If you do not care about geopolitical scenario and believe it won't affect you or your loved ones in near future, go and search for a cave and start living there, you will be thanking crazedamazed for the head's up.
As Napolean predicted, quote, “Let China sleep, for when she awakes, she will shake the world.”
And so is China, emerging at a rapid pace and slowly and gradually gobbling up countries, one way or the other.
China believes that Taiwan is not a country, just a breakaway province. From the Taiwanese perspective, they believe they are a free and separate nation. Taiwan first appears on Chinese records dating back to 329 AD when the Qing Dynasty sent explorers to then far-fetched land in search of resources. China asserts its claim based on this record.
Taiwan was a Dutch colony from 1624 - 1661 and then was governed by the Qing Dynasty from 1683 - 1895, then took over by Japan from 1895 - 1945, eventually to be returned to China after Japan's defeat in the Second World War.
In the year 1980 China comes with a “One Country, Two Systems” policy in which China says that Taiwan will be given certain autonomy if it merges with China, obviously Taiwanese objected, but eventually had to give up, forcefully or otherwise, that I leave up to your perspective and the side of the story you choose to believe.
Tibet has been occupied and ruled by China since 1951 and was destroyed slowly by something known as, “a calculated systemic strategy which is aimed at destructing national and cultural identities of Tibetans”, which in short can be read as Cultural Genocide.
In 1959 the Tibetan uprising happened, was brutally crushed by the Chinese army and Dalai Lama with his followers had to flee to India and have been living in exile ever since.
The uprising is celebrated by Tibetans as “TIBETAN UPRISING DAY” and in China, it is celebrated as “ SERFS EMANCIPATION DAY” where serfs mean a person who is forced to work on a plot of land and emancipation means freeing them. So by the terminology, it is abundantly clear how the two nations see it.
In 1987 talks with China were proposed by Dalai Lama, the 14th, followed by Martial Law being imposed in 1988. Looking at the present-day scenario, Tibet is one of the most unstable regions of the world (of course you do not know it, as China does not want you to know) with no freedom of speech, religion, or press. Human rights, well let's just forget about any such right.
Hong Kong is a place known for being the business center of the world, a shopping paradise and a beautiful destination for tourists. During the Opium War from 1839 -1860, China was forced to concede Hong Kong along with Kowloon to then Great Britain. In 1898 under the Opium effect, I think, Great Britain leased Hong Kong for 99 years with a promise that it will return it to China and that lease expired in 1997.
So, in 1998 Hong Kong was returned to China as Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). China went on with its “One Country, Two Systems” policy till 2019. The time duration of 21 years was not to let Hong Kong run on its own but to cultivate it into becoming a province for China, with like-minded people being infiltrated at all levels, for a smooth transition.
In 2019 with its supporters comfortably seated at all levels and the trade war with the US looming large over its head, China cracked on Hong Kong. The famous National Security Law ( improved Martial Law) was imposed in 2020 curbing the freedom to breathe without permission, an apt way of putting the sentiments of people in general.
The match was made in Hell because whether it's military ties or Investment and Trade relations, it was and always will be asymmetric, as asymmetric as an elephant and a dog with a tail underneath its hind leg.
Going back to 2013, China promised to establish a China-Pakistan Economic corridor with an investment of USD 62 Billion. China has major sway in the formulation of the government of Pakistan and the way the internal and external affairs of the nation are conducted. This is abundantly clear from the fact that Pakistan is very worried for the Muslim community of Kashmir but swallows its tongue when someone asks about Ugyhirs Muslims and their treatment by China.
China has already taken over the Gwadar Port and is also building a dam, but the interesting part is that neither employment for Pakistanis has been generated (as all workers are Chinese) and neither will Pakistan earn any revenue over it. Once the project is completed the Chinese will control it, earn revenue to recover their costs and leave Pakistan in the same dire state that it has been.
The second part of the narrative is that China will keep on burdening Pakistan with more loans. The moment Pakistan reaches the stage where they can not pay, China will demand a piece of land, or a city according to the strategic location and with China's best interest in mind and start expanding it further as a province or SAR like Hong Kong.
China with its ever lucrative strategies never ceases to amaze. China is one country with develops policies and tries it in a real-world scenario. With Sri Lanka, they introduced Debt Trap Policy. According to this policy, firstly they search for a nation that is strategically important to them, if the nation is already poor, great, they burden them under unpayable loans, if a nation is doing fine, they make them poor and then burden them under unpayable loans. With Pakistan, the first strategy worked, with Sri Lanka, the second.
Sri Lanka recently declared an emergency because of its depleting foreign reserves, and thanks to China it will be brought to its knees soon. China entered Sri Lanka through Hambantota Port, which it agreed to develop as a major economic hub. After its completion, China asked Sri Lanka whether it could lease it for 99 years to recover its cost, Sri Lanka which was in no condition to say otherwise, reluctantly agreed. China went ahead and built a city around it and now even Sri Lankans require permission to enter a part of their own country.
Going ahead and moving towards the capital Colombo, China is proposing to build a 17km long highway which it says will not burden Sri Lankan government as it will be developed, controlled by China, and then leased to China, to recover costs, obviously.
Sri Lanka according to experts will soon become SLSAR (Sri Lanka Special Administrative Region), a fancier name with just one problem, you will require permission to breathe and extra breath will be taxed.
If you have read and understood the article you will now know how fast China is expanding and the outcome of its expansion. India is surrounded by China from all fronts and the investment by China in India is expanding by the day. The news you see, the blog you read, the videos you watch, the movies you love, the web series you binge-watch, the books you read, nothing is spared. So keep your eyes open and your brain active, because the change will affect you and your family and anyone you love unless you have heeded the advice and found a cave for yourself.
The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis’ . One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opporunity. In a crisis, beware of the danger – but recognize the opportunity.
John F. Kennedy
