Gravitas: Anti- Communism hashtag
Ones who are picking between America and china south South Korea faces the same question do they shun china or do they try a delicate balancing act on social media the verdict is clear crush communism that's the new hashtag in south South Korea crush communism it was first posted by retail mogul but since then South Korea's conservative politicians have embraced it including this man he's a candidate for the presidential election later this year now this hashtag talks about crushing communism the target is not the ideology the target clearly is china ll give you a short history lesson crushing communism was a catchphrase of the day so needless to say communism was not popular in the south cut to 1991 the catchphrase so why has it made a comeback because there is a new communist power in town and that is china just like there is one key difference South Korea and china are not enemies at least not on paper you see follows a policy of strategic ambiguity they host American troops they also import from they buy weapons from the they also invest their money in other words they play both sides and there are two reasons behind this policy one they need the money china is by far largest trading partner in 2018 they were buying goods worth 160 billion dollars and reason number two tested a ballistic missile it was their second test in seven days the fact is a rogue is an existential threat for the south and who can contain this threat the best bet is china which is why is trying to sign a peace deal with the north he's hoping to denuclearize the peninsula and to do that he needs the help of china his rivals are saying the very opposite they say enough with the middle ground it's time to join the American bandwagon the question is which side will prevail we'll have the answer in a couple of months elections are slated for March 2022. The conservatives are looking to regroup after the collapse in 2017. The controversy around former president park Guinhai following that they were routed at the polls they're hoping for a comeback and for the record it's not just South korea that is dealing with this problem most countries are having trouble choosing the gulf nations as we just showed you the Europeans they're all confused on one side their traditional ties with the on the other the prospect of Chinese money let's look at the European for instance they condemn china's weaker genocide they criticize the crackdown in Hong kong they refuse to abandon Beijing because china is the largest trading partner in 2020 total trade was worth 711 billion dollars clearly the money is making Europe forget ideology for Asian countries it's not just the money it's also security just think about Japan or the Asean countries they condemn China's piracy in they still buy Chinese goods they stop short of joining the opposing camp because if they do china will respond maybe send warships to their waters or violate the airspace this fear is keeping most countries on the fence what we call strategic ambiguity is in fact fear of Chinese retaliation Europe fears losing the Chinese market South Korea and Japan fear losing their sovereignty during the Cold war there was a clear ideological rivalry socialism versus capitalism autocracy versus democracy today those lines are blurred do we really believe that china is a communist country today is China is it a communist country mean look at the numbers mainland china has 53 lakh millionaires economic inequality is worse than Europeso this is not about communism Anymore it's about democracy on one side is the alliance of free democracies on the other we have china and know this is a politically tough call we're talking about billions of dollars in trade huge investments so abandoning china may sound hard but let me simplify it for 'll borrow one of Desmond tutu's famous quotes this is what he said if you're neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor don't hate communism hate the power-hungry men who weaponize communism is now available in your country download the app now and get all the news on the move.
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