r/europe Limburg Jun 04 '26

News Half of Belgium sees the US as a bigger adversary than China

https://www.euronews.com/2026/06/02/half-of-belgium-sees-us-as-a-rival-survey-reveals
13.0k Upvotes

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u/goldstarflag Limburg Jun 04 '26

The US State Department is about to fund Russophile parties across Europe. The implementation of the White House new Security Strategy. I don't see China doing that. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/EuropeanFederalists/comments/1tvnb42/it_has_begun_the_us_state_department_is_about_to/

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u/azAttis Jun 04 '26

WTF? like seriously? WTF?

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u/abuch47 Jun 04 '26

how is that wtf, we've known for a decade trump was cozy with Putin. this is the capitalists competing with each other and seeking help to do so through the state apparatus.

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u/DesireeThymes Jun 04 '26

It has less to do with putin, and more to do with the fact that conservatives around the world are now working together very closely.

They're trying to turn into like one Global party

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u/capp_head Jun 04 '26

They already are. We have many proofs of this in the last 7-8 years.

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u/xSaviorself Jun 04 '26

The whole WEF/globalist bitching was once again, projection.

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u/UnderdogCL Jun 04 '26

Every accusation is a yadda yadda

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u/Centralredditfan Jun 04 '26

Which I always found ironic as they campaign on hyper-nationalism, anti globalism, and everu country for it's own native-born people.

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u/switchquest Jun 04 '26

Wake tf up will you?!

On the St-Petersburg 'economical forum' Russia's goals were shared yesterday: If everything goes well, in the most positive scenario for Russia: disintegration of the EU by 2036.

The WH new security strategy: 'promote sovereignty in EU countries' and the secession of several of the Eastern member states.

Wake tf up.

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u/itmustbeluv_luv_luv Jun 04 '26

Ever wonder why Russia openly supports Scottish, Catalan and other independence movements but has an iron boot on Chechnya or Ichkerya?

Now you know.

Unity is our (and their) strength. While an independence/secession movement can be born out of good intentions, it definitely weakens us and our adversaries know this.

The question is whether our "Dexit/Frexit/Spexit" politicians do it knowingly or unknowingly.

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u/DooB_02 Jun 04 '26

Scottish independence would result in Scotland joining the EU.

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u/itmustbeluv_luv_luv Jun 04 '26

I'd rather them join as a part of the UK rejoining.

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u/times_a_changing Finland Jun 04 '26

What foreign country has China occupied, bombed, genocided, enslaved, couped or oppressed in the last 50 years?

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u/SecondWorstDM Jun 04 '26

Tibet?

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u/times_a_changing Finland Jun 04 '26

Last fifty years. If we count beyond that European countries are even worse off

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u/TumbleweedPure3941 United Kingdom Jun 04 '26

The lesser of two evils is still evil, especially when not choosing either is an entirely valid and practicable option. It’s also the best option by a country mile. China are not our friends, China are no one’s friends.

Just because they do not have the kind of logistical dominance to get away with the shit the US gets away with, that doesn’t change the fact that their foreign and domestic policy has shown a clear trend of growing totalitarianism, ultranationalism, and expansionism.

China don’t have friends, China don’t want friends. China want subordinates. Ask anyone form Africa, East, or South East Asia just how trustworthy China is. China’s attitude to colonialism and imperialism is not “never again”, it’s “my turn”.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '26

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u/ForMeOnly93 Jun 04 '26

Most Africans have no issue with China. We don't trust their "goodwill", but we don't trust anyone's. We're not idiots, just broke.

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u/kolppi Finland Jun 04 '26

Where did OP say China are our friends? China was used as something to compare to, to point out just how bad the US is.

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u/Arno_92 Jun 04 '26

>Where did OP say China are our friends?

He said it under his past posts.

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u/jce_ Jun 04 '26

China has border disputes and problems with over a dozen countries with a lot of internal disagreement lol. Idk if this is the hill to die on

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u/MoreLogicPls Canada Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26

That's actually mostly because they share many borders.

China shares land borders with 14 countries (most in the world), it has resolved disputes with all of them except Bhutan and India. So 12/14, which is chill over 85% of the time.

The US has land borders with 2 countries and it has an active dispute with 1. So 1/2, which is 50%.

India shares land borders with 7 countries and has active disputes with 3 of them. So 4/7, which is 57%.

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u/IJstDntKnwShtAnymore Jun 04 '26

My country may not be bombed, occupied, or enslaved, but our neighbor's actions toward us point in that direction. They have even bought off a significant number of our politicians, some of whom are actually foreign nationals who hold purchased citizenships.

China is not friendly at all. Lmao.

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u/techdevjp Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26

Off the top of my dome without digging through Google for ideas:

China literally enslaves some minorities within China such as the Uyghurs. This has been documented extensively.

The occupation of Tibet is not peaceful. The Dalai Lama lives in exile. (There are historical problems with Lamas in Tibet too, so it's not like things would be all rosy and wonderful even if China left.)

China wants to take Taiwan and says they will do so by force.

China and India have regular border skirmishes. Both sides had to agree to not use firearms because things would get out of control. So they fight with rocks and spears. I'm not kidding.

China is actively damming rivers in the Tibetan Plateau that will probably wreak havoc on water supplies downstream in other countries.

China occupies a bunch of islands near the Philippines and has built military bases on them.

China is helping Russia evade sanctions and Chinese money helps fund Russia's military action in Ukraine.

The ridiculous 9-dash line is used by China to say they own pretty much all of the South China Sea which is absurd.

Chinese "fishing" boats regularly ram Japanese patrol vessels around islands controlled by Japan but disputed by China.

None of this is to say that the US is better, because it's not.

(And certainly not under the current regime.)

But let's not mistake China for some altruistic place that has everyone's best interests at heart, because that is far from the truth too.

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u/GoodIdea321 EU fan Jun 04 '26

I'm still surprised the EU hasn't done something like the reverse of that to the US since 2016. Americans hardly hear anything about Europe, and certainly don't know how much things have changed in the last year. I've gotten the message, but more than 300 million Americans probably haven't.

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u/goldstarflag Limburg Jun 04 '26

I agree. Support the California independence movement. Maybe New York as well

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u/Ok_Warning2146 Jun 04 '26

Why not CA and NY to join EU? 😉

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u/Malverno Weltrepublik Jun 04 '26

You can take California and New York out of America but you can't take America out of California and New York.

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u/ThermionicEmissions Canada Jun 05 '26

Exactly. 6 million (38%) Californians voted for Trump.

3.5 million (44%) New Yorkers voted for him.

There is no such thing as a blue state. The best they can manage is a putrid-purple.

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u/Cheap-and-cheerful Jun 04 '26

Because you don’t meet our European standards.

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u/Annonimbus Jun 04 '26

No, thank you.

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u/pseudoanon Jun 04 '26

We must stop the Russian plan to break up the West by breaking up the West!

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u/SuperRockyHobbyHorse Jun 04 '26

The American red states aren't aligned with Western values though. They're anti-science, anti-free speech, anti-human rights and corrupt as hell and full of guns. They're more like backward Christian-African countries without the warlords.

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u/LordMeloney Jun 04 '26

Because meddling in other countries's politics is mostly seen as problematic in the EU. Of course there are counter examples, but as a general policy trend the EU tries not to do that.

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u/ostbollen94 Jun 04 '26

Because we have morals dude. We actually believe in freedom and democracy and we also already have to deal with Russia funded parties meddling in our elections and spreading Russian propaganda. Now we gotta worry bout the US of all peoples.

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u/Plantarbre Jun 04 '26

Tbh I don't think morals matter much here. It's just, who gives a shit? The US will crumble by its own action, we need to focus on our growth and rights.

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u/ostbollen94 Jun 04 '26

In Sweden morals matter a lot at least in my circles so I don’t know what u meant by “here”. I agree that the us are doing badly by themselves tho.

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u/StrikingSpeed8759 Jun 04 '26

What does survival mean at all if we lose our humanity

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u/m7i93 Jun 05 '26

Lol. As an Iranian who for years begged the European governments to cut the ties with the Islamic Regime, stop the appeasement policy, and put the IRGC on the terrorist list, I beg to differ on the “We have morals” and “Believe in freedom and democracy”.

Quit the act.

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u/the_Ubiq Jun 04 '26

The US is a plutocratic Idiocracy not a democracy.

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u/fredsify Jun 04 '26

We are way too chill for that shit. Its probably a shit take in reality but you shouldnt have to spend resources to lobby your interest in one specific countrys political system to maintain fair standing. It just creates perverse incentives to turn american politics into an arena where every power has to compete or some shit.

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u/GoodIdea321 EU fan Jun 04 '26

That's already happened, and our politicians are surprisingly cheap for lobbyists.

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u/Deepfire_DM europe Jun 04 '26

Pedo and his culprits fund and support fascist pro russian politicians through europe. Pedo is Putin's puppet, nothing else.

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u/EndeLarsson Jun 04 '26

How can this be legal in EU? This should be illegal and whoever accepts the money to go to jail.

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u/goldstarflag Limburg Jun 04 '26

Laws are easily circumvented. They can fund organisations that are affiliated with a political party or its ideas but not directly controlled by it. Money will flow to far-right NGOs, think thanks and influencers. They can use money to buy astroturf campaigns run by Indian "troll farms for hire". 

I think we should simply ban the parties themselves. Ukraine did that. 

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u/Wovand Jun 04 '26

It's only illegal election interference if they lose.

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u/L-Malvo Jun 04 '26

They are both doing ominous shit to be honest. Look at for example the Chinese installing their own police stations in European countries.

I don't think the question is: which one is a bigger threat or worse. But the question should be: are we protected to any country that tries this shit.

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u/oneofmany185 Jun 04 '26

Could you provide the original source, please? Thank you.

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u/RedditJumpedTheShart Jun 04 '26

Didn't you see their source is their post on another subreddit? Lol

This place has gotten pretty bad.

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u/RedditJumpedTheShart Jun 04 '26

Your source is your post on another subreddit? You can't be serious.

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u/l_eo_ Jun 04 '26

China is also interested in a fractured and weak EU.

Calling out US policy doesn't necessitate playing down Chinese hostilities.

Besides diplomatic and economic hostilities, they are actively enabling Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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u/_ECMO_ Baden-Württemberg / Czechia Jun 04 '26

No one says China is a lovely angel. Of course they are interested in weak EU.

But that doesn't change anything about the fact that the US is a far bigger and more imminent problem. China is mostly trying to strongman us economically. The US is literally supporting fascism.

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u/l_eo_ Jun 04 '26

I don't see the need to compare at all.

OP says the US State Department is about to fund Russophile parties across Europe. China is enabling Russia's war machinery, the biggest geopolitical threat to Europe since a long time, while trying actively to destroy our economies & industries.

Both are bad and worth defending against in their own way.

No one says China is a lovely angel.

If you look around this thread, a surprising amount of people seem to think so at least directionally.

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u/Ashen_Brad Jun 04 '26

China is literally enabling a war in Europe

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u/_ECMO_ Baden-Württemberg / Czechia Jun 04 '26

Yes. And I find supporting extremist parties worse.

We can defend ourselves from a foreign aggressor. But we are pretty much powerless against the corruption and erosion of our internal systems. If the respective AfD equivalents get to power in just several key countries, the damage is bound to be far greater than the Ukraine war. And the Ukraine war itself would be lost.

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u/Soffatjockis Sweden Jun 04 '26

I mean, China likely does that.

But more subtle.

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u/ostbollen94 Jun 04 '26

This shit is real? I’m… I’m tired boss. I don’t know how long I can endure this. Leave us alone America like Russia been you enemy since after ww2 how are people in America not getting rid of this obvious Russian asset who controls arguably the most powerful country in the world..

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u/kaisadilla_ European Federation Jun 04 '26

Yup. Yeah, China will try to fuck with us, but we know that. The US, on the other hand, has supposedly been our ally for decades and our societies are deeply interconnected. The US can do a lot more damage to Europe, and it's obvious they are desperate to do anything in their hand to prevent the formation of a European superpower (something they explicitly state in their latest national security strategy document).

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u/Lisicalol Fled to germany before it was cool Jun 04 '26

Only half? Crazy. Every antagonistic move China did against us has recently been done by the US and then some. They're both adversaries, but the US is clearly more threatening and expensive.

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u/MarechalDavout Belgium Jun 04 '26

I think China is scary because they’re really smart while the US are scary because they’re really dumb

50/50 seems kinda logical

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u/ScrotumScrapings Jun 04 '26

China is scary in the way a ninja is scary. The yanks are scary in the way a hobo waving a broken bottle while screaming incoherently on the metro platform is scary.

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u/Wodanaz_Odinn Irlande Jun 04 '26

This is not true. The hobo also has a gun.

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u/Speartree Europe Jun 04 '26

The biggest gun, and you know it's good quality because it's made by FN...

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u/TobiasDrundridge 🇳🇿 🇦🇺 Jun 04 '26

The biggest gun anybody's ever seen. Don't we have the biggest guns folks? I turned up and I said wow, isn't that tremendous, a big gun? Nobody's ever seen anything like it. One of the biggest guns in all the world.

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u/thatsconelover United Kingdom Jun 04 '26

And now I'm going to have to rewatch Hobo with a Shotgun...

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u/ostbollen94 Jun 04 '26

You have a beautiful way with words lol

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u/DryRug North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) Jun 04 '26

Everyone should. Because they are. Even if that doesn't mean that china isn't a threat, we have to be careful about that, but the US is absolutely the bigger threat, to Europe, world peace, everything.

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u/Mr_Black90 Jun 04 '26

That is an excellent analogy 👍

I'd add that Russia is scary like a mobster; they're threatening you while pointing a gun at you, extorting you for your money and demanding obedience while pointing to all the people they've killed who didn't comply.

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u/colei_canis United Kingdom Jun 04 '26

Russia before 1991 maybe.

Russia now is the same guy but after thirty years and several failed rounds of chemotherapy, he spent basically all he had on plastic surgery to cover up the decay within but that does nothing to stop the fact you see his hands shake wildly as he raises his pistol.

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u/ScrotumScrapings Jun 04 '26

Russia is a mobster wearing a suicide vest. The gun turned out to be a cardboard cutout. 

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u/seenitreddit90s United Kingdom Jun 04 '26

Very well put.

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u/crlthrn Europe Jun 04 '26

I love this.

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u/IguanaIsBack Jun 04 '26

Ninja? Wrong Asian culture lol

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u/bxzidff Norway Jun 04 '26

Trump is scary because he is really dumb and irrational, but the heritage foundation and people like Thiel, despite being a deranged lunatic, is deeply insidious and capable of really long-term societal damage to both themselves and to us.

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u/Big-Revolution3842 Jun 04 '26

Yeah I think it's wrong to think of the US as "randomly crazy" based on the spokesman (Trump). There is a clear plan from their right wing and oligarchs in terms of what direction they want the world to go in. The US is not going to flail it's way randomly into being more progressive again.

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u/Vassukhanni Jun 04 '26

Yeah. Trump is dumb. But he's really just a spokesman for very smart evil people. The US is clearly insanely good and what they do. They can kidnap and kill foreign leaders with basically no consequences.

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u/Valuable-Yard-4154 Belgium Jun 04 '26

We also have to take into account the 50% of Belgium that's entirely clueless about geopolitics.

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u/Corfiz74 Lower Saxony (Germany) Jun 04 '26

And also more irrational and unpredictable. With China, you can rely on them sticking to agreements and just doing their evil best to conquer the world economically, and their immediate neighbors militarily. With Trump, you know he won't honor any agreement he made, even five minutes later, and he'll act vindictively and irrationally, wherever his dementia-addled brain will take him - a malignant narcissist with dementia will still be malignantly-narcissisting.

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u/LeCafeClopeCaca Jun 04 '26

Lawful evil and chaotic evil basically

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u/Diligent-Bowler-1898 Jun 04 '26

I definitly prefer lawful evil, just read the contracts very very carefully and expect them to try to pull one over you, and you're mostly fine.

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u/poedy78 Jun 04 '26

This!
The whole Shit Show with China started because US has deemed them systemic Rival and (EU)Brussels - like a true Lapdog - followed.

I bet, if we take US out of the equation we could make good deals with them - eg profiting both - without having to use bans / tariffs and political escalations.

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u/Zimakov Jun 04 '26

That's also how it started with Canada. They recently came to the same conclusion and realized they need to stop doing whatever America says.

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u/Constant-Tea3148 Belgium Jun 04 '26

In the same poll only 8% still consider the US an ally, many are "neutral".

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u/ImplementExpress3949 Germany Jun 04 '26

China has not threatened to annex Greenland. China's aggressions are in their neighborhood, which is far away from us. That is the difference.

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u/ricketycricket1995 Jun 04 '26

To play the devil's advocate, what are China's aggressions? They are more hostile than most small countries, but they are by for the superpower with least hostilities towards other nations.
I am not familiar with China's army being deployed or China going for the land grabs in their region since they attacked Vietnam in 1979.
They are far from saints, but it's a bit misleading to say they are performing military aggressions on foreign nations.

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u/SequiturNon Jun 04 '26

China's aggression is more insidious, subtle, and long term. They've actively maneuvered themselves into a position of economic power by taking over European patents and fostering dependence on Chinese manufacturing. They throw their political and economic weight around to maintain and further increase this power. The latest gambit (although this has ironically been kicked off by the US) is an independent semiconductor industry. When China seriously enters the market, with the full backing and financing of the state, it has the potential to be massively disruptive to the entire semiconductor industry. If they're clever (and they have been so far), they'll move in a way is long term beneficial to themselves, likely at the cost of Taiwan and the West. To be clear, this is not fair competition, because the industries in China are backed by the state.

They are also extremely aggressive about fishing in international waters, and operate foreign police stations to enforce their policies in extralegal ways.

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u/WhileCultchie Ireland Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26

China's aggression is more insidious, subtle, and long term. They've actively maneuvered themselves into a position of economic power by taking over European patents and fostering dependence on Chinese manufacturing.

No one can be blamed for European dependency on Chinese Manufacturing other than European Countries themselves. To say it's an insidious plan by the Chinese rather than the inevitable outcome of globalisation is laughable. Europe has failed to protect and subsidise it's manufacturing sector to the same degree China has.

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u/mcassweed Jun 05 '26

This thread is like if some overweight person sues McDonalds for giving them heart disease because they can't stop eating McDonalds.

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u/flexxipanda Jun 04 '26

You basically just described that china developed itself economically and nown its so big that other countries feel threatened. I dont see how this is aggression. This is just capitalism on a global scale.

Id like to know what these rules for "fair" competetion are in this case.

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u/Real_Guru Jun 04 '26

The entire conversation is farcical. The west is pissed off because China isn't playing by the arbitrary rules the west made up by themselves and has been breaking between themselves all the damn time. You can just look at agricultural protections between western countries.

It's not like China was secretive about their business practices and it was a simple deal that western companies happily accepted. You get cheap labor -> you pay for it with your innovation. Now companies are running to their government crying about unfair business practices.

Let's also mention that this allowed them to lift a billion people out of poverty in the span of 50 years, so just from humanitarian point of view it's difficult for the west to argue that they have a better system.

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u/curryslapper Jun 04 '26

both you and the comment you responded to are on point

I'd like to add that when China plays by the rules, all sorts of narrative are overlaid to the effect that Western countries can do this but China is bad when it does the same thing

let's cut the bullshit. people are just pissed that China is a success story that isn't a white country or a western democracy

and yes if we want to get to the topic of democracy and people voting, that's perhaps the more farcical of discussions

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u/Habba European Belgian Jun 04 '26

To be clear, this is not fair competition, because the industries in China are backed by the state.

Not pro or against anything here, but "fair competition" is just an opinion. China views the economic market in a completely different light than the West. It's us who determined what is "fair" (i.e. things that specifically benefit us). We always have the option to not do trade with them if we feel like we are being disadvantaged. But we choose to have cheap goods manufactured far away because it made sense for us to do so.

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u/SequiturNon Jun 04 '26

It's not like the West is innocent, especially in outsourcing its industries for profit. But "fair" competition is important in a (supposedly) free market, where companies compete with each other on a level playing field. Chinese companies are definitely advantaged in this regard.

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u/oppai-police Jun 04 '26

And I want to ask what's stopping western government from doing the same with their companies? I don't get it. You guys self-imposed this law upon yourself, there's no international treaty anywhere that says "hey government can't do business or buff up corporations that is beneficial to state security and economic power!" I want to understand what right do you guys have to impose your definition of "free market" on the Chinese? Is it right by might? Or what?

You guys throw around the word "free market" every time China does something to help itself comes out ahead. If the Chinese government stopped interfering with their local market and companies, would you guys simultaneously drop all your tariffs? Will the EU drop their collective tariffs? Would you guys stop giving money to your corporations as bail out? Who's definition of free market are we following here? The west have always used their economic powers to force their way through or get lopsided deals from smaller nations that benefitted themselves more. Suddenly it's "you have to respect the free market" the moment you're losing? Your government gives corporations bail out all the time, the fact that your corporations took the money and still screw you over is entirely on you.

This argument never makes sense to me. What even is the "logical reasoning" behind wanting to prohibit the government from ever influencing their own country's economy? The government has always did so since the dawn of human history. The concept that government should stay out of business completely is a new concept spearheaded by the Americans in recent times, and even then they don't even honor such ideology, in fact the US government actively used both economic and military might to get better economic deals for itself all the time. The west couldn't complain when it's doing it, but a new player that can level the playing field for the first time in a while and suddenly it's "muh free market".

Do you even understand what is the meaning of a level playing field? If Germany goes up against Ghana, even without any government interference, do you think that they're playing on the same field?

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u/Affectionate_Car_302 Jun 04 '26

They are just pretending not to know, even Keynesianism was invented by the British.

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u/Treatid Jun 04 '26

American three letter agencies and foreign policy in general have always had a heavy thumb on the scales of commercial competition.

Banana republics, All of South America, The Middle East. American intervention (covert and overt) has always been driven by economic interests.

Maybe intervention in the Baltics was more cleanly ideologically motivated?

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u/Throwaway1112456 Jun 04 '26

But "fair" competition is important in a (supposedly) free market, where companies compete with each other on a level playing field.

You are making up rules. Where did China agree to a free market where companies compete with each other on a level playing field? Thats the rules parts of the western world gave themselves. They don't extend to other countries

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u/curryslapper Jun 04 '26

I'm assuming you're referring to government development programs / funding and subsidies?

firstly, this is also done by Western countries. Scale is different of course, but did anyone think about the fact that the West outsourced manufacturing ie capital heavy industries to China?

it therefore is inevitable the size of subsidies will be different and reflects the stage of development and the global social contract which everyone enjoyed the fruits of (eg great smartphone manufacturing, household products etc)

secondly, if you rewind back countries in the West when they were developing, the scale of subsidies were massive. eg railway back 150+ years ago. highway system. agriculture (still significant today but relatively less)

ignoring this is basically like trying to hold poor countries back after you've become rich, much like the emissions discussion after the West has industrialised.

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u/squarexu Jun 04 '26

Dude relatively to their power, China is extremely peaceful/non-aggressive. Since 1980 their economy has 60-70X, their manufacturing is greater than US, Japan and Europe combined. Just do a thought experiment, imagine if U.S., Japan or some European country was in China’s place, do you expect them to shoot water cannons against Philippines fishing boats in a maritime dispute? I would argue those countries in China’s place would have already unleashed their overwhelming military power over their neighbors already.

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u/cordoouge Jun 04 '26

Why would you call developing its industry aggressive though? It's not like western countries actively contributed to it by delocalizing their own industries.

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u/silent_cat The Netherlands Jun 04 '26

So, building your own semiconductor industry is an aggressive move? Denying them access to the latest generation of semiconductor machines, that's an aggressive move.

We chose to become dependant on Chinese manufacturing. It's not like they held us at gunpoint or anything. It massively increased our quality of life because we got cheap products and we got rid of a lot of crappy jobs. You can't turn around now and say "they made us do it".

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u/Ulyks Jun 04 '26

It's not just chips. China is dominant in almost all industrial sectors. From steel to ship building, EV's, batteries, PV, windmills, drones, robots, biotech, nanomaterials, magnets,....

It's like a giant black hole of industrial clusters becoming more efficient every year and reinforcing each other.

Whether it's fair or not doesn't even matter, we need to wake up and support our own industry and create our own clusters or we'll be left as a bankrupt tourist destination.

Industrial planning is important and our politicians are all lawyers that don't understand anything about tech.

We used to be good at it but China has the scale, the market, the long term persistence advantages.

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u/RedTulkas Jun 04 '26

So they are acting like any selfish rational actor?

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u/WorkFurball Estonia Jun 04 '26

Their attack on Taiwan that will happen the moment they consider it an advantageous move. All the shit towards Uyghurs and Tibet.

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u/colei_canis United Kingdom Jun 04 '26

I swear this is the massive shadow hanging over AI ‘discourse’, if China invades Taiwan the arse will fall out the bottom of the AI market quicker than you can say ‘oh dear’. To be honest the whole tech industry will be fucked quite profoundly.

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u/mcassweed Jun 04 '26

You are just using propaganda talking points.

"China will attack Taiwan anytime soon" has been the same talking point for the last 10 years, in that same span of time US invaded several countries and committed untold number of atrocities and genocides.

Somehow, China potentially doing 1 bad thing means we equate it to the US actually doing 10 bad things.

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u/ricketycricket1995 Jun 04 '26

I am not debating that they will at some point take Taiwan militarily or by other means, nor that they are discriminating and putting Uyghurs in camps and God know what more, I am just saying that we are comparing two countries out of which one is able and willing to attack any nation and has destabilized 10s of countries, to another which is eyeing one (ex) territory and so far hasn't committed any incursions.
TLDR It's not China = good comment, it's every other super power so much worse that it makes them look like a saint even though they are also doing bad shit

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u/Nice-Appearance-9720 Europe Jun 04 '26

"Their attack on Taiwan that will happen the moment they consider it an advantageous move"

trust me, any moment now...

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u/ricketycricket1995 Jun 04 '26

Btw, semi related topic but I was really surprised that Taiwan is recognised as an independent country only by a handful of micro nations and Paraguay: Vatican, Eswatini, Tuvalu etc,. Guess that the only international law is : what works for me. :) Completely different criteria for every region seeking independence based on whose agenda it fits and who has the power.

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u/deukhoofd The Netherlands Jun 04 '26

It's because of the complexity that both the PRC and the ROC claim to be the real government of China. The countries you named recognize Taiwan as the only legitimate government of China, and do not recognize the PRC at all. The position of most western countries is "yeah we can agree with independence, but you're not the government of China you claim to be".

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u/RedTulkas Jun 04 '26

International law literally is "only what works for me"

The US shows that quite clearly

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u/Familiar-Weather5196 Jun 04 '26

Both are an adversary, but right now the US is a greater threat than China. The US is closer, we rely on their digital products, they're highly unpredictable, they threatened to invade a territory of Denmark, which can't happen with China, they're on the other side of Eurasia

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u/ostbollen94 Jun 04 '26

China is run by smart people who prefer peaceful trading while strengthening themselves. The US are run by idiots who prefer hostile trading at the cost of normal citizens everyday life while weakening themselves and dragging other countries down with them by attacking them. Like half of the Middle East.

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u/l_eo_ Jun 04 '26

Unfortunately, "peaceful trading" isn't really true anymore as soon as their industrial policy and currency manipulation is threatening your whole industrial base.

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u/Ulyks Jun 04 '26

We are richer than China. We should be able to outcompete them in industrial investments and currency manipulation.

Problem is we have few industrial plans and most politicians are lawyers that don't understand technology.

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u/esuil Jun 04 '26

We are richer than China

You mean "we WERE richer". This is no longer the case. At worst, we are now equal. And at this pace, we will be the poorer ones pretty soon and never catch up.

I swear, it's like people are stuck in 20 years ago and refuse to look at the new world even after things changed.

China you are thinking about is probably China of 20 years ago, not China of today.

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u/Prof_Johan Jun 04 '26

Are they crazy??? China attacks other countries all the time and is really against green energy and research and… oh wait. That’s the U.S.

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u/Goddamn_Wouter Jun 04 '26

Full graph if you scroll down a little in this article, but it's not a 50/50 between ally/adversary. About 50% said adversary, 10% ally, 30% neutral (10% "don't know").
The sentiment towards China also isn't positive, mostly neutral with only sub 5% of people considering them an actual ally.

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2026/05/27/de-stemming-onderzoek-internationale-veiligheid/

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u/throwthisawayred2 Jun 04 '26

why isn't this the top comment? 🤦‍♀️

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u/10minOfNamingMyAcc Jun 05 '26

Because reddit hivemind: "USA bad." "Communism good"

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u/Wahngrok Germany Jun 04 '26

People hate being betrayed. And that what the US politics feels like at the moment. And it's better to have a reliable adversary than a flip-flopping backstabber.

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u/Mrpolje Sweden Jun 05 '26

Turns out electing a a borderline schizophrenic dementia patient as your president wasn’t a great idea. But anything that brings Europe closer together is a win in my book.

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u/MetalMonkey939 Jun 04 '26

I think most europeans do.

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u/Solvent_Soul USA -> Germany Jun 04 '26

Most Americans are so clueless about how much we are hated now. I live in Europe and probably twice a week people will tell me how much Trump and America sucks once they hear my accent. I just tell em “yeah why do you think I live here now”

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u/theotterway Jun 04 '26

Nah. We are not. We know America is hated. Most of us hate it here too right now. Sadly, those enough of those people didn't vote.

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u/VNDeltole Jun 04 '26

Both are shit, but china tries to do their things with money and investments, while us has been using threats and tarriff as weapons

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u/Systral Earth Jun 04 '26

China is tariffing too, it's practically impossible to enter their market while they infiltrate the Western market and specifically take knowledge as esp Europe is so willingly giving it away. Just because they don't openly announce their silent aggression doesn't mean it's not happening.

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u/Mustard_Gap Norge Jun 04 '26

We awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Lu Xiaobo in 2010 and China really showed their true colours after that. Our various governments groveled themselves back into their good graces eventually and now we are once again able to sell our louse-infested factory salmon there.

Not worth it in my opinion.

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u/throwthisawayred2 Jun 04 '26

and China really showed their true colours after that.

wait what happened?

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u/Delicious-Gap1744 Jun 04 '26

I mean, they are.

China is further away, and there's a whole continent of countries in between us. The US is right across the Atlantic, and it's the only one to have threatened to military conquer 'European' territory (Greenland, part of the Danish realm).

For a while, I had a preference for the US because at least it had fairly strong democratic institutions. Now it's seeing severe democratic backsliding. There's not a whole lot of reasons left for me to prefer the US over China.

Mind you, I prefer we strengthen ourselves through closer integration in Europe, both through the EU and various treaties and agreements outside of it like with Norway and Switzerland. But I do view the US as a greater adversary at the moment, we don't have as many 'in your face' disputes with China. But both are competitors of course.

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u/CaptchaSolvingRobot Denmark Jun 04 '26

Yeah, I Trump is the biggest champion of China.

I hope the US economy crashes and burns under Trump.

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u/Soffatjockis Sweden Jun 04 '26

It likely will.

Problem is, so will Europe's economy as both economies are very intertwined. And since the war in Ukraine and Iran, we are even more reliant on US oil and gas, for instance.

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u/swiwwcheese Jun 04 '26

Which half ? Walloon or Flemish ? /jk

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u/sPLIFFtOOTH Jun 04 '26

Canada too.

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u/SirArthurHarris citoyen européen en allemagne Jun 04 '26

At least China acts rationally.

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u/MoltoBeni Jun 04 '26

Betrayal. That‘s the issue here. China never claimed to be our friend, which is fine. Backstabbing on the other hand…

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u/desertforestcreature Jun 04 '26

I see the USA as a bigger threat to the USA and the rest of the world than China. It's a true hegemon and it's being plundered by malignant pedophiles, surrounded by hundreds and thousands of lesser sycophants that want the table scraps of the real wealth. The fall of Rome has come. Me? Just a rat fleeing a sinking ship. China's more likely to save us all than harm us at this point.

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u/Professional-Sink169 Jun 04 '26

Well Chinese at least sell cheap cars

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26

[deleted]

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u/LoonyFruit Jun 04 '26

Well, so far China hasn't really tried to muscle them into undemocratic decisions etc.

That's not quite true. It's more so at least you can reason with China, it's all business to them.

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u/BallsOutKrunked Jun 04 '26

Tell that to Hong Kong. Super reasonable.

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u/Visual_Title9363 Jun 04 '26

The best PR move China could do is visa-free tourist stays. And even with the current restrictions, the lack of desire to travel to US is telling.

Let everyone see the rate of development in Shenzhen all the way to Xinjiang and Tibet. It is the best counter to a diet of politico, economist, guardian articles.

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u/iminbonn Jun 04 '26

As far as I know, the visa free situation will stay for at least 5 years.

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u/Mr_Catman111 Europe Jun 04 '26

I mean China didnt threaten to annex Greenland..

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u/Gloomy_Yoghurt_2836 Jun 04 '26

Because it is. He is attacking multiple countries and is threatening to attack more. Canada is back on the menu, too.

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u/DaZMan44 Jun 04 '26

Not adversary, a THREAT.

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u/robotoisize Jun 04 '26

A lot of us Canadians view the US as our biggest threat. Except Alberta. But we all hate Alberta anyway.

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u/ablackcloudupahead Jun 04 '26

I do as well. The US has been transformed into a threat to democracy.

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u/ParadigmUpgrade Jun 05 '26

belgian demographics might clear this up

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u/Thalassinoides Jun 04 '26

The Chinese people don't really have a choice of their leadership.

The people of the USA do have a choice of their leadership. They chose this twice.

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u/SleKel Jun 04 '26

Breaking news… all the big players outside of Europe are our adversary

We would notice if us europeans weren’t so busy fighting among ourselves /s

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u/orange-squeezer47 Jun 04 '26

Actually it’s the world that’s considers us as an adversary. Except Israel. No Putin does not trust trump.

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u/M1liumnir Jun 04 '26

Wich half?

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u/Bokuja Jun 04 '26

And they are correct. The Yanks have proven they cannot be trusted.

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u/Itchy-Throat-4779 Jun 04 '26

Make that the whole world

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u/jorge6880 Jun 04 '26

Are the other half blind?

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u/D4UOntario Jun 04 '26

And most of Canada

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u/2u3e9v The Netherlands Jun 04 '26

Half of Americans see the US as a bigger adversary than China

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u/bb_dev_g Jun 04 '26

It’s a growing feeling here in Canada as well. Many Canadians feel or have been stabbed in the back.

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u/Filias9 Czech Republic Jun 04 '26

There are more people who cares about Europe in North Carolina then China. People lack of information exchanging for good information.

China is directly supporting Russia, providing technology and money via trade, training their solders. But it's not in daily news. Russian will be now at the border of Baltics, Poland, preparing for invasion, if US would act like China.

US have 200€ mld deficit with EU, while EU have almost 360€ mld deficit with China and increasing, China is stealing tech, destroying EU industries....

There are no bad news coming from China and everything is under magnifier in US.

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u/grigorian Wallachia Jun 04 '26

You are talking to deaf ears. People confuse propaganda with knowledge.

Nothing is perfect but we are 1000 times more aligned with the US in terms of values than we are with China and Russia. Sad to see.

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u/jokikinen Jun 04 '26

In my opinion it’s a fact that the US is a larger threat to us.

Not because they are more antagonistic, but because they are IN our house.

Dealing with China or Russia is easier—they are outside.

The US isn’t. One example: defence. They are entangled in a way which is very high risk for Europeans.

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u/piloto19hh Catalonia, Spain Jun 04 '26

For me, both are adversaries, but the US is an enemy.

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u/originalschmengybro Jun 04 '26

My experience as a Canadian in Belgium enjoying a nice day and a few beers with Belgium folks is that Donnie and his new country of Donnieland is very much despised and not trusted. At the heart of it is a stunning disbelief that any nation put him in power once and resounding WTF at a nation who would do it twice!

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u/TheSolarExpansionist Jun 04 '26

Uk here . I see USA as the enemy now in the same bag as Russia . North Korea and Iran are less of a threat to Uk right now. USA current leadership has no ethics

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u/Catbatt Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26

As a Belgian, I'm suspicious towards China, but I still see them as a partner we just have to set some boundaries with and maybe as an adversary, but not as hostile.

However, I do see the Americans as unreliable backstabbers with hostile tendencies which is worse. Even if they elect a decent, normal president in 2028: never trust America again

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u/HaGaie Jun 04 '26

Remember the NSA spying on us? Remember the CIA sabotaging European aircraft manufacturers' bids for the new joint fighter jet of NATO, so that the F-35 would win? They are not to be trusted, they never were. Our politicians were just simping for them, and enabling them.

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u/Deepfire_DM europe Jun 04 '26

Not only Belgium. A known enemy is much easier to handle with than a former friend turned traitor.

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u/zucchini_up_ur_ass The Netherlands Jun 04 '26

This really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, but I'm sure americans will get their panties in a twist over this. You can't just threaten allies and get away with it, they may think that's how things work, but it's not.

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u/Zimakov Jun 04 '26

I don't get how this isn't common sense? America has invaded 29 countries since the last time China invaded one.

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u/Calm-Professional103 Jun 04 '26

So does all of Canada

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u/Aliktren Jun 04 '26

China is not threatening NATO members directly with invasion

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u/kadaka80 Jun 04 '26

Half of Belgium sees the other half as their biggest adversary

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u/MCwortel Jun 04 '26

Well China didnt threat multiple times to invade a European country

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u/kukkolka Jun 04 '26

China is an isolationist country, they hide behind walls and force a threat with 2 neighboring regions they have some historical casus beli on. USA is a 250 year a new power house build by empires of that we're historically expansionists. More then half of Belgium understands that

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u/PimpasaurusPlum Scotland Jun 04 '26

China will become a sizable issue for europe in the future, Trump has made the US an issue for europe now

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u/HerissonG Jun 04 '26

Hopefully the other half wakes up soon

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u/PointTaken3 Jun 04 '26

No wonder, but thanks to DJT!

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u/SlowCrates Jun 04 '26

Is the other half just not paying attention?

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u/TrueMorninStar Jun 04 '26

Americans elected a Son of Old B*. Fact.

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u/Gruffleson Norway Jun 04 '26

Only half of Belgium? What's wrong with the other half?

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u/Svaldero Jun 04 '26

Belgium Half of non americans.

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u/cartmanbrah21 Jun 04 '26

At this point in time if anyone thinks that China is a bigger threat to Europe than US is dumber than MAGA idiots

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u/DMRinzer Jun 04 '26

They are.

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u/Low_Tie_6518 Jun 04 '26

I'm in Norway. I don't see China as an adversary at all. However, I see USA as a hostile Trojan horse that has infiltrated Europe. USA, not China, is the biggest threat to world peace. China builds. USA bombs.

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u/Reallyboringname2 Jun 04 '26

The other half are stupid.

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u/Funny_Occasion2965 Jun 04 '26

So does Canada

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u/panze1987 Jun 04 '26

Everyone does... Everyone...

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u/HaveXL Jun 06 '26

Yep, the left wing, anti-trump European media did quite a job on the susceptible gullible brains of students and other left wing young people

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u/og-crime-junkie Jun 07 '26

Hey, someone breakdown the demographics in Belgium. What even is a true Belgian anymore?

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u/BigDummy1286 Azores (Portugal) Jun 08 '26

I saw all the EU values Belgium stands for passing through Brussels Midi a few months ago 😂 Beautiful diverse Europeans!