The idea of letting China access to any part of the 5G network is the biggest mistake since Phiby, Maclean, Blunt, Burgess and Cairncross worked for British Intelligence. You might as well just hand them National Security files along with any technological/scientific innovations.
Fraser Bailey
4 years ago
Well, yes, and some of us came to this conclusion some years ago. As always, the politicians and the press are years behind. And they wonder why we don’t vote and refuse to pay for their ‘content’.
ooh! Yes. I live very little money but do try to buy French ( I live in France).We are are paying for those that want cheap. No matter their income.
johntshea2
4 years ago
A generally forthright and provocative article, but:-
“Of course there are limits to what Britain can achieve alone and, like the rest of the West, we desperately need the United States to return to its role as the leader of the liberal democracies. Without stable and sensible American leadership, we are all weaker.”
Implying President Trump and the US government are illiberal, unstable and lack sense. Nick Timothy is far from alone in that critique, of course, but it is President Trump’s “liberal”, “stable” and “sensible” predecessors who created our dependence on China and still condemn President Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports, for example. Free trade is a very useful tool and a good servant, but a bad master.
Wasn’t it Clinton who talked about China’s “favoured nation” status, and moved US jobs over there because of the cheaper workforce?
Clive Higgins
4 years ago
There is a relatively simple question here, WHo has the upper hand, the manufacturer or the buyer. Chinas overwhelming weakness is that it has an economy dependent of the exploitation of cheap labour. A UK Govenment policy of strategic import substitution and a refusal to incorporate the likes of Huawei in to our core infrastructure would be simple to introduce.
Rafael Aguilo
4 years ago
The Western consumer fell for the trap of cheap products, and GAVE away a lot of its manufacturing base to China in exchange. The pied piper is now knocking at the door to collect.
Gerry Fruin
4 years ago
A reasonable analysis and many people would support your comments. I do wonder if after decades of weak, spineless politicians and a crass personality obsessed media the current appalling covid situation might just might make a positive impact. First; clear out the hysterical elements of the attention seeking celebrity media luvies. Dismantle the BBC is at the top of the list. Second; Now our politicians finally look and sound the part If the opposition can grow up and play their part we could be making progress. Third; We are not a world leader any more, accept it. Four; Look to what we can do and invest in it for everyone. Grow more of our own food. Yes it may cost more but it will be reliable. R and D can be developed and the list of work that we can excel at is limitless. Five; Most important of all, care for our own. A point that is never discussed is that if the State paid all the people who work unpaid as carers, the country would be broke overnight. In the care for everyone our system we are abismal. There is a once in a lifetime chance to make a real change. I hope we do.
David Radford
4 years ago
I really hope Gerry is right. LBJ had a maxim that it was better to have a potential adversary inside the tent pee-ing out than outside it pee-ing in. It’s far too simplistic to apply this to China’s dealings,with the rest of us- they can be inside when it suits and outside at the same time. That’s the autocracy bonus. As Gerry says, the current crisis may help, let’s see.
S D
4 years ago
There is a petition to review the Huawei decision, please click on the link below or google “Petition To block Huawei equipment to be used in 5G network” and sign up. https://petition.parliament…
Fraser Bailey
4 years ago
We need to wake up. China is like Nazi Germany to the power of 20. There are rumours that in Wuhan they were putting people into body bags and dispatching them to the furnaces while they were still alive. As I said, these are rumours. But a system that practices organ harvesting on a mass scale, possibly while the victim is conscious, is capable of anything.
Lee Richardson
4 years ago
Just look at the global university population… not least here in the UK. Bleeding quality education and knowledge to be reverse engineered against the west…
Mark Corby
4 years ago
Nick Timothy’s excellent essay does not go far enough. China is a clear and present danger to the Western civilisation. It is a Darwinian imperative that it is destroyed, if our grandchildren are to have any meaningful future. To quote from the late Roman writer Vegetius, “if you wish for peace, prepare for war”. China will not implode, like its feeble alma mater, the Soviet Union. It is hell bent on reversing the humiliation of the Opium Wars and the subsequent ‘Unequal Treaties’. It feels it’s time has come. Compared to the War on Terror/Islam, the destruction of China will be an immense task, but every moment of delay will only make it harder. Currently, the US has an enormous military advantage, and it would be suicidal to squander this. To plagiarise another Roman, Cato the Elder,”China must be destroyed!”
There is no chance of a war against China. The idea of attacking a nation of China’s size and military capability, is suicidal. It would be the end of the West.
Nonsense. A comparative analysis of the respective military capabilities will show you that the US is a Titan and China a Pygmy! All that is required is the will. Lack of moral fibre just will not do, if our grandchildren are to have any meaningful future. It is time to wake up!
Martyn Hole
4 years ago
A game we played at uni was making anagrams of people’s names. WFH and surrounded by jigsaws and various board games, I dug out the Scrabble set and had a go at Norah Dean and Louise Lowry, possibly the two most deranged posts I have ever seen (and I subscribe to the Speccie…..) I got “Aha Norden” for the first, which is appropriate, welcoming one of the best comedy writers of the 20th. Century (that’s Denis not Graham Norton). For the second, I got “O, you’re swill” (forgive the extra apostrophe.)
Where to start ? Alan Crockford nailed the “protect all citizens” shibboleth and as for the article’s author, his “racism” seems finely honed to basically the Han Chinese (note he suggested closer ties with Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, S. Korea and other Emerging Economies.)
Louise Lowry
4 years ago
I could not disagree more with this article apart from the fact the ghastly virus did appear to have originated in the wet market in Wuhan, which actually really is terrible Most of our universities rely on having Chinese students, most of the goods we buy are made in China. UK has dumbed down its science teaching over the years so we have returned to being a nation of shopkeepers and shoppers. We are nowhere near self sufficient in producing our own food. And then we voted to leave the EU. China & South Korea have very different governments and I do agree that China is not a democracy, but what they share is the will to protect all their citizens even the very aged unlike UK and USA who initially were pursuing herd immunity policies resulting in the deaths of many old and infirm people ,who were to be sacrificed for the good of the economy What China & S,Korea share are public . health services providing free care and testing, Both countries have sophisticated apps allow tracing of the spread of the virus. It is possible that the quantum computers that China is developing allow them to do this for their very large population. Of course after the virus is conquered this will be a threat to personal freedom , but then so is google, Actually Germany did not rely on Roche as the Guardian explained. I fear that the death toll in UK will make no country very keen to do business with us as we will have demonstrated by our inability to save our citizens . It is seldom the weaker country that sets the terms for any trade deal. I could be wrong and hope that the UK death toll is not greater than all other G20 countries.as well as the heartbreak caused, it will shame our country, I am one of the over 70s with underlying health problems so am a little biased !
China protects it citizens? Interesting take on the treatment of the Uighar population, the people of Tibet and anyone who might not share the same outlook as the CCP. I might add that the rest of your post has the same curious interpretation of the facts,
China doesn’t and never has protected its citizens. The only reason our universities rely on Chinese students is because we have too many universities, many of them offering pointless degrees, and they need bums on seats. Return some of them back to technical colleges or colleges of further education, or Polytechnics, and have only useful degrees on offer in universities. You are a doom and gloom merchant.
The idea of letting China access to any part of the 5G network is the biggest mistake since Phiby, Maclean, Blunt, Burgess and Cairncross worked for British Intelligence. You might as well just hand them National Security files along with any technological/scientific innovations.
Well, yes, and some of us came to this conclusion some years ago. As always, the politicians and the press are years behind. And they wonder why we don’t vote and refuse to pay for their ‘content’.
Couldn’t agree more with your comment!
ooh! Yes. I live very little money but do try to buy French ( I live in France).We are are paying for those that want cheap. No matter their income.
A generally forthright and provocative article, but:-
“Of course there are limits to what Britain can achieve alone and, like the rest of the West, we desperately need the United States to return to its role as the leader of the liberal democracies. Without stable and sensible American leadership, we are all weaker.”
Implying President Trump and the US government are illiberal, unstable and lack sense. Nick Timothy is far from alone in that critique, of course, but it is President Trump’s “liberal”, “stable” and “sensible” predecessors who created our dependence on China and still condemn President Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports, for example. Free trade is a very useful tool and a good servant, but a bad master.
Wasn’t it Clinton who talked about China’s “favoured nation” status, and moved US jobs over there because of the cheaper workforce?
There is a relatively simple question here, WHo has the upper hand, the manufacturer or the buyer. Chinas overwhelming weakness is that it has an economy dependent of the exploitation of cheap labour. A UK Govenment policy of strategic import substitution and a refusal to incorporate the likes of Huawei in to our core infrastructure would be simple to introduce.
The Western consumer fell for the trap of cheap products, and GAVE away a lot of its manufacturing base to China in exchange. The pied piper is now knocking at the door to collect.
A reasonable analysis and many people would support your comments. I do wonder if after decades of weak, spineless politicians and a crass personality obsessed media the current appalling covid situation might just might make a positive impact.
First; clear out the hysterical elements of the attention seeking celebrity media luvies. Dismantle the BBC is at the top of the list.
Second; Now our politicians finally look and sound the part If the opposition can grow up and play their part we could be making progress.
Third; We are not a world leader any more, accept it.
Four; Look to what we can do and invest in it for everyone. Grow more of our own food. Yes it may cost more but it will be reliable. R and D can be developed and the list of work that we can excel at is limitless.
Five; Most important of all, care for our own. A point that is never discussed is that if the State paid all the people who work unpaid as carers, the country would be broke overnight. In the care for everyone our system we are abismal.
There is a once in a lifetime chance to make a real change. I hope we do.
I really hope Gerry is right. LBJ had a maxim that it was better to have a potential adversary inside the tent pee-ing out than outside it pee-ing in. It’s far too simplistic to apply this to China’s dealings,with the rest of us- they can be inside when it suits and outside at the same time. That’s the autocracy bonus. As Gerry says, the current crisis may help, let’s see.
There is a petition to review the Huawei decision, please click on the link below or google “Petition To block Huawei equipment to be used in 5G network” and sign up.
https://petition.parliament…
We need to wake up. China is like Nazi Germany to the power of 20. There are rumours that in Wuhan they were putting people into body bags and dispatching them to the furnaces while they were still alive. As I said, these are rumours. But a system that practices organ harvesting on a mass scale, possibly while the victim is conscious, is capable of anything.
Just look at the global university population… not least here in the UK. Bleeding quality education and knowledge to be reverse engineered against the west…
Nick Timothy’s excellent essay does not go far enough. China is a clear and present danger to the Western civilisation. It is a Darwinian imperative that it is destroyed, if our grandchildren are to have any meaningful future.
To quote from the late Roman writer Vegetius, “if you wish for peace, prepare for war”.
China will not implode, like its feeble alma mater, the Soviet Union. It is hell bent on reversing the humiliation of the Opium Wars and the subsequent ‘Unequal Treaties’. It feels it’s time has come.
Compared to the War on Terror/Islam, the destruction of China will be an immense task, but every moment of delay will only make it harder. Currently, the US has an enormous military advantage, and it would be suicidal to squander this.
To plagiarise another Roman, Cato the Elder,”China must be destroyed!”
There is no chance of a war against China. The idea of attacking a nation of China’s size and military capability, is suicidal. It would be the end of the West.
Fortunately it won’t happen.
Nonsense. A comparative analysis of the respective military capabilities will show you that the US is a Titan and China a Pygmy!
All that is required is the will. Lack of moral fibre just will not do, if our grandchildren are to have any meaningful future. It is time to wake up!
A game we played at uni was making anagrams of people’s names. WFH and surrounded by jigsaws and various board games, I dug out the Scrabble set and had a go at Norah Dean and Louise Lowry, possibly the two most deranged posts I have ever seen (and I subscribe to the Speccie…..) I got “Aha Norden” for the first, which is appropriate, welcoming one of the best comedy writers of the 20th. Century (that’s Denis not Graham Norton). For the second, I got “O, you’re swill” (forgive the extra apostrophe.)
Where to start ? Alan Crockford nailed the “protect all citizens” shibboleth and as for the article’s author, his “racism” seems finely honed to basically the Han Chinese (note he suggested closer ties with Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, S. Korea and other Emerging Economies.)
I could not disagree more with this article apart from the fact the ghastly virus did appear to have originated in the wet market in Wuhan, which actually really is terrible Most of our universities rely on having Chinese students, most of the goods we buy are made in China. UK has dumbed down its science teaching over the years so we have returned to being a nation of shopkeepers and shoppers. We are nowhere near self sufficient in producing our own food. And then we voted to leave the EU.
China & South Korea have very different governments and I do agree that China is not a democracy, but what they share is the will to protect all their citizens even the very aged unlike UK and USA who initially were pursuing herd immunity policies resulting in the deaths of many old and infirm people ,who were to be sacrificed for the good of the economy What China & S,Korea share are public . health services providing free care and testing, Both countries have sophisticated apps allow tracing of the spread of the virus. It is possible that the quantum computers that China is developing allow them to do this for their very large population. Of course after the virus is conquered this will be a threat to personal freedom , but then so is google,
Actually Germany did not rely on Roche as the Guardian explained. I fear that the death toll in UK will make no country very keen to do business with us as we will have demonstrated by our inability to save our citizens . It is seldom the weaker country that sets the terms for any trade deal.
I could be wrong and hope that the UK death toll is not greater than all other G20 countries.as well as the heartbreak caused, it will shame our country, I am one of the over 70s with underlying health problems so am a little biased !
China protects it citizens?
Interesting take on the treatment of the Uighar population, the people of Tibet and anyone who might not share the same outlook as the CCP. I might add that the rest of your post has the same curious interpretation of the facts,
China doesn’t and never has protected its citizens. The only reason our universities rely on Chinese students is because we have too many universities, many of them offering pointless degrees, and they need bums on seats. Return some of them back to technical colleges or colleges of further education, or Polytechnics, and have only useful degrees on offer in universities. You are a doom and gloom merchant.