[HoweverComma]

It's been my experience that the people most likely to be deceived by any nation's deception efforts are those who are completely unread in that nation's history and culture.

Which worries me. American decision-makers are somewhat well-read in history and culture, but mostly Western (and the level of historical/cultural illiteracy is much higher today than a generation ago).

So, yes, there is room for worry. We have no real idea what's going inside China, and much of China's visible behavior is NOT the behavior of a confident nation, secure in its sense of its own future. It's the behavior of a nation trying to keep the wheels from coming off one day at a time. There's a good book out called The Coming Collapse of China, and it lays out a fairly strong case that China may not be overly interested in WTO membership--because membership would require that they open their books for inspection, and that means that the world will find out just how bad the current situation really is.

[Jeff Head]

I believe the situation there is vary bad, not just from observed behavior, but from having traveled extensively in the far east and particularly from talking to friends in the ROC who have family and friends in the PRC.

I also believe the leadership there either already has, or will develop plans to forestall, divert, etc. those problems. Chances are, such plans will run afoul of us in a major way. The book is about a lot of that.

Again, thanks for the input and regards.