The Chicoms are indeed an odd-thinking bunch but their reach for military strength is understandable. The task at hand is to figure what their strategic purposes in building it might actually be. The Chicom prosperity of the last third century (the great leap forward) is due in huge part to our willingness to be their best customer. W/O the USA as a customer (suddenly) China would revert instantly to a 19th century economy. Can someone remind me of a time when Chinese were suicidal? W/O the USA as a customer their commercial fleet would have to stay home. China mines coal but beyond that it has to haul fuel. There are enough US fast attack subs in the Pacific at any moment to send their fleet back to the ROWBOAT DYNASTY.
Who thinks the Ching family, et al, would suddenly be willing to give up their reefer or their computer (94 million PC's on line in China now)? As Gertz notes the task is to dope out how they might ACTUALLY use their MILPOWER?
We tend to overestimate the number of US consumers Vs the world population. The EU alone has more consumers. And the EU plus the wealthy people in other parts of Eurasia make a very large ecnomomic pie. The Chi Coms are currently draining the US. At some point, they'll no longer really need us economically. And all of this of course assumes that Deng Xiao Ping Thought (the basis for the current tolerance by the CCP of controlled introduction of market capitalism) is somehow a permanent change in China. What if it's not? What if Deng Xiao Ping Thought turns out to be a Chinese version of Lenin's NEP? Did it make sense (from an Anglo-Saxon, market capitalist perspective) when Stalin did a 180? Would it "make sense" (from that same perspective) if China did a 180? No. It would not. But that does not mean it cannot happen.
One name should make this clear--Mo Tse Tung. His "thought" still enshrined in their "constitution" .
The regime that killed more than 60-to-100 million of their own citizens.
Yes. They have a different take on the value of life. They have, because of that, successfully inculcated across the breadth of their populace from the Party faithful down to their lowest citizens a war-fever to conduct duplicitous econo-warfare, invade and subjugate their enemies that would make Stalin and Hitler proud. As Harry Wu, the famous dissident has said, "Nuclear war with them is inevitable, they are crazy, they will do it."
Stop it--you're interfering with a full-blown panic orgy. We've got no use for rational thinking here!
Dear Cherokee Bro,
The Chinese are intent on being top dog in the world. They'll settle in the short term for Top dog in Asia with EVERYONE else in Asia kowtowing to them.
That's the main goal of their military might regardless of noise to the contrary--world domination.