China/Taiwan crisis…

[Gomev]

Taiwan is just a little part of China, just like north ireland is a part of GB. China has most intelligence to solve this issue on peace, don't worry on it, and i think you can collect your car in several months. the lockdown this spring in Shanghai, impact the capacity of SAIC, but everything is ok now, even better than before. I llive in shanghai, so i know what had happened.

Point of order sir Northern Ireland is NOT part of GB, it is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Ireland as a whole including north and south, is part of the British Isles, a geographical area.

 

[BugEyed]

And the sooner that we return the six counties to a united Ireland the better. Partition has a history of failure in British foreign policy with the obvious examples of India, Cyprus, Palestine and Ireland.

 

[Robf]

And the sooner that we return the six counties to a united Ireland the better. Partition has a history of failure in British foreign policy with the obvious examples of India, Cyprus, Palestine and Ireland.

But..... what about scotland...... I will get my Jacket

 

[Gomev]

And the sooner that we return the six counties to a united Ireland the better. Partition has a history of failure in British foreign policy with the obvious examples of India, Cyprus, Palestine and Ireland.

Do the population of the six counties get a choice, or does the population of England decide for them ?
Politics...not a great subject for peace and harmony. I'm out

 

[BugEyed]

It would be very interesting to know which way the people of the 6 counties would vote, particularly if you allowed the vote to 16 year olds as per the Scottish IndyRef1. There's already a big enough issue regarding the rights of enfranchisement.
Perhaps of greater relevance would be whether the people of the 26 counties could afford it. The views in local media are understandably binary, but the view from abroad is interesting:

In Northern Ireland, a ‘shift in enthusiasm’ for Irish unity

 

[Alb]

Please draw a line under this.
Discussion of political relations with China (the topic of this thread) is relevant because it can directly impact our ability to buy and maintain these cars. Any other political discussion is off topic.

 

[ARealHuman]

China is playing a long game. It's getting domination of the car market, like it has of mobile phones and most consumer electronics. At present it's in the technology transfer stage. Only once gained will it use them as a lever.

I agree with this, it concerns me greatly. China has it's fingers in all sorts of pies around the globe (infrastructure, energy, vehicles, tech, investment, the list goes on...) imagine what power they can wield in the event of a serious dispute! We asked them to help out building our nuclear reactors at one point, I think that plan was dropped in case they put in a hidden off switch or self destruct command.

 

[Seawolf]

Thank you Eric. A voice of sanity when others are going into panic. All the politics is none of our business, just a bunch of old men shouting threats at each other like children in the school playground. "My dad's bigger than your dad. nah nah nananah !" They are all mentally disabled.

 

[Michael A]

I, like many of us are still waiting for their ordered vehicles from MG, however, with the tensions now between China & Taiwan there is now a very real threat to peace in that area, which is surely going to have a knock-on effect. If it all kicks off between China & Taiwan, then there will surely be sanctions levied at China by western Governments, which will restrict the sale of goods from China. I am assuming this will mean the unfulfilled orders for goods will be cancelled/restricted? Is anyone else thinking the same & contemplating going elsewhere for their new EV? It is a very difficult decision to have to make… What are your thoughts?

Is there any country left that has not become an enemy???
Difficult to decide really.

 

[Bryan Flanagan]

Would China cut there own throat not to sale cars for UK?

For the answer to that you need look no further than their actions against some of their own leading entrepreneurs such as Jack Ma which roughly speaking halved the value of Alibaba and by extension hurt the Chinese economy generally. The CCP plays the long game, they aren't particularly worried about causing the nation short term loss in return for perceived long term gain. The real question is are they prepared to destroy Taiwan's crown jewel, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, by militarily invading? Taiwan have a very strong military so an invasion by China would be an extremely messy affair which would likely result in the destruction of much of Taiwan's infrastruture including TSMC. I would imagine that if the chips were down and the war lost, Taiwan would destroy TSMC themselves rather than hand it over to China.

 

[bmacrow]

Essentially a VW under the skin, the most untrustworthy car company on earth, eg: EU fines VW and BMW £750m for colluding with Daimler on fumes

 

[profdraper]

What is happening in China today has happened before in the West. So what can we learn from history?

If the West is to avert a drift to catastrophic war, is now not the time to present China with a more virtuous and strong global order that it might not only emulate, but find impossible to resist, asks Stan Grant.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Hairyfool]

The CCP is a fairly pragmatic organisation in that allows status quo where it sees no detriment to its avowed aims. Taiwan remains “ independent” as long it is not negative to the CCP goals. Business continues to trade with the west as long as it remains an income to the state. If the west (USA, UK, EU etc.) restricts trade then it is of no use to the CCP and after a little sabre rattling will be left to move internal only.

Taiwan does NOT have a significant military, it is rated 21st in the world where the top 3 out gun the rest of the world combined. It is mostly armed with outdated equipment bought (at preferential rates) from the US and is significantly underfunded overall.

The Chinese live fire exercises taking place are being seen as just a show of strength but isn’t that how the politicians saw the Belarus exercises even though the spooks warned they were far more important.

 

[midician]

See and you'll understand why the US is worried.

Nevertheless, the west does not understand the Eastern Confucian philosophy which prioritizes society above the individual.

Nobody in China wants a war with Taiwan. In fact nobody in China waged any wars in the last 80 years. Compare that with the US track record.

 

[BugEyed]

We asked them to help out building our nuclear reactors at one point, I think that plan was dropped in case they put in a hidden off switch or self destruct command.

Briefing: China's Involvement in UK Nuclear — China Research Group

Don't forget the similar furore over Chinese kit in our telecoms infrastructure

UK to impose early end to use of new Huawei 5G kit - BBC News

nobody in China waged any wars in the last 80 years

That's untrue. Whilst shorter than the US list, it also includes Tibet, Korea, Vietnam, India (many times). And to parallel the treatment of Black minorities in the US and elsewhere, there's also the treatment of the Uighurs. No regime is perfect, least of all the UK.

The current incumbent of the Oval Office has stirred up the Taiwan issue whilst continuing the previous lunatics restraint of trade and investment. We live in dangerous times, but I hope that we can find a peaceful way through them and my MG4 makes it through to join my MG5.

 

[midician]

Funny how Western democracies arent afraid of the US, NSA, Facebook and Google having a look into their data and networks, but wont allow any of your driving data into the hands of Chinese companies like MG. But if its Tesla, no worries- send it off to Elon ! He's safe !

 

[Hairyfool]

Whether or not they are effective is another issue but there are regulations on what the data is used for in the west and companies have refused state access in the past.

If the Chinese authorities make a similar request of the company within their control I doubt such a refusal would last long.

 

[Silver estate]

Whether or not they are effective is another issue but there are regulations on what the data is used for in the west and companies have refused state access in the past.

If the Chinese authorities make a similar request of the company within their control I doubt such a refusal would last long.

Or the person who refused the request

 

[Bryan Flanagan]

Down Under in New Zealand I ordered an MG ZS EV back in March, having already bought an MG HS PHEV the previous December. I'm aware that MG is wholly owned by China's government and was comfortable with that but when they started their aggression in the Taiwan area I decided that I was no longer comfortable with carrying through that purchase and have cancelled it. President Xi won't lose much sleep over my stance but t was the right course of action for me.

 

[BugEyed]

Just check the Chinese content of anything else that you buy, not just cars. It's increasingly difficult to avoid.