If their cars are this good, can you imagine their military equipment?
____________________________
Eeewwww, don't touch it! Here, poke at it with this stick.
January 18, 2024, 05:46 PM
nhtagmember
One can hold out hope that they maintain the same high level of expertise in all facets of their manufacturing endeavors - including their military hardware.
January 18, 2024, 06:04 PM
RogueJSK
quote:
Originally posted by nhtagmember: One can hold out hope that they maintain the same high level of expertise in all facets of their manufacturing endeavors - including their military hardware.
Oh, rest assured... They do. Corruption, graft, corner-cutting, and indifference is baked into the Communist Chinese culture, and pervades all aspects of their industries, including the military.
Case in point: China recently purged about a dozen of their top generals, as well as their Defense Minister, after a widespread corruption scandal was uncovered in the PLA's Rocket Force. The Rocket Force is the premier arm of the Chinese Army, the focus of much of their modernization efforts and one that is held out as an example of China's near-parity with global world powers. Imagine their embarrassment when it was discovered that a number of their rockets were actually filled with water instead of rocket fuel, and that many of the large numbers of newly-produced underground nuclear missile silos in a vast field in Western China had been fitted with lids that were inoperable.
US intel shows China's army had missiles filled with water instead of fuel in a corruption scandal that led to Xi's military purge: Bloomberg
China's army fielded missiles filled with water instead of fuel and arrays of silos with improper lids — examples of military corruption that led to a dramatic purge of top officials, Bloomberg reported, citing US intelligence.
Bloomberg, which did not name its sources, reported on Saturday that the intelligence indicated Xi Jinping's recent ousting of more than a dozen senior commanders in the People's Liberation Army stemmed from serious issues of graft such as these.
The purge went so far as to ax even the Chinese defense minister, Li Shangfu, who disappeared for two months before being replaced in October.
US intelligence sources told Bloomberg that corruption was so severe in China's Rocket Force and the wider PLA that it would most likely force Xi to recalibrate whether Beijing can take on any major military action soon.
The Rocket Force is China's main military branch overseeing its nuclear weapons and has been a key focus of Xi's recent push to rapidly modernize Beijing's forces.
It's been especially central to China's posturing on Taiwan, with Beijing rolling out long-range missiles on its coast to threaten the self-governed island.
In 2021, researchers said satellite images showed China was constructing hundreds of nuclear-capable missile silos in the Xinjiang desert, allowing its arsenal to potentially rival those of Russia or the US.
But US intelligence said one example of corruption was that entire fields of silos in Western China were fitted with lids that prevented missiles from launching effectively, a source told Bloomberg.
The outlet did not say what sort of missiles had been filled with water.
The American assessment said these problems had likely undermined Xi's modernization policies and internal confidence in the Rocket Force's capabilities, the outlet reported.
Xi's purge was long speculated to be tied to his long-running anti-corruption campaign. For months, China has dodged questions on why so many high-ranking army officials were fired.
Of the recently sacked Chinese commanders, at least three held top positions in the Rocket Force, and four were responsible for equipment, Reuters reported.
The PLA has since emphasized staying vigilant against graft, citing a "battle against corruption" repeatedly in its New Year's Day statement.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.
This video gives a good overview of the implications, especially since these rocket examples are likely just the tip of the iceberg within the PLA:
This is similar to the issues that Russia ran into at the start of the Ukraine war, when they attempted to outfit their expanding armed forces with stockpiles of uniforms, equipment, and ammo that it turned out only existed on paper, or with vehicles that were listed as being operable but were in fact rusted hulks, because each of the commanding officers from the top down had been skimming pieces of the funding for years while fudging the records.
Corruption goes hand in hand with Communism, and decades of that mindset results in an entire culture absolutely permeated with it (and once embedded, that continues even after the Communism comes to an end, as seen in post-Soviet Russia).
For more examples of the widespread issue in China, look up some of the discussions, videos, and articles about China's problem with so-called "tofu dreg construction", where contractors and construction companies skim money and cook the books on building projects, and then cut corners with cheap and vastly subpar materials to finish the project, resulting in buildings made from concrete that crumbles when squeezed and steel that can be bent or shattered by hand.
January 18, 2024, 06:53 PM
220-9er
If you're my age you may remember the Lada, Zil and Volga of Russian manufacture. The Yugo, an old Fiat design made with worn out or discarded Italian tooling was built in Yugoslavia by their commies. Every few years our military industrial complex folks would claim the Soviets had some new wonder weapon that was way ahead of our version. Really a sales job on Congress for more money. When the Soviet Union collapsed and we were suddenly able to see their stuff up close, it was mostly stolen designs and pure crap, just like the Chinese stuff or worse.
I remember all the excitement over the Lada. Halifax was a port of entry for these cars and I remember seeing hundreds of them at the container port.
After about a year after they were clogging the roads the jokes started to appear. The engine compartments were sealed such that you couldn’t even add oil.
How do you double the resale value of the Lada? Fill the tank with gas.
January 18, 2024, 08:16 PM
sjtill
Every Russian driver carried overalls, tools, and common spare parts in the trunk. Only when Japanese cars started showing up in Vladivostok did they discover a new world.
_________________________ “Remember, remember the fifth of November!"
January 18, 2024, 08:59 PM
OcCurt
Didn’t the deck of their new “super carrier” crack pretty much from one side to the other? Seems there were some satellite photos of such but I never really paid much attention to the story.
January 18, 2024, 09:03 PM
RogueJSK
quote:
Originally posted by OcCurt: Didn’t the deck of their new “super carrier” crack pretty much from one side to the other? Seems there were some satellite photos of such but I never really paid much attention to the story.
That was the claim that was making the rounds on social media, but it was debunked.
Originally posted by OcCurt: Didn’t the deck of their new “super carrier” crack pretty much from one side to the other? Seems there were some satellite photos of such but I never really paid much attention to the story.
That was the speculation, but it was debunked.
Groovy. Just means the USN can crack that deck later on down the road lol
And BYD will most likely pass Tesla this year in overall EV sales.
January 18, 2024, 10:15 PM
YooperSigs
What the Chinese lack in tech and material quality, they make up with manpower. And they are not afraid to use their troops as cannon fodder. I think they proved that in Korea.
End of Earth: 2 Miles Upper Peninsula: 4 Miles
January 19, 2024, 06:32 AM
Blume9mm
Never having been to China I can't say, but I suspect they are making crap just to sell to us and actually make higher quality items for themselves.
My Native American Name: "Runs with Scissors"
January 19, 2024, 07:28 AM
shovelhead
quote:
Originally posted by 220-9er: If you're my age you may remember the Lada, Zil and Volga of Russian manufacture. The Yugo, an old Fiat design made with worn out or discarded Italian tooling was built in Yugoslavia by their commies.
Yugo! It took that to make the Chevy Chevette look good…..
-------------------------------------—————— ————————--Ignorance is a powerful tool if applied at the right time, even, usually, surpassing knowledge(E.J.Potter, A.K.A. The Michigan Madman)
If Some is Good, and More is Better.....then Too Much, is Just Enough !! Trump 47....Make America Great Again! "May Almighty God bless the United States of America" - parabellum 7/26/20 Live Free or Die!
January 19, 2024, 09:30 AM
Ryanp225
quote:
Originally posted by Blume9mm: Never having been to China I can't say, but I suspect they are making crap just to sell to us and actually make higher quality items for themselves.
This. Kinda like the crap media they send on tictok where the algorithm shows our kids twerking and how to use pronouns while they show their kids quantum physics and calculus.
January 19, 2024, 10:40 AM
nhtagmember
me walking into an auto parts store
Me: I'd like to get a rear view mirror for my Yugo
Sales: That would be a good trade
January 19, 2024, 10:49 AM
bdylan
The Chinese are a manufacturing powerhouse. Just because they excel at making items to a price point...don't be fooled into thinking they can't make quality components.
January 19, 2024, 01:40 PM
1s1k
quote:
Originally posted by bdylan: The Chinese are a manufacturing powerhouse. Just because they excel at making items to a price point...don't be fooled into thinking they can't make quality components.
That’s true. People are still stuck in the past where China started out making garbage.
Go to any top level schools and see how many Chinese people are in there. They come here to learn and then go home to apply. They also give massive manufacturing companies a huge carrot with cheap labor so our CEO’s jump at the chance. China then sees how it’s done first hand and then copy it or just take over the plant.
There was an auto exec who toured the latest BYD plant and he was astonished how quickly they have been not only brought up to speed but have surpassed all manufacturers is many areas of the process.
I just can’t believe people still underestimate them thinking they’re not a threat because they have cornered the market on cheap manufacturing.
January 19, 2024, 02:00 PM
Rey HRH
1. I wouldn't be so cocky as it's not like no country has surpassed the US in manufacturing. Think Japan. And how much manufacturing is done in the US now?
2. They're making money off their own people. The same system that houses people in factories to make $8 iphones. The same system that harvests organs from people. You expect them to make high quality products for their own people?
3. In a head to head with the US, they don't care if their equipment is subpar. They have plenty of human bodies to throw at us. Human life is cheap to the CCP and cheap human life deserves only cheap quality vehicles.
"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
January 19, 2024, 02:07 PM
Rey HRH
quote:
Originally posted by 1s1k:
That’s true. People are still stuck in the past where China started out making garbage.
Go to any top level schools and see how many Chinese people are in there. They come here to learn and then go home to apply. They also give massive manufacturing companies a huge carrot with cheap labor so our CEO’s jump at the chance. China then sees how it’s done first hand and then copy it or just take over the plant.
I just can’t believe people still underestimate them thinking they’re not a threat because they have cornered the market on cheap manufacturing.
That was an eye opener to me in my career - coming across many young brilliant pleasant enough Chinese people working in my circle. I find out they went to schools here and in the UK, many with double masters. They're so smart they easily get hired by the top corporations who are willing to sponsor them for work visas. They integrate well and move up. They come from well to do families from China so it's not like they come here to get a "better" life. But even as friendly as they are, I don't get the sense they have the same values and priorities when it comes to liberty and individual freedom. I wonder what are they here for.
"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.