...while China meanwhile economically amd militarily strengthens itself. Thats the Chinese calculation.
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Certainly without question an applicable strategy for them. It works for them. A bit of a mental game but...the day present is a gamble for them. Do they take advantage of the US having diluted military resources in the ME and make a grab for Taiwan? An interesting mental gymnastic. But regardless of when and where China might do something, our retaliation would not be with ground forces...but both economic and the presence of a vastly superior nuclear delivery capability. A real chess game, is it not ??? ..but the world should not think they are not sitting on the other side of the board...
"Do they take advantage of the US having diluted military resources in the ME and make a grab for Taiwan?"
---If I should think like a Chinese President I wont be making my move now. I would think of opening up more fronts for America like in Iran, Syria and N Korea. While America keeps fighting here and there I would want China to go on making progress till China is sufficiently strong and America is sufficiently weakened. For now America is too strong. Anyway the Chinese economy is booming, so why spoil the party. Let America fight and China will sit back and watch the fun.
..but the world should not think they are not sitting on the other side of the board...
For India, China is definitely a threat. (BTW-I am from India.) In fact most of India's calculations for the future is based on the premises that India will have to face a major threat from China (under a possible diminished American influence in the region) who would not like to see an Indian challange on its western front.