I wonder if there's a parallel between what happened when Pakistan and India were rattling the sabers. India was told conflict was not good for business investment. In a sense the Chinese are rotting from within. Only time will tell if Western investment in China has sown the seeds of destruction. And whose destruction it causes.
India was and remains a democracy, with a long tradition in that form of government. China is not, and hasn't been for over half a century. I'm sure those divergent orientations color the perceptions of both sides.
Only time will tell if Western investment in China has sown the seeds of destruction. And whose destruction it causes.
That's the acid test. Has US investment "westernized" the Chicoms, or have our resources -- in the form of cash from the trade deficit and capital investment -- played much the same role as surplus US scrap iron sales to Japan did in the 1920s and 30s. Whose destruction? Good question. Ours or theirs.
Plus the fact that there is a growing religous movement within China. Time will tell.