Then again if china was a strong vibrant capitalist democracy who could police the actual bad boys in there neighborhood, abandon North Korea or better yet take care of it themselves, and be a reliable counterbalance against Russia in the region then I don't see why we would have much interest in the region anyway and would welcome a strong china in east Asia. However, that path dose not look like it will be taken for some time to come.
Agreed. China can go two ways... it can take advantage of its opportunity for reform and economic dominance or squander it by alienating all of its neighbors, and most importantly, by repressing its own people. The trend toward censorship, etc does not bode well for the future of China.