China reins in nationalists clamoring for an invasion of Taiwan

via LA Times

One of the most influential and surprising voices to counter the war mongering was that of former air force Gen. Qiao Liang, a noted hawk.

“The Taiwan problem cannot be solved with rashness and radicalism,” Liang wrote on Weibo, a social media platform.

Liang is coauthor of the book, “Unrestricted Warfare: China’s Master Plan to Destroy America,” which Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former chief advisor, credits for inspiring his hawkish views on China.

The former general’s addition to the list of voices tempering nationalism highlights the many levers the Chinese government employs to manipulate public opinion — and how important it is to prevent war cries from getting carried away, experts say.

“The party has substantial leeway to shape public opinion and shut down expressions of nationalism when they go too far for comfort, whether online or in the streets,” said Jessica Chen Weiss, a China specialist and associate professor of government at Cornell University.

“In China, the tail does not usually wag the dog when it comes to significant policy decisions, such as the national security law in Hong Kong or whether to use force across the Taiwan Strait. But popular nationalism often provides the spark for international confrontation.”

Here. 

Chinese nationalism is nothing new.  It's almost to be expected.  They love their country just as I love mine so I'm not shocked at all by this.

What is surprising is that General Liang is calling for it to dampened down.

Is the economic pain that they're suffering causing a shift in their plans for domination by 2040?  Have they done an assessment and decided that the ground will not be laid for a takeover of Taiwan in the 2030 timeframe?

If so then the coronavirus has proved to be as devastating as I imagined for them...despite the many naysayers that claimed that they quickly stomped out the virus due to the draconian measures taken (measures that we attempted to replicate that caused unforeseen misery in a free society).