Rangelus

That's not at all what I said.

Same here. Space stuff neat, but I ain't no rocket surgeon.

This is pretty damn cool, mate!

Sure I guess. Is China arresting or kidnapping people in Taiwan or something?

In Taiwan itself? No. When they transit through China, or friendly countries? Yes, emphatically.

I am 100% convinced they are spying on as many people as possible but I am also 100% convinced that the number of people they spy on is much less than the number of people the USA is spying on. I am 100% convinced that the USA is spying on me, is recording this conversation, records my phone calls, and has a history of every web site I visited and what I did at those web sites and every call I made and every text I sent. I don't think the Chinese intelligence agencies have the same capability or reach that the US intelligence agencies have. Not even close.

You would be wrong about most of this. The Chinese government has one of the most sophisticated spying networks in the world. Remember this: all large Chinese companies have CCP officers with complete access to all information.

I feel like you haven't been to the US. Companies collect personal info, yes, but the US government isn't out there wiretapping the entire world. Real life isn't like the CIA movies, mate.

Some of us didn't...😔

BTW why do you keep ignoring the other evil empire in the picture? I trust the US government less than I trust both the NZ government and the CCP.

This is not a contest of who is worse the USA wins that hands down. This is a contest of who can harm me personally the most and who I should be afraid of the most.

Now I know you don't fully grasp how bad the CCP is.

The US government is pretty corrupt. But it is absolutely nothing like the CCP. Does the US government disappear political opponents? Does it require all companies over a certain size to have official party officers on staff, to ensure they are 'paying their dues' and not becoming too powerful. Does it fund infrastructure projects to debt riddled countries so that they have no choice but to sell them all their mineral wealth? Does the US government actively genocide ethnic minorities? Seriously, they are both bad, but the CCP is much worse.

Cough Israel, cough Saudi Arabia.

What?

Because I don't want to be on the list of known dissidents the government keeps.

🙄

This is a contest of who can harm me personally the most and who I should be afraid of the most.

The US has no control over you, unless you are a citizen there. What are you afraid of?

I never said anyone else had to listen to me. I said, originally, that I wouldn't drive a Chinese company.

And I want to be very clear here. I don't hate China. I greatly distrust the Chinese government, and the culture of bribary, lying, cheating and scamming that has gone along with it. I also do not hate it because it's popular to do so online. I have this view because of direct, personal, experience with Chinese companies and the government there.

Simply put, Chinese companies have and will make important stuff out of sub-par materials to make a buck, and lie, cheat and bribe their way to market. And then people die. This is not paranoia, this is something that happens all the time there.

I'd prefer to see more posts than 3 daily korero in a row and nothing new for days. I'll take one guy posting news over nothing.

This is one hell of a slippery slope.

You are doing that now though.

I trust the NZ government a lot more than the CCP, and you should too.

I am not a chinese expat though. I have literally zero concern that China is going to get me or do anything to me let alone care about me.

Neither am I, but I can recognize the terrible actions taken by that government, and not want to support it in any way.

OTOH I am very afraid to attend a protest or even accidentally cross the street during a protest because I know I will go on some list and my face will be recorded by our own government.

Why? Are you seriously trying to compare the New Zealand, or any western government, to the CCP? If you are, then I seriously doubt you understand quite how bad the CCP is.

That's fine if you're happy to drive one, I don't really care. Personally I won't.

They can say they meet regulations all they won't, but the number of times corners are cut in China to make a few extra bucks makes me look elsewhere.

This is all not to mention not wanting to support the CCP in any way, and the CCP has fingers in all the large companies in China.

This is the worst thing they could do to attempt to fix the horrible housing market. Of course, I suspect that is exactly the point.