With more than two billion residents, the world’s most spoken language and a booming economy, China is undoubtedly a rising global superpower. Suddenly America is faced with the prospect of a country whose financial and military power could soon rival its own, prompting many to wonder if China is a friend or foe. Is China really a red flag for the U.S.?
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The West Must See China for What It Is
- From Center for the Advancement of Capitalism
By The Center for the Advancement of Capitalism - Enterprise Demands Freedom
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The question seems rather silly.
Of course China is a threat to the US and the rest of the world. There is no nation that is not a threat to all others, because all are formed to create and sustain their own lifestyle/culture in a global competitive environment. As resources, from energy to minerals and other necessities (water, food crops, fish), are becoming more scarce, international competition continues to increase.
It is largely a matter of degree. Mexico is not a threat because it has no army of significance, no navy, and no nukes. There are a hundred other countries in the same boat. Their competitive form tends to be cheap labor, poverty, high birth rate, World Bank projects, and export of illegal substances to first-world countries who keep the prices high through prohibition (Afghanistan matches similar characteristics). While they have some resources (including oil) these are controlled by corrupt governments whose income and wealth is personal rather than national.
China, OTOH, (and India) are both nuclear powers with large populations and a need for expanded resource bases. While they have their share of oligarchy and corruption, they are raising the tide of expectations through their prosperity.
When Chinese military officials talk about wanting an aircraft carrier for "defensive" purposes (and likewise their 60 submarines, missiles, etc.) they're blowing smoke rings. China is preparing for the day that someone cuts off their access to wood from Brazil, oil from Africa, tin from Bolivia, or any other "necessity" to their economy. If the US is the agency of that cutoff, then expect another single or multiple series of proxy wars through smaller countries pitting US technology against China's production capacity (althoug China has also relentlessly copied technology and increased its engineering capacity). Taiwan is the most immediate candidate for such a proxy war but it is not capable of sustained resistance without direct US involvement - which will be the subject of a series of bluffs similar to Saddam's bluffing before invading Kuwait. In fact, the US response to the Kuwait invasion is probably the only thing giving pause to China's leadership.
Bottom line, China has not forgotten its own history from exploitation to war to occupation to revolution to commercial domination. It was always on the bottom of those events, and is now steadily turning the tables, moving to the top. We may not want (and probably should not) want war with China, but we're going to have to find strategies that contain their influence and economic power without provoking the dragon into action.
- fire1
November 19, 2008 12:20PM
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