Sci-Fi is rarely about either science or fiction, but normally a tool to help understand the politics of the world today. If Dune was obviously about the Middle East, what is Star Trek about?
This is certainly a fresh perspective on China and Taiwan. I have many Taiwanese friends and am familiar with Taiwanese society. There is in fact a sizable and even growing cohort of Taiwanese who adore China for its efficiency and improving quality of life, not to mention their shared cultural heritage. Cultural assimilation is definitely happening, with popular Chinese apps/TV shows/pop stars gaining popularity in Taiwan, particularly among young people. I even saw a Tiktok post from a Taiwanese school girl saying she wants to go to China and marry a Chinese man one day, because she thinks they are so handsome as seen on Chinese TV shows. This may be surprising to many westerns, who often think China and Taiwan are mortal enemies. While there is also significant anti - China/CCP sentiment in Taiwan, overall Taiwanese attitude on China is more ambivalent than many people think.
The Japanese have a saying - everyone has to eat ( sounds better in Japanese ) but which I take to mean, you can have ideas, but ultimately money and trade is where power flows. As long as China does not have a civil war, the constant pull of trade will be hard to ignore.
The same however cannot be said about Ukraine, whereas 10 years ago there was a split between a pro Russian vs anti Russia population, today for rather obvious reasons there is not.
I like the take on Taiwan. Different from what you normally hear and it makes sense. I’d push back on the China Borg narrative overall though. It’s simply too big and too imbalanced. As the Us and to a lesser extent EU start cutting off their domestic markets, there isn’t enough other wealth in the world to buy Chinese goods. China has to move to internal demand and that would require what could be a state collapsing readjustment. They are brittle in my view
This analogy implies that the federation is good, in moral terms. Can’t be said about its our world incarnation, polities are immoral by definition, as they aren’t people.
This is certainly a fresh perspective on China and Taiwan. I have many Taiwanese friends and am familiar with Taiwanese society. There is in fact a sizable and even growing cohort of Taiwanese who adore China for its efficiency and improving quality of life, not to mention their shared cultural heritage. Cultural assimilation is definitely happening, with popular Chinese apps/TV shows/pop stars gaining popularity in Taiwan, particularly among young people. I even saw a Tiktok post from a Taiwanese school girl saying she wants to go to China and marry a Chinese man one day, because she thinks they are so handsome as seen on Chinese TV shows. This may be surprising to many westerns, who often think China and Taiwan are mortal enemies. While there is also significant anti - China/CCP sentiment in Taiwan, overall Taiwanese attitude on China is more ambivalent than many people think.
The Japanese have a saying - everyone has to eat ( sounds better in Japanese ) but which I take to mean, you can have ideas, but ultimately money and trade is where power flows. As long as China does not have a civil war, the constant pull of trade will be hard to ignore.
I do agree.
The same however cannot be said about Ukraine, whereas 10 years ago there was a split between a pro Russian vs anti Russia population, today for rather obvious reasons there is not.
Russell, you had me at Empire :-) nicely written...where do the tribbles fit in? :-)
No comment on tribbles!
The US should understand and apply the Star Trek federation prime directive when dealing with the middle east.
Very good!
I love this thesis. Fantastic stuff Russell.
I like the take on Taiwan. Different from what you normally hear and it makes sense. I’d push back on the China Borg narrative overall though. It’s simply too big and too imbalanced. As the Us and to a lesser extent EU start cutting off their domestic markets, there isn’t enough other wealth in the world to buy Chinese goods. China has to move to internal demand and that would require what could be a state collapsing readjustment. They are brittle in my view
Once again Trump is the harbinger of what everyone will do in a couple of years
Very well written!
This analogy implies that the federation is good, in moral terms. Can’t be said about its our world incarnation, polities are immoral by definition, as they aren’t people.
Actually neither the Federation or the Borg are good. Just different
I got different memories from the original series :)
From memory Borg did not attack until attacked?!?
They sure did. Also from memory :)