Is China a Threat to the U.S.?

The Yin and Yang of it

China's leadership is passionate about three essential principles; absolute authority, territorial and political sovereignty and sustained economic growth. These men and women, who are well into their 60's,70's and 80's, have known civil and world war, foreign occupation,manipulation and internal revolution/threats on a scale no other country other than Russia, can imagine. They know from firsthand experience, that a nation with more than a billion people can become a dangerous combination of conflicting causes, economic disasters in the making and social crises, in an instant. Their answer to riding this ferocious and potentially lethal Tiger is to harness it with an authority and firmness that, in and of itself, guarantees that someday they will lose control.
They also know that there are very few Communists in China, a larger minority of " rice" Communists, ie: those who will support the party as long as their stomaches are full and the vast majority who are highly nationalistic but couldn't care less about who runs China, as long as their futures look better than their pasts.
These men also remember that China had been ruled by foreign powers for almost 200 years and most recently the Japanese who had almost dismembered their homeland. They remember the disdain most foeigners had for all things Chinese and how Chinese had, until Sun-Yat-Sen liberated them from Manchu Feudalism, been passive spectators in their own land. They have each vowed never to let this happen again and so they react very badly to what they percieve as or interpret to be foreign intereference in their internal affairs and foreign hypocrisy for even trying to intervene at all. These leaders have the vast majority of their fellow Chinese behind them, and most Chinese both nationally and internationally share their sentiments.
The last of these three principles is the most crucial for China and this government's survival ,both in the short and medium term. China has to ensure that there are enough jobs and economic prosperity to satisfy the rapidly expanding urban populations in the major cities,which represent about 40% of the entire population and at the same time spread the wealth to the rural areas. Any revolution since the time of the Mongols, has begun in China's rural areas and if the peasants become disenchanted en masse with a percieved or real lack of positive prospects for improving their lives and those of their children, then serious trouble is on the horizon.
Therefore, if any of the above are threatened or become unstable, the leaders and the Party are threatened. Since they are very pragmatic and utilitarian leaders, they will quickly place the blame on one or more of their favourite demons; foreign influences (usually the US and its allies), capitalism and its inherent evils, Taiwan and /or Japan, Western imperialism etc.This is where the real danger lies. China's superpower status is, in fact, a stabilising and reassuring phenomena. This global superpower status can only help it remain balanced and responsible. The greatest danger to China AND the West is the spectre of massive and devastating unemployment, economic decline and social destabilisation which the recession promises to inflict on it and the rest of the world over the next few years.
The leadership knows that any nuclear confrontation with the West or any other power could quickly turn into a death sentence for hundreds of millions of people in China and worldwide and mean the end of their nation as we know it today. China wants desperately to be respected and aknowledged as a great people, to live in security and prosperity and be a respected member of the international community, thus the spectacle and grandeur of the Beijing Olympics. But they will not be pushed around, manipulated or bullied by anyone, friend or foe. As long as foreigners show an open-mindedness and willingness to dialogue on equal terms with China, and as long as these leaders are able to keep the lid on, there is little to fear from China.