Rangelus

If the answer to 2. is no then I have more to worry about the US than China.

I travel to Asia fairly regularly. Am I being irrational? I never said you should stop using Chinese phones, only that I don't want to use them.

So what you saying is that I have nothing to worry about when it comes to China coming after me because I broke Chinese laws.

As above. I never said you had to worry, only that I don't want to. Then you came along trying to convince me that I'm wrong.

Oh that was a surprise. I was sure you were going to say “as bad as China” at the end of that.

No, because the US does not do all of that.

yes it does.

Lol, sure mate. Ok.

They do what they call “extraordinary renditions” in those countries. The US agents break down your door, put a bag over your head and ship you off to some island to be tortured.

You need to stop watching spy movies as if they were documentaries.

No he is not a massive international criminal. No other nation has charges against him. But I get it you completely swallowed the right wing propaganda and think he is some sort of an international criminal mastermind who totally deserved to get raided.

I never said I thought he deserved to be raided. I only said that, by law, the US is allowed to seek extradition to their country to stand trial. I never said I thought he should be charged with anything, or made any judgement call on the situation at all. Oh, and he was charged in Germany, so yes, he is international.

I love that you think I'm right wing.

You are allowed to do whatever you want no matter how racist or irrational it is. You are convinced the Chinese are going to get you, grab you and make you a prisoner or something and you believe the USA would never do anything like that to a NZ citizen despite the fact that the USA has done that and you told me we don’t have an extradition treaty with China.

I said none of those things, stop making shit up. I said "I don't trust the Chinese government to not spy on me so I don't use their phones". This makes no mention of the US, or any of the other shit you're on about. I can distrust more than one government. However, I have plenty of evidence, and first hand experience, of China's spying program. Much less so the US.

I mean you sound like raving paranoid maniac.

Sure mate. Also, "racist" lol.

Right back at you. Why do you praise the USA so highly?

When have I praised the US? Seriously, what the fuck do you think I've been saying?

The fuck are you on about?

ANZ's economists say the housing market is stagnant,

GOOD

warn of more interest rate rises

Oh...

Sigh, look. You don't seem to understand how extradition treaties work.

It's very simple. Our two countries have a reciprocal extradition treaty. This means, if someone is a wanted criminal in our country, we can ask the US government to detain and deport this person so they can stand trial in our country. The same is true of the US. Whether or not he actually committed a crime HERE is irrelevant: He is a wanted criminal in the US, and they asked our government to detain and deport him. Note he is still in NZ.

I am not talking about that. Would the NZ police raid your house and arrest you if China accused you of a crime? We know they would if the USA accused you of a crime.

We don't have an extradition treaty with China. We do with the US. This isn't hard to understand.

Yes I am. Being a democracy has nothing to do with anything.

Are you suggesting that a country that has minorities in concentration camps, has waged cultural war on others, actively exploits poor nations, tracks and watches their entire population, domestically and abroad, locks up political opponents, disappears people critical to the government, detains foreign citizens and actively tries to subvert democracy in other countries is as bad as the US?

If you are you are either naive or an idiot. I can't quite figure out which.

They could kill you with a drone strike.

Happens all the time does it? I must have missed all those drone strikes in NZ, the UK and the EU.

The USA will kill you right here if they want.

When has that ever happened here?

LOL. You really drank a lot of right wing kool aid if you believe Kim Dotcom wa s a massive international criminal.

Man you have wildly missed the mark here. I never said I think he deserves to be a criminal, only that he is. He IS a massive international criminal because he has, no matter how dumb they are, broken many international laws.

All this is such a stupid argument anyway, because EVEN IF the US is so much worse than China, MY POINT STILL STANDS. I am allowed to not want China to track me through my phone, even if I allow the US to do it (as you claim).

I honestly have no idea what your problem is.

I just don't understand why.

Read the article I posted. There are significant challenges beginning and more expected in several countries, Japan, Korea, and more, due to a rapidly aging population.

But if you wish to be contrarian and insist everything will be fine, whatever. I don't really care.

So you hate all the people who work in all the companies in China.

I never said that, what the fuck are you on about?

No they are trying to kill you. They know they are going to kill every person who buys a chinese car. You said it yourself. Chinese cars are not safe because people who work in Chinese companies are building cars that will kill the people who buy them.

Now you are being an idiot.

Of course not. They sell cars all over the world and are going to kill every person who buys a chinese car anywhere in the world.

You continue being an idiot.

So yes then. The people who work in all chinese companies are just like these people and all products made in china are just like this baby formula. All chinese products will kill or make people sick because chinese people who work in those companies want to kill the people who buy those products right?

What the fuck are you on about mate.

He wasn’t charged with anything in NZ.

But what he did is illegal here just as well as in the states. What is your point? Do you own a massive piracy platform? If not, it's not really comparable to you or I is it?

Do you think if China accused you of copyright infringement NZ police would raid your house?

No, but they could potentially detain me if I travel through there if I regularly bad-mouth the regime.

I really don't get you mate. Are you saying that the US, a country that actually has laws and is not a dictatorship, is worse than an actual dictatorship with a long history of abuse.

AND EVEN IF IT WAS, why does that fucking matter? I don't have to love the US if I dislike China. I can avoid both if I want. Your whataboutism is pointless.

And you are convinced the NZ government would do the bidding of the Chinese if the Chinese government decided to come after you right?

No, but other countries can and will. I do not have to worry about the US disappearing me if I say bad things about Biden. There is a small, but measurable, risk that this can happen if I badmouth the CCP and then travel to certain countries. Once again, asking another authority to arrest a massive international criminal is not the same as disappearing normal everday people because they said a bad thing about Winnie the Pooh.

Did you read the article?

I don't get what your point is. Are you trying to argue that a rapidly ageing population will cause no problems?

The amount of extra money the average earner will get is negligible, while the amount of public services that are getting cut to lay for it will leave most people worse off in the long run.

I have friends in Japan. The value given does not accurately reflect actual hours worked. There is a culture of long unpaid overtime hours, after hours social gatherings and more. They are not the worst, and they are trying to improve it, but it is still pretty bad.

Here, read this.