Excellent posts!
I don't really see how his posts prove that China is being belligerent. Many countries have joint military exercises. And Chavez is Chavez. And China just wants his country's oil. Didn't the US once have good relations with Sadaam's Iraq? What was the goal...for the oil.
The originator of this thread (robertvance) isn't an apologist. What he is doing, is posting a politically sensitive topic in a forum where it is politically correct to demonize China. One only look at something like the recent crash of the high speed train in China.
A train wreck is a train wreck and something that should be seen as a tragedy. Yet, people on the freerepublic, who seethe at China's rise, gloated over this wreckage. Had a train wreck occured in say India, no one would have even have mentioned it.
The reality is (AND I FIRMLY BELIEVE THIS), the originator of this thread is not making a political statement, he is just seeing life pragmatically. It is all the people who are indignant at his remarks at not demonizing China who are making the politically correct statements.
The reality is, if China built 10 carriers, it would be less, in proportion to her population and potential economic size, than Britain having one.