Donald Trump will participate in the first-ever trilateral meeting between the leaders of the U.S., China and Russia on the sidelines at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in China next week, senior U.S. officials told reporters Friday evening.

Trump is expected to discuss Iran with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the officials said, but he does not intend to discuss Russia's war with Ukraine during the trilateral meeting.

Denuclearization will be the focus of the long-awaited trilateral meeting, though officials do not anticipate the leaders reaching any concrete agreement and are characterizing this meeting as an initial conversation broaching the subject.

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[–] 7 points 18 hours ago* (7 children)

I'm genuinely curious if people think Xi is in the same ballpark of corruption and garbage as Putin and Trump. Like, do average western people think that Xi would even qualify for the Piece of Shit Olympics? Trump and Putin are actively engaging in illegal wars of aggression while the infrastructure and quality of life of the countries they rule crumble. I just feel like their taking home Gold and Silver medals and Xi is barely getting past the qualifications.

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  • [–] 9 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

    His imperial and antidemocratic features manifest a bit differently, and he has no need for that open corruption, because he is indistinguishable from the party and therefore from the state. Fine. He also has much more grounded ideological background than Trump, as the other commenter pointed out. But then, Putin has that one too. As did Mussolini. This does not make anyone a good human.

    After all that he's still an imperial and antidemocratic autocrat. I'm not very picky with my words. Sorry if the term dictator offended you.

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  • [–] 6 points 11 hours ago (1 child)

    Not being as evil as Putin or Trump is the lowest bar imaginable. China does not need to work hard to be the lesser evil, and yet they still prolong civil wars for selfish gain, even when the consequences affect their own citizens. They still let their companies do whatever they want so long as it helps the state. They still violate the sovereignty of most of their neighbors, just as they've historically done for thousands years. They might not be as interested in expansionary ethnic cleansing in quite the same way as America or Russia, but that's simply because they prefer influence over occupation. They aren't better out of benevolence, but because they have a different imperial strategy.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 hours ago

    yet they still prolong civil wars for selfish gain

    Would be interested in what specific conflicts you're referring to. I am definitely critical of China for engaging in trade with essentially zero care for the conditions of the state they are trading with. Israel being the obvious criticism. Are those types of trade relations with countries what you're referring to? I agree if that's what you mean.

    They still let their companies do whatever

    This is in conflict to the normal complaints of China "disappearing" people. So, are you saying they don't do that? Because the famous cases of this are from businessmen that start speaking against the party, or doing actual social crimes.

    I have criticism of China's free speech restrictions on individual citizens. But to say that China "let's companies do whatever they want" is in complete contradiction to the countless "violations of freedom" that the Western media speaks about. Because those are entirely made up of the capitalist of China stepping out of line with the party; or engaging in social murder like crimes.

    They aren't better out of benevolence, but because they have a different imperial strategy.

    I hear the language of the left here being used in a non material way. If you're someone that has the word "imperial strategy" in your vocabulary it shocks me to hear someone describe a system based on idealism as the core. "The purpose of a system is what it does." Its odd to conclude with a point of criticism that is rooted in idealism. It is rooted in the western idea that China is just "waiting for its moment of attack" with no material reason to conclude that.

    If China wanted to start being aggressive and start it's Imperialist expansion there was no better time than the Iran invasion. You think America was ready to defend Taiwan when it was taking interceptors out of Korea to send them to Israel? Yet China decided to "wait" and instead reduce its purchases of oil to assist it's trade partners in East Asia.

    At a certain point this "waiting for the right moment" Imperialist China narrative needs to die. They have proven their intentions are based entirely on offering a less parasitic form of trade than the US offers. One that is entirely without the use of military conflict.

    I'm not sure how you can call that imperial strategy in a world where US Imperialism still exists. If the US was gone. Sure, it would be insane to engage in trade relations with states like Israel. But, you're criticism is in a vacuum and not in the context of the cold war being waged against China by the west.

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  • [–] 0 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

    Yes. Unironically yes. They believe China is a dictatorship that reveres Xi for no reason other than he's a 'brutal' dictator that 'took charge by force.'

    Westerners unironically have no concept of how Chinese democracy works, and cannot name a single part of the Chinese government. Most people don't even realize Xi is more educated than all US presidents and most US elected representatives, and has written more than a half dozen books explaining every bit of the current party philosophy, including all of China's failures and his own contemporary failures and how the party has improved.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 hours ago (1 child)

    Most people don't even realize Xi is more educated than all US presidents and most US elected representatives, and has written more than a half dozen books explaining every bit of the current party philosophy, including all of China's failures and his own contemporary failures and how the party has improved.

    Sounds like Woodrow Wilson to me. Funny thing about him is that all his education and intellect did not make the liberal world order he envisioned any better, nor did it make the racism he promoted justified. It's not like the League of Nations did anything for world peace, and I doubt you want to defend the rigid nation-state framework and neoliberal fiscal policies of the UN.

    On top of that, I can't take the "philosophy" of politicians seriously; it coming from a head of state makes it propaganda to justify their own authority. Philosophy works best as a conversation, an open dialectic where one side of it doesn't have the absolute authority of a superpower backing them up. It just comes across more like cult shit from a technocratic state capitalist.

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