Hipkins disagrees with Biden that Xi Jinping is a Dictator

[C_T_Russell]

Sounds like the sort of thing only a dictator would agree with.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/j...tor-remark

[king1]

here's another take on it CT - maybe a prime minister trying not to offend our largest trading partner

[Praktica]

Sounds like the sort of thing only a dictator would agree with.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/j...tor-remark

Oh no! Reason rather than blind unreasoned bullshit...

[dken31]

He's between a rock and a hard place: suck up to the violent, thin-skinned bully so that they don't beat you up now, but you know that just means you have to keep sucking up to them more and more and you have to keep pretending you haven't noticed any of the abhorrent things they're doing...or stop sucking up to them and they beat you up...

So despite that fact that Xi is most definitely a monstrous dictator (and I don't think that is hyperbole), I can accept Hipkins' mealy-mouthed response as I can't say that poking a stick at Xi would have been a good idea.

What I do think though is that we should be trying to "wean" ourselves off China though so that we can start being more frank. If we instead put a lot of effort into increasing China's share of our export market, we're just further ensuring that we can never speak up.

[Foal30]

Inarguable the Xi is a dictator and China a Totalitarian state.

But we all this well before our Captains of Industry decided there was good coin to be made

[Lilith7]

here's another take on it CT - maybe a prime minister trying not to offend our largest trading partner

Indeed; its generally known as diplomacy & extremely common especially in politics.

[zqwerty]

"snigger"

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Interesting isn't it, how ready we are to point fingers at other states while carefully blinkering ourselves from the weaknesses in our own

Dawn raids anyone?

[Lilith7]

Interesting isn't it, how ready we are to point fingers at other states while carefully blinkering ourselves from the weaknesses in our own

Dawn raids anyone?

Or the one time branch of the KKK somewhere in the NI, according to media...

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Our Immigration dept seems intent on unkindness.