this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2026
169 points (100.0% liked)

World News

40252 readers
390 users here now

News from around the world!

Rules:

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] MrSmoothPP@lemmy.zip 27 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Is Europe's hostility towards China not a function of US hegemony? Surely there's less reason to be hostile now.

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 29 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

In a sane world yes, but in reality there's a lot of racism and notions of white supremacy at play here.

[–] Lucius_Sweet@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It is more than "racism and notions of white supremacy", EU and China are both exporting and manufacturing powers. China recently moved into exporting the high value manufacturing products like cars which are a large part of the EUs economy making both blocks rivals.

The Chinese government is using state subsidies to tip the balance further in the favour of Chinese manufacturers. This is just one example from one industry, this pattern is repeated by China across the board. The government is well within its rights to do this but the EU is equally well within its rights to protect its own economy from a form of trade war. It is incredibly reductive to just play the racism card while ignoring the real issues.

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

EU is not really an export power in any meaningful sense. But even if that was true, you could make exact same argument with the US which directly competes with Europe on exports. Europeans have had absolutely no problem sticking their heads up American ass as far as possible.

Meanwhile, everybody is free to run their internal economy the way they see fit. The whole premise of free markets and capitalism was efficiency. It was supposed to naturally outcompete planned economies like China. If the model isn't actually working then Europe could acknowledge that and emulate what China is doing instead of whinging. Or accept that they have an inferior model of economic development.

Finally, the EU very obviously doesn't give a fuck about protecting its economy. If it did, it would've never allowed itself to become so dependent on energy imports from the US. The EU kept paying lip service to the idea of going green, but refused to invest into stuff like wind and solar because it came from China. Now the EU finds itself being bent over a barrel by Americans. And it's frankly well deserved.

[–] Lucius_Sweet@lemmy.world -5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

EU is not really an export power in any meaningful sense

Are you sure buddy? The only powers who can compete with the EU by value are China and the USA. Come correct if you are going to bother at all.

Every block is free to run their internal economy as they see fit but every other block is also free to set rules on what it determines to be illegal state aid. Sticking to the example of cars but this is also true for other Chinese industries, the whole point of the Chinese illegal state aid is to corner the international manufacturing market degrading competitors manufacturing ability before then increasing the price to profitable levels.

Europe does not need to emulate China because China is not winning in any meaningful sense against Europe. China points to its impressive year on year GDP increases without acknowledging the low levels it started at. EU GDP per capita is still 3-4 times Chinese so even at their rapid rates of growth they will not come anywhere near EU levels in our lifetimes. This is before we even consider the difference in quality of life, Chinese workers regularly doing 996 schedules with the EU having a 40 hour workweek. The EU also has a better social safety net of unemployment, pension benefits, medical, worker legal protections, food safety, I could go on all day here.

The EU dependency on Russia for energy could have been described as stupid, the current dependency on the USA is a direct result of this previous bad decision and will not be rectified overnight.

he EU kept paying lip service to the idea of going green, but refused to invest into stuff like wind and solar because it came from China.

What are you on about, the EU has purchased more than 50% of China's exports of solar panels and wind turbines , with 98% of the EUs solar panel imports coming from China. When you need to make stuff up to back up your point it's probably not a very good one.

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yup, the EU is free to set rules that harm its own economy. Has been working out real great for y'all, like when you made the brilliant decision not to invest in solar and wind from China. And you keep using this word, illegal, I don't think it means what you think it means.

LMFAO imagine thinking China is not winning against Europe. Last I checked China has basic things like energy and fertilizer that are out of reach of geniuses in Europe. And sure buddy, quality of life, tell me more about that https://www.businessinsider.com/typical-chinese-adult-now-richer-than-europeans-wealth-report-finds-2022-9

And yes, such amazing solar and wind build outs in EU, that they don't even shift the needle now that Gulf energy is cut off.

[–] orc_princess@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You're very misinformed on worker rights on China and overlooking that Europe isn't consistent in worker rights internally, the welfare and rights depend heavily on every state. You're also pretending that a deindustrializing region is in any way comparable to the factory of the world with a straight face. Europe benefits greatly from past colonialism and current neocolonialism, so of course the GDP per capita will be high. Just wait for Africa and Latin America to become more sovereign and it will all crumble.

[–] Lucius_Sweet@lemmy.world -4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You're very misinformed on worker rights on China

Am I now? I don't think so, next you will tell me that 996 isn't a thing?

Europe isn't consistent in worker rights internally

You tell me that I am misinformed about Chinese worker rights and you go and drop this gem straight after. It's like you didn't even know that there are EU worker rights that apply consistently across the whole EU. The basic rights in the EU are far higher than anything in China.

[–] orc_princess@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Am I now? I don’t think so, next you will tell me that 996 isn’t a thing?

966 was a real problem in the private sector, especially in the tech industry, but the government started cracking down on it at least as early as 2021, you can read about that on the Financial Times. I went through a few sources reporting about 996 in China from 2023 onwards and all I could find was NGOs funded by the US government, a research paper that survereyed 12 people working from home during the pandemic, and personal stories without receipts.

It's true that working hours tend to be higher across Asia compared to western countries (google the working hours in South Korea or India for example), but the difference is that the standards of living and purchasing power of Chinese workers is growing year after year.

It’s like you didn’t even know that there are EU worker rights that apply consistently across the whole EU.

My point was more that the guarantees, wages and welfare you experience as a worker is different depending on your status and country, unless you believe healthcare, education and paid leave are treated the same uniformly. Not every country in the EU is like Sweden or Germany.

[–] Lucius_Sweet@lemmy.world -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The 996 work practices do still continue and are just an extreme example of how terrible working conditions are across China. I would much rather work less hours for more money in better conditions that are available in the EU as the bare minimum by law. This goes to the quality of life issue, Europeans have more time off work to spend with family and friends.

The purchasing powers of the Chinese people are increasing year on year (as are European who started at a much higher level but obviously can not increase at the same rate.) but the problem with China is that they are likely as a population to get old before they get rich. China faces demographic collapse over the next 50 years due to the disastrous one child policy. Demographics is destiny.

unless you believe healthcare, education and paid leave are treated the same uniformly. Not every country in the EU is like Sweden or Germany.

Some countries like Sweden offer their citizens extraordinary social benefits so it would be unfair to compare them to most countries. My point is that the EU minimum worker protections are orders of magnitude above anything in China. The EU does a much better job protecting the dignity of its work force than the "people's party" in power in China.

[–] 9skyguy0@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

The 996 work practices do still continue and are just an extreme example of how terrible working conditions are across China.