this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2024
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For sure, and I really hope China will start actively supporting socialist states around it now. Before the war in Ukraine started, China used to play it very safe geopolitically because they were always worried that US would go after their economy. Now they see how Russia managed to do just fine after a maximalist sanction regime from the west, and they can also see that US is actively and openly trying to kneecap them regardless of what they do at this point. So, the reasons behind the reservations China had before about promoting socialism aren't really there now.
While it made sense for China not to export ideology the way USSR did when the west was dominant, I think we're entering a period where building an ideologically aligned bloc is starting to look like the right approach. US has demonstrated that they're very good at doing political interference, and if China wants to have strong and stable allied then it has to start helping support principled socialist governments.
China has one enormous weakness it can not yet be bold in the ways Russia is. Oil/Petrol.
The PRC is not oil-rich in the same way Russia and the US are, so they import most of their oil via tankers from West Asia/North Africa (commonly known as the Middle East) and there are two potential chokepoints, the Straight of Hormuz in Djibouti (probably RIGHT NOW the biggest weak point, so much that both China and the US have military bases there that are practically in front of each other) and the South China Sea, which contains a bunch of faithful bootlicking nations such as Singapore and Australia.
China is working on several pipeline projects, but I am certain that the US is doing everything possible to stop it.
That is true, but going forward China can get oil from Russia and Iran. Also worth noting that China's nuclear and renewable energy production is accelerating. Meanwhile, China has a huge amount of leverage over the west economically right now because lots of western companies are dependent on manufacturing in China. If the west tried to interfere with China's oil supply then China can crash western economies which are in an incredibly fragile state already.