ANDRE KORYBKO—China must avoid being drawn into “mission creep” all across the world in defending its Silk Road interests, to which end it’s likely to avoid having any significant military presence overseas, let alone in actual conflict zones apart from the Hybrid War experiences that its peacekeepers are presently learning from. Thus, China will probably step up its training, advisory, and assistance missions to its many partners as part of its own multipolar version of the US’ “Lead From Behind” strategy, which could for example see future aircraft carrier deployments off the African coast in order to help its in-country allies respond to anti-Silk Road militants.
CHINESE WAY OF LIFE
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JEFF J. BROWN—This was all a great anecdotal experience about life on the streets of China and geopolitical preferences of the average citizen. Not to mention, local football fans who are willing to go out at two o’clock in the morning to root for Russia, when China never even qualified for the World Cup
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JEFF J. BROWN—There is a common refrain that, China has so many people, they should dominate in football, but it’s a false assumption. It has nothing to do with China’s huge population and everything to do with tradition and nationwide sports development, going back decades: this is what we do.
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JEFF J BROWN—A SIMPLY AMAZING REPORT BY OUR CHINA CORRESPONDENT AND ASSOCIATE EDITOR JEFF J BROWN. Although China did not qualify for the World Cup, it still sent more than 100,000 fans to Russia—more than several major countries combined. Postscript: This article says each Chinese football fan visiting Russia will spend an average of ¥30,000 each, or about €/$4,500. That comes to a total of ¥3 billion, or about €/$450 million – almost a half a billion dollars pumped into the Russian GDP. Four thousand Chinese are arriving in Russia every day, on 20 direct flights. In an international poll, 87% of the Chinese want to watch the World Cup, more than Russians, Brazilians, Italians and US citizens. The love affair between the peoples of Russia and China continues to flourish.
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ROBIN DAVERMAN—To say that China is a democracy is over-simplification – because China always believed that “we will practice democracy among people who pick up trash, and we’ll be authoritarian among people who only want free popsicles.” From 5,000 years ago to today, every year, hundreds of millions of people face annual flooding of the major river systems, and they have to choose – do you stay home to protect your own property, or do you go work on the common dam which can be both dangerous and backbreaking. The guys who come for free popsicle or the guys who come to pick up the trash. Your own survival depends on it.