Comment by x______________

They're saying it tongue in cheek, and everyone here is wowing over the infrastructure.

But China still believes that Taiwan (and other places) is theirs.

I think one reason this infrastructure is possible is not just regulations, but first party construction + private companies for construction that can't grab corrupt contracts or overcharge because it's a gov contract. Whereas in the West getting a gov contract is the opposite; it's a business' chance to overcharge to fuck, paid by the public who are too distracted to petty squabbles to care.

I'm a foreigner in the UK and the infra here is ailing. The UK voterbase will complain about rising bills, costs, etc. But will they change the way they vote, will they protest for change, will they actually work together for once to demand value for their tax money? Nah, of course not. Because people would rather argue about which bathroom someone can use, rather than intelligent discussion, fair compromise and moving the fuck on to the next problem.

Outdated or not-- it's already happening. China is creating "economic colonization" zones across second/third world nations by lending loans such that countries that can't pay up have to settle by giving up strategic bastions of power.

Take a look at (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hambantota_International_Port). Overtly, not owned by the Chinese government but you can draw your own feelings.

This is how western colonization started.