Allowing threats of such actions in a public statement by a minor official is psychological operation. The purpose is to allow our own "leadership" to rationalize backing away from confronting China as China makes increasingly aggressive moves.
China has different rulers. It is the same culture and the same people than it always was. It will do the same things that it always did.
It is the same culture and the same people than it always was. It will do the same things that it always did.
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Not the same culture - Mao destroyed all traditional Chinese culture as part of the Great Leap Backward. No, it will not do “the same things that it always did” because it is now a completely different country - it is now a world power which it never was in China’s history as a unified country ; making predictions on non-existent past behavior is an assumption with no foundations.