Pretty soon the word SLAM is mean “to gently prod in a meek and inconsequential manner”

Rich people. The cost is rich people.

Haha. I would not be surprised if this is truly the case. However I do not believe that it’s as simple as just straight up asking for money.

In his native state of Johor, there was a mega project called Forest City built by China developers that was effectively halted by then Prime Minister Mahathir in 2018. This PM has famously been known to have bad blood with the Johor royal family. My guess is this visit is also to discuss revitalizing this project, allowing China to recoup some of that lost investment.

Traveling with him are both the Minister of Transport and the Minister of Housing, lending some merit to this rumour.

Speaking of evidence, the latest UN report I could find was in August 2022. Direct accounts of 40 individuals from an alleged 1.3 million detained.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ohchr-assessment-human-rights-concerns-xinjiang-uyghur-autonomous-region

I do wish to see a follow up report

What I’m seeing is that China’s subsidies create cheaper products that benefit consumers, be it Chinese or the world at large.

Meanwhile American subsidies to American companies benefit their CEOs who then cut themselves an obscenely fat bonus, and fire half their downline staff.

Maybe the real placebo were the friends we made along the way.