You nailed the Police right on the head. Yea, the cops are on the take, and not only is this well known, it’s understood that the guy with the most money makes the rules.

I think it’s the tradition of kowtowing to authority. Authority in China was always the guy who could push you around no matter which government was involved. This tradition predates the emperors.

Not to mention Xiamen is fairly far south, and out of sight of Beijing, which certainly doesn’t help.

Yes, I can’t think of one crazy dictator that has started a war that was sure to end their country as they knew it… LOL

I just got back from Xiamen. I couldn’t stand it anymore after seeing a little girl grabbing hold of everyone’s shirt or dress and asking them to buy flowers…at 11pm in the middle of the night. There were tons of people around, cops too, and no one give a rats as*. I lost it to my colleague but finally regain my composer after thinking I wouldn’t be able to do anything as well.

Next morning I went searching around for any place that could do something but could not find any assistance. I ended up at a law firm and spoke to a nice lawyer. I explained to him the situation but he just repeated what I have expected already. NOTHING could be done about this to stop it. This is because it’s a crime ring. You stop one but the process doesn’t stop. Police are bribed, are part of it and will most likely put YOU in jail for bringing it up.

The lawyer was the person that told me about the cases he had around China. Seriously, there crime groups that kidnap kids (< 10 years old), cut off their arms and/or legs, throw them out in the street to beg for money so they could get to eat.

Police in China is a sham. How can anyone think they are even doing the “right” things. How can the person think they are doing the “right” thing even. I mean, sure you do what you can and you give citations to a vehicle that is parked wrong but you do nothing about the little kid that’s beside you begging you for money?

What was most surprising to me was the shock and surprise the lawyer had when I told him US doesn’t really tolerate child abuse and things like this will immediately get reported to the authorities and something would be done. Not that child abuse doesn’t happen here but if known it’ll be stopped.

Sigh,

The main thing China worries about most with its little brother, is that North Korea does something to provoke U.S. Military action. The last thing China wants is a unified Korea (a likely and possible scenario should the U.S. military get mobilized).

China has no desire to have a democracy in their backyard. They’re already having enough problems keeping their own people contained within their great firewall.

Having a democratic Korea in their backyard will create all sorts of problems with brainwashing the Chinese citizenry. China will do whatever is needed to keep North Korea in check so as to maintain two Koreas.

Anyone who takes China at face value on this is only kidding themselves.

The problem with a nuclear NK is that they are their political leadership is the kind of crazy nutters who might actually put that threat into reality if push comes to shove. However, who are they going to strike at?

Yes, they could put every last bit of propellant they have into one of their (slightly inaccurate) missiles and hope to strike something valuable in Alaska or Washington (state), but meh… Not enough effect and too easy to rebuild. (Onoz, Microsoft is radioactive vapour — the world rejoices! … anyway…)

No, if they want to put the hurt on, it’s far easier to strike at something that matters — the world’s largest concentration of production facilities, in particular in the high-tech and high-value realm: the facilities just across the border to the north (or, technically, southwest). If NK wants to hurt the west for whatever reason, the best way of doing it would be to bomb China — they’re dead no matter whom they bomb, so why not pick the more effective target?

China knows this…

You’re wrong about Tibet not having squat, they have something critical that China wants and was willing to fight for.

Water.
http://chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-08/05/content_252183.htm

In Mao’s mind, he had to insure that Tibet’s water was for China and China alone. No one else should get it.

Sshhh, don’t get them started because then they will just end up claiming how it was Clinton and Obama that ruined America.

It just stunning how much weaker the conservatives made America.

After decades of preaching “America’s strength” they delivered exactly the opposite.

Anyway, right now the Chinese have their eye on Taiwan. And the idiot governments (both in the US & Taiwan) might just give it to them.