[Brilliant]

agreed. Japan needs to chill and let us do the heavy lifting. And we just need to be prepared, but simply wait until the current Chinese regime begins to realize that the grass is a lot greener on our side of the fence.

[mad puppy]

"...simply wait until the current Chinese regime begins to realize that the grass is a lot greener on our side of the fence."

Sadly, I do not share your optimism that the current Chinese regime will see the light and actually go toward it. Rather, I envision a couple of old Chinese hardliners currently in power dieing and being replaced with the Chinese version of Gorbachev.

Now, I do think that eventually many of the 1,600,000,000 Chinese will realize that there is greener grass to be had and begin to demand a more representative gov't that they can have some control over. The real questions are "when" and "how violent" will the changes be. Typically those in power don't give up power just because its the right thing to do.