China is one of the world's largest bullies, supposedly the largest of all. Such an accusation from China is almost comical.

Edit:

China 'will take advantage' of Russia to gain foothold in High North - (October 19, 2026 - link to removepaywall.com)

China will take advantage of Russia’s dependence on it to gain a foothold in the Arctic, the head of Sweden’s military intelligence service told The Times.

Historically, Russia has seen the Arctic as its own backyard and has been reluctant to let China establish a presence. However, this appears to be changing as the cost of the war in Ukraine and western sanctions have taken their toll on the Russian economy, leaving Moscow increasingly in hock to Beijing.

Thomas Nilsson, the head of the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service, known as Must, said Russia had become dependent on China to sustain its war effort with the sale of oil and gas, while also leaning on its ally for supplies of war materiel and dual-use goods such as microchips [...]

Nilsson said this presented China, which declared itself a “near-Arctic” state in 2018, with an opportunity to force Russia’s hand and move its position forward in the region [...]

“They [China] are building their icebreaker fleets. They are building their larger strategic submarines. I don’t think the icebreakers will go [around] the Philippines,” he said [...]

The region also potentially has huge untapped resources of critical raw materials that China, Russia, the US and other powers are eyeing up. Nilsson said Russia and China had been training militarily around the Bering Strait between Kamchatka and Alaska, including common patrol flights with bombers and operations at sea with shared ships.

Although there has been no sign of any such activity in the European or American sectors of the Arctic so far, Nilsson is concerned that it may move closer to Europe. “Absolutely. It can move further towards our part of the Arctic,” he said.

These protests are mostly driven by very young people and come simultaneously in a lot of countries. I don't think this is organic.

Taiwan probes organised crime links to China's 'transnational repression' as it says says China behind attack on a comedian who mocked Xi

... Taiwan National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai ​Ming-yen said the local networks that cooperate in incidents like the comedian attack are mostly criminal ⁠gangs, or private investigation firms linked to organised crime ...

Other China critics in Taiwan have also been attacked, including Hong Kong singer and activist Denise Ho. She was attacked ​in 2019 in Taipei by a masked man who threw red paint at her.

Tsai said Taiwan might need to amend its ​laws to better deal with China's activities.

"Comprehensively curbing the Chinese communists' transnational repression in Taiwan's democratic and rule-of-law society is also very important, ‌and the ⁠legal framework for it has been lacking," he added.

Taiwan's Supreme Prosecutors Office said in a separate statement on Thursday that the public should "raise their vigilance and never assist hostile foreign forces or allow themselves to be exploited as local collaborators" ...

Taiwan probes organised crime links to China's 'transnational repression' as it says says China behind attack on a comedian who mocked Xi

... Taiwan National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai ​Ming-yen said the local networks that cooperate in incidents like the comedian attack are mostly criminal ⁠gangs, or private investigation firms linked to organised crime ...

Other China critics in Taiwan have also been attacked, including Hong Kong singer and activist Denise Ho. She was attacked ​in 2019 in Taipei by a masked man who threw red paint at her.

Tsai said Taiwan might need to amend its ​laws to better deal with China's activities.

"Comprehensively curbing the Chinese communists' transnational repression in Taiwan's democratic and rule-of-law society is also very important, ‌and the ⁠legal framework for it has been lacking," he added.

Taiwan's Supreme Prosecutors Office said in a separate statement on Thursday that the public should "raise their vigilance and never assist hostile foreign forces or allow themselves to be exploited as local collaborators" ...

Taiwan probes organised crime links to China's 'transnational repression' as it says says China behind attack on a comedian who mocked Xi

... Taiwan National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai ​Ming-yen said the local networks that cooperate in incidents like the comedian attack are mostly criminal ⁠gangs, or private investigation firms linked to organised crime ...

Other China critics in Taiwan have also been attacked, including Hong Kong singer and activist Denise Ho. She was attacked ​in 2019 in Taipei by a masked man who threw red paint at her.

Tsai said Taiwan might need to amend its ​laws to better deal with China's activities.

"Comprehensively curbing the Chinese communists' transnational repression in Taiwan's democratic and rule-of-law society is also very important, ‌and the ⁠legal framework for it has been lacking," he added.

Taiwan's Supreme Prosecutors Office said in a separate statement on Thursday that the public should "raise their vigilance and never assist hostile foreign forces or allow themselves to be exploited as local collaborators" ...

If you bet on China, it's never going to plan.

China isn't subverting democracy?

Chinese steal my data and be able to do nothing meaningful with it.

Is this satire?

@[email protected]

Do you take yourself seriously?

You are accusing others of lying and being biased - and then you post the Monthly Review. This is a medium which has been openly spreading pro-Chinese propaganda. In 2020, for example, this outlet republished the outline of a report by the so-called "Qiao Collective" that disputed allegations of genocide and slavery in China's persecution of Uyghur Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

On its website, the Qiao Collective says explicitly that they are supporting the Chinese Communist Party (I don' want to link to this site as it is full of garbage, everyone willing to see it will easily find it).

This "Monthly Review" and its 'peers' are explicitly spreading pro-Chinese propaganda, they don't even try to hide it.

You then accusing others of being biased and then posting such sources shows how out of touch you are.

Edit: Others have already posted better sources to inform about China and Xinjiang, you'd better be clicking these links.

Which Western country’s democracy is being subverted by China ...?

The Chinese party-state aims to subvert all countries, may they be democracies or not.

I can't bring the archived page for whatever reason. Here is another report on new Chinese economic data.

Here is another report:

... Monday's [Chinese economic] data showed retail sales again lagging industrial output, while the property market was still in a downturn, having significantly eroded household wealth for the past five years.

Together with last week's releases showing soft consumer inflation and exports soaring by more than a third, a picture emerges of an economy increasingly dominant in global markets but struggling to generate prosperity at home ...

Weak consumer demand has intensified price wars, ⁠forcing companies to slash costs, including on payroll ...

"Rising trade tensions, protectionist measures and geopolitical frictions pose significant risks to future growth," they [analysts] said, adding "the economy is exposed to changes in the external environment to a greater extent than ​policymakers would prefer" ... [Source]

And that is based on official Chinese data which is arguably better than the real state of the economy. China is becoming increasingly dependent on its exports.

It''s just another catchy headline forwarded from ml ...

China Growth Stays on Track as Retail Sales Beat Forecasts

Retail sales in September has been as weak as in the last 12 months when month-on-month figures has been fluctuating between -0.26% (April) and +0.4% in June. In September, retail sales were +0.35%.

In the long run, China's retail sales have been and are very weak.

No. Models like Mistral and Soofi (an open source AI from Europe) as well as many others have no known links to spy agencies or military.

It’s somehow funny that Apple has been permanently complaining about European laws, but can easily comply with Chinese censorship rules. Tim Cook literally sold the company to an autocratic regime.

It's not only about control but also a big threat for democracy and a stable society as a whole. Last year, for example, Chinese state-backed hacking group Salt Typhoon breached the U.S. telecom networks' wiretap system (a backdoor legally required for law enforcement to access people's private communication), forcing the authorities to urge U.S. citizens using encrypted messaging. So there is no such thing as a backdoor only for the good guys.

Breaking encryption opens the door not just for control but also for malign actors within the borders and from abroad. Where such democratic decline ends can be seen in China, for example, where total control and surveillance is suppressing any form of dissent.

(There is a very good documentary about the devastating consequences of surveillance for those interested: https://total-trust.org/.)

[Edit typo.]

Good to see that people's protests (and democratic allies' concerns) lead to a change in politics.

If someone had told me ten years ago that in 2025 the UK would have long left the EU and we were talking about a membership of Canada, I would have declared them bewildered. LOL.

This is a very weird framing of this study. The original study (which is linked in the article) is in German. Those who don't speak German will find a useful translation provider, I provide the study's summary literal translation:

>Young people: EU and democracy are good, but reforms are needed

• 57% prefer democracy to any other form of government - 39% think that the EU does not function particularly democratically
• Young Europeans want change - 53% criticize the EU for being too preoccupied with trivialities instead of focusing on the essentials
• Cost of living, defense against external threats and better conditions for businesses should be priorities for the EU
• Only 42% think that the EU is one of the three most powerful global political players

Among others, the study also says (again, a direct translation, I am not paraphrasing):

48% of young Europeans believe that democracy in their country is under threat, compared to 61% in Germany. Two thirds rate their country's membership of the EU as positive. At the same time, 53% of young people criticize the fact that the EU is too often concerned with minor issues. Half of 16 to 26-year-olds think the EU is a good idea, but very poorly implemented.

I don't say that everything is perfect, but the whole study paints a completely different picture than this article - and especially its headline - appears to suggest.

[Edit my comments for clarity, translation has not been edited.]

This is a very weird framing of this study. The original study (which is linked in the article) is in German. Those who don't speak German will find a useful translation provider, I provide the study's summary literal translation:

>Young people: EU and democracy are good, but reforms are needed

• 57% prefer democracy to any other form of government - 39% think that the EU does not function particularly democratically
• Young Europeans want change - 53% criticize the EU for being too preoccupied with trivialities instead of focusing on the essentials
• Cost of living, defense against external threats and better conditions for businesses should be priorities for the EU
• Only 42% think that the EU is one of the three most powerful global political players

Among others, the study also says (again, a direct translation, I am not paraphrasing):

48% of young Europeans believe that democracy in their country is under threat, compared to 61% in Germany. Two thirds rate their country's membership of the EU as positive. At the same time, 53% of young people criticize the fact that the EU is too often concerned with minor issues. Half of 16 to 26-year-olds think the EU is a good idea, but very poorly implemented.

I don't say that everything is perfect, but the whole study paints a completely different picture than this article - and especially its headline - appears to suggest.

[Edit my comments for clarity, translation has not been edited.]

Parliamentary committee labels China ‘flagrant’ perpetrator of transnational repression on UK soil

China is among the worst perpetrators of transnational repression in the United Kingdom, increasingly persecuting dissidents who have sought refuge in the country, according to the U.K. Joint Committee on Human Rights ...

“The UK should be a place of sanctuary and safety, however we are concerned that there is a growth of foreign repression on UK soil that is going unchecked,” Lord David Alton, who chairs the committee, said in a statement ...

As an (important?) side note: Europe is among the region with the highest equality, together with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Philippine, Papua New Guinea. Of course, there is a lot room for improvement, but inequality has not risen in the last 20 or so years - unlike in countries like Russia, China, India, where the gap between the richest and the poor has widen significantly.

Addition: Here is the data - https://wid.world/world/#shweal_p99p100_z/US;FR;DE;CN;ZA;GB;WO-PPP;QE-PPP;XR-PPP/last/eu/k/p/yearly/s/false/12.912/100/curve/false/region

Why is Github, as a U.S. company, not asking the U.S. to fund Open Source?