[Zhang Fei]

FT columnist puts out a spiel hawking his new book. I think the plan Dyer refers to might cover a situation where China takes off the gloves and hits American bases in Asia, in which case, Uncle Sam would clearly be reacting proportionately by striking Chinese mainland bases. Still, it's an intriguing look at a what-if scenario. My personal guess is that any clash would be limited to theater assets in order to avoid escalation. But you never know. China's intervention during the Korean War was a massive undeclared sneak attack that dwarfed Pearl Harbor.

[sickoflibs]

Except they sell us critical stuff and in return they lend us $$$/.

[Olog-hai]

Red China never stopped being at war with the USA and has always regarded us as their number-one enemy. They are taking the principle of “breaking your enemy’s resistance without fighting”, as outlined in Sun Tzu’s treatise, as their main way forward—and all the libs in DC are giving them every opening, too.

[Grimmy]

I’ll start taking the PDRChina seriously as a threat when they start reworking their logistics to allow themselves to become a threat.

As it is, they can build ships, boast about numbers of this, that and the other, but they have little to no ability to sustain operations outside their own borders.

Personally, I put the EU higher on the threat list. Although, they have much the same issue with little to no logistical sustainability.

[Zhang Fei]

Red China never stopped being at war with the USA and has always regarded us as their number-one enemy. They are taking the principle of “breaking your enemy’s resistance without fighting”, as outlined in Sun Tzu’s treatise, as their main way forward—and all the libs in DC are giving them every opening, too.

I don't think it's aimed specifically at the US. And it's not even Marxist-Leninist. Taiwan's Nationalist Party - the one that fled the mainland to fight a last stand before Truman decided to use the 7th Fleet to keep China from invading - claims to be the sole legitimate ruler of China. Its Chinese map includes all of the disputed territories China is claiming, as well as Mongolia and Siberia. China has traditionally thought of itself as the rightful center of all under heaven, and the rest of the world as its rightful vassal states, to be absorbed as provinces at China's convenience.

Since the turfing of Mao's hand-picked protege, Hua Guofeng, in 1979, and the move to end central economic planning, China has been moving unstoppably towards parity in GDP per capita with the West, much like the Japanese several decades ago. The question is what it will do with its newfound wealth. Man does not live by bread alone. Here's to hoping that they don't emulate the Germans, who, despite being the richest country in Europe just prior to WWII, nonetheless decided they needed lebensraum.

[Elsiejay]

Socialist Autocrat’s program of fundamental transformation has essentially been completed. Irredeemably debt laden and leaderless America is no longer a force of global influence to be taken seriously.

[Jimmy Valentine]

The Chinese will have to cope with Vietnam Cambodia Laos before they move along. All of those ethnic groups hate each other and all hate the Chinese. Asian quagmire for the Chinese

[Former Proud Canadian]

mark to you

[ThePatriotsFlag]

Hey, this is my country and I’m not at war with China! Why the hell do our leaders want a war with china?

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Chinese society is built on one thing, which is different from American society, and this is very important for Americans to understand:

Chinese are above all, conscious of themselves as a race, and conscious of their race’s relationship (and relative status) to other races.

We have only ever seen China as a country when the Chinese people have been relatively lower status to our own.

That is (rapidly) changing.

When it does, we will see a side to Chinese and wonder where in the world it came from.

It has been there all the time. Chinese just hide that side of themselves, culturally.

America really needs to COMPETE with China.

Stop sending our manufacturing there. Stop buying everything from there.

We need to balance our budget, and bring back American jobs.

Now.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

I just realized this is a long, very well researched and (quite) informative article, which is also highlighted now at the very top of the Drudgereport.

Quite long, in fact.

The author is a former Beijing bureau chief, for the FT.

Top left corner post, on Drudgereport right now.

Enthused bump.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

The problem as I imagine it is from an odd angle, a *lack* of central control over outlying military commanders who in many ways are more warlords than generals. This is, of course, a poor description at best.

There is a paradox with civilian authority over a military, that unless they are former career military, they have a cultural disconnect from what a military is and does. But it is also a two way street, that military commanders are often naive about political realities.

How this works out in China is the great enigma.

[familyop]

"China does not have a grand ­imperial plan to invade its neighbours, in the way the Soviets did."

Obfuscation propaganda with false comparisons: "grand imperial plan," "the way the Soviets did." Chinese military leaders have plans. They keep information about their plans and much of their more important hardware (e.g., ICBMs on mobiles) to themselves, and they've made some advances over the past 15 years or so. They are very polite, yes, while being seen as impolite in some ways by some westerners.

But politiness is a strategic posture. Race, culture and nationalism are important to them, and they are educated about old historical scores to settle. The elements of both tactical and social surprise are perceived as important strategic assets.