Beijing is taking a page out of Russia’s playbook and is flooding the world’s information sphere with tall tales of its super-weapons that are, supposedly, in the works or are somehow already being put to use in the capable hands of the PLA, which is then reshared by either gullible Westerners, pro-BRICS fanatics from the Global South, or simply people that are after clicks and engagement from posting info-garbage about fictional Chinese laser submarines and drone swarm carriers.
Until its ill-fated continuation of the war of aggression against Ukraine, the Russian military was considered a world-class fighting force whose only worthy rival was the US. This image was built in no small part due to the fact that people who grew up during the Cold War lived their lives under the threat of a red steamroller coming from the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies, backed with a world-ending nuclear arsenal.
When the Cold War ended, the era of easily accessible mass entertainment from Hollywood and gaming developers still required the Big Bad Villain. Russia always managed to fit that role, considering how pretty much every human in an OECD country that could afford a television set and a computer, later on a smartphone and a decent internet, was aware that the Russian state was ruthless to both its own population and its enemies, had a vast quantity of both the Soviet legacy weaponry and the more modern weapons coupled with a giant nuclear arsenal and had a very capable three-letter spy agency, that nurtured its current leader and his closest associates.
The spectre of the Unstoppable Russian Bear was born from a synergy of Russian military parades, constant Kremlin agitprop about hypersonic missiles and nuclear tsunami torpedoes, coupled with the entertainment and news industry of the Collective West that produced a myriad of video games, TV shows, movies, and novels, comics, talkshow panels, all of them presenting Russia as a superpower. The Global South, on the other hand, which generally despises values of liberalism and the Enlightenment, regarded Russia as a leader in the fight against developed democracies, which they still accuse of colonialism, disrespect, and hostile intentions.
The last illusions about Russian military might are dying in the charred husks of the Russian strategic bombers destroyed by a brilliant and daring Ukrainian drone raid on Russian airbases.
But the developed world still needs a competent villain, and the Global South still needs a champion for its low-level conflict with the Collective West, so the People’s Republic of China is happy to oblige by providing regular displays of both actual military hardware and rumors or concept art for the world to share of their social media feeds.
So let’s take a look at some of the nice video game intros from the 2000s that the CCP and its useful idiots have produced for us.
Buzzwords galore – drone, laser, drone, quantum, drone, carrier-killer, drone, mothership, and then some drone some more.
With the accompanying articles in the Chinese media, like this one in the South China Morning Post titled “China’s submarine-launched drones can do more than the US military thinks: study“.
Amid reports of a new US military plan for an underwater drone release, scientists say China has already done it better
According to publicly available information, China is developing a wide range of cross-media weapons, including a variant that uses solid-fuel ramjet engines to achieve high-speed cruising both over and under the water.
War game simulations suggest existing defence technology cannot stop such weapons.
“Damn right, it’s better than yours!”, so say the totally unbiased Chinese scientists and the Chinese media.
Serbianism 