other than for low-skilled resident workers. Here’s a pretty good overview: https://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/d00920/

To be fair, that isn’t unusual for east Asia. China is the same, but their demographic crisis is still two decades away.

That’s great, but until it translates into policy it’s purely academic.

The Japanese will let the country wither before accepting immigrants. It’s a shame.

The leaked data targeted primarily Ashkenazi Jews.

The mighty CCP, with superpower ambitions, afraid of a t-shirt.

$30M for 6.4M people - so minus legal fees they can expect about two dollars each? I thought these damages were supposed to be punitive?

I broadly agree with you and like you also tend to criticize the CCP from the left. If you want to be communist, be communist and do it right (for the first time!).

However, it’s far too late for China to do those things before GenX enters retirement, even if there were any political will to attempt it. China is (after the USA) the most grindingly capitalist place I’ve ever been to, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Within the parameters of their current politics, they are absolutely heading at full speed for an economic cliff, even if Xi succeeds in killing off most of that male surplus on Taiwanese beaches. Taking Taiwan, however doomed and reckless the attempt may be, is perhaps the only hope of stemming that flow, since TW has much higher per capita GDP. I’m guessing that’s why he’s so intent on it.

they either bought the (I think flawed) economic theory that this is needed

You’re putting me in the difficult situation of backing up the CCP on this one, but how could it not be needed? They kneecapped birthrates for a whole generation, and never recovered. Unless they fix birthrates or start allowing immigration, they have no other recourse than forcing people to work longer. Either that or they actually start acting communist and redistribute wealth so that the soon-to-be retiree generations can weather the storm.

Edit: also, look at that male surplus. Ouch.

What do you mean, “fall for this”? What are they going to do — protest? Vote for someone else?

It’s OK though, because China is communist and the workers own the means of produ… hhee… pro… sorry, I can’t say it with a straight face.

They’re underwater, very small, and spin quickly.

Thanks for this, I gave it a shot but all I find it a bunch of timeshift files. I’m also not sure where to search that I haven’t already looked at.

We were having a nice conversation, but this last reply is so full of strawmen and false equivalencies that I’m going to drop out. Have a good one.

But they argue over a shared history. Mainlanders don’t get confused when someone from Taiwan talks about Tienamen. Taiwanese people don’t stare blankly at the name Chiang Kai-Shek. Folks from Hong Kong aren’t unfamiliar with the British Occupation.

Obviously. My reference to Tiananmen wasn’t implying that people are ignorant of it, but rather that it can’t be discussed openly in a public forum. Write an analysis of it on Weibo that criticizes the government and see where that gets you (whereas in the US you can freely write about the war in Iraq, slavery, or whatever else strikes your fancy)

People aren’t simply ignorant of the facts. They tend to be biased due to their material conditions. If you’re a mid manager at the Houston branch of Sinopec, you didn’t get there because you were a John Bircher. Meanwhile if you’re on the payroll of the Foremost Group, you’ve got a very real financial incentive to oppose Chinese unification (but also a real incentive to oppose US tariffs on China).

Also very true, but at least opposing viewpoints aren’t actively suppressed by the government. Equating the two is off by several orders of magnitude.

65o feet, for reference, is exactly the height of this building in NYC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/712_Fifth_Avenue

I must say I’m very surprised that your HK and TW people share your views. I don’t know any Hong Kongers or Taiwanese but most people I know (generally northerners, which is ironic) have more, shall we say, nuanced opinions.

Cool, how long did you live there? Do you still have contacts on the mainland?

Eh, they were also instrumental in defeating Napoleon, which counts for a lot.

It’s very difficult to talk about the English Empire as the world’s premier opium cartel without taking a bit of the blush off the rose of liberal democracy and free market capitalism. These historical blemishes get dusted over for a reason.

I agree, but that reflex is unfortunate because the ability to openly discuss and confront those things is what sets democracies apart from totalitarian states. You could never see that kind of frank introspection in China regarding June 4th '89, for example.