[AIG]

Even the smallest country in the world, Brunei, has a military. If the smallest country in the world can have a military, why can't China? It's not about moral equivalence but about the basic fact that most every country on earth, big or small, has a military. Every country has self-defense needs, whether you think they're morally unworthy or not. In addition, througout history most economic powers, which China is becoming, have been military powers as well, merely to protect their economic interests around the world. The bigger your economy is, the bigger your worldwide economic interests will be, for which you need a big military to protect them all. I don't see the US and China fighting any wars now or in the future because as the eventual co-economic superpowers of the world in an era of globalization, they have too many mutually beneficial economic interrelationships to want to spoil it all by having a war.

[mrsmith]

"I don't see the US and China fighting any wars now or in the future because as the eventual co-economic superpowers of the world in an era of globalization"

Yeah, we're just so eager to go from sole economic superpower to co-equal economic superpower.

If China takes the US's handling of foreign affairs as it's model, that is it avoids foreign entanglements for another -say- fifty years, it will do alright.

It will become more Taiwan than Taiwan will become PRC however.