Vaguely, mariner remembers a children’s story about an ogre that was so big no matter what he did, it caused a disaster. A sneeze would wipe out several homes; a snore would have the effect of an earthquake, etc. So it is with China.

China has the national size to pursue Uighur-Muslim genocide in the southwest, nation killing in Hong Kong, worldwide espionage on the internet and bullying the South Pacific in the southeast. China’s strategy in world trade is similar to US private equity – outright ownership.

Nevertheless, China has its own interior issues just like the United States. Its population is restless; there are severe labor shortages; the political oppression of Peng Shuai (tennis) hints at unstable human rights management. So it may be interesting to get democratic boogeyman George Soros’ opinion on China:

— SOROS BETS ON XI’S UNRAVELING: Billionaire investor and philanthropist GEORGE SOROS said in a speech Monday at the Hoover Institution that Chinese Xi is threatened by internal dissent. Soros said that’s fueled by financial system stresses, demographic challenges and the mounting social and economic costs of Xi’s “zero-Covid strategy.” “Xi Jinping has many enemies … [and] there is a fight brewing within the CCP,” Soros said.

Still, a hiccup in China is similar to an eruption of the Tonga volcano.

The reason that China has any offense at all on the world stage is because Xi Jingpin doesn’t have a nationally elected Congress; he has an obedient, internally selected national congress.

Mariner’s perception of good or bad relations with China is that China is that storybook large ogre where anything is capable of global disruption.

A new twist is the mutual crying shoulder relationship between Russia and China over the West – especially the United States. Both nations have identical confrontations with the West: Ukraine, Taiwan, trade balances, embargos and global leadership competition; not to mention the competition for communication dominance. What should concern the west is the lack of government elasticity in authoritarian nations. Like bullies, tension has a break point driven by just a very few individuals, e.g., Donald. Subtlety is not available; fair is not a win.

Ancient Mariner