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The belief that China does not have international ambitions for its power are simply wrong, Stephen Harper says. OTTAWA – Former prime minister Stephen Harper said the West needs to be prepared for a more robust and aggressive China going forward in a world where the U.S. may not be so dominant on the international stage. Harper said the U.S. under both former president Donald Trump and likely continuing under President Joe Biden, is stepping back and that is a major disruption to the international order. ”A huge change that’s occurred, particularly since I left office, has been the United States really stepping away from a lot of its traditional leadership role,” he said. “China is now a competitive rival of the United States across a range of spheres.” Harper said the conventional wisdom that China did not have global ambitions and would use its economic might internally was incorrect. “The reading of China was completely wrong by so called China experts for many years. China is not an insular and passive country. It is a large country with hegemonic ambition.” Stephen Harper warns China likely to be increasingly assertive as U.S. takes less dominant international role | National Post

Yeah nice try Beave. Now for the truth bomb. Someone from your side of the aisle was outraged that Republicans would dare vote against the covid relief bill. I explained to him the reason it would never get Republican support was because it's more Democrat Pork than anything else. This apparently outraged you and you did this - According to you there was no pork yet you offered no evidence of that claim, embarking instead on a two page diversion of blather on why you don't like me personally or something like that...I'm not sure I dozed off. Waking up, I thought to myself, 'Gee, I think Beave needs some evidence of all the pork in the bill' - or as you referred to it "the bull" Then I offered you some examples. Did you thank me? No. Instead you bilged out on how offended you were that I might expect some sort of evidence from you as to your contention the bill is pork free. In absence of anything like evidence, I suspect what you're really hoping for is another offering of your theme song in reply to this new delusion you're suffering from that the Dem bill is not just the Covid version of the Dem's old Porkulus bills from the Obama/Biden era.

It started years ago without the need for a large blue water navy...China has already challenged economic exclusion zones for fisheries and other resources around the world. China has also deployed intelligence gathering ships (AGIs), same as the Russians/FSU to spy on other fleets and exercises. However, China still lacks the ability to project power by sea/air outside of its region and does not have strong enough alliances to forward deploy and sustain land/sea/air power globally. China is also dedicating resources to its belt and road economic strategy that is less dependent on global sea power.

I think one of the worst compromises Harper made while in office - and he made many - was going back on his determination to treat China like a pariah state. In the first couple of years he was in office he was severely criticized by ALL the other parties, as well as much of the media and business groups for ignoring their entreaties to push trade with China, to go over there and make deals and get them to buy our stuff. When the financial crisis hit he caved on that, as well as on balanced budgets To be fair, the China of 2008 was not the China of 2021. China and its people are still steeped in resentment towards the West for what they call the years of humiliation, back when the Europeans controlled their coast and had troops there with gunboats floating up and down their rivers to enforce unfair trade pacts and allow for opium production and distribution in China. Now it has power and is using it ruthlessly while it gathers more. It is building aircraft carriers and a blue water fleet and it won't be too long before some developing country which pisses them off, perhaps by refusing to give them control of their port when they fail to pay off a loan, sees one of those fleets off its coast. It will start small, but if unchecked, those ships will be floating off the coasts of western countries too. And most of us, including Canada, have almost no military to speak of, any more, and no plans to change that.

Not to mention they'll send you a hundred million or so under the table if you're the president so you can inflate your Swiss bank account.

Religion is irrelevant to immigration policy. Are you scared atheists and pagans will rule the world or something. This God crap has you all wound up. Its not as if God has ever done nothing anything for anyone.