[thatsnotnice]

The Chinese view the U.S. as a hegemon in decline and have told everyone that will listen that they will fill the void as the U.S. vacates an area or press us when we stagnate in an area. They have been doing so. It’s no secret.

[headsonpikes]

I guess I just keep assuming that when push comes to shove, we'll unleash Hell on them.

I know no-one interested in a Chinese-run world; so long as the U.S. maintains strategic supremacy, and elects a President with a pair, China is just another Asian despotism.

Despotism has never travelled well.

[Ronin]

That's the truth. From where I sit in Japan, everything that China has done in the last 20 years seems geared to pushing the U.S. completely out of the Pacific and extending their influence throughout South-East Asia.

China's vision of its proper sphere of influence is everything from the Indian Ocean to Hawaii -- specifically including Australia and New Zealand.

China's long-term game plan for Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the other nations of the region is based on gathering economic dominance. Nations that historically distrust China (Viet Nam, Japan, Taiwan etc.,) are also being wooed, but at the same time, serious work is being done to isolate and counter them militarily.