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February 14, 2015
China is not planning to take over the world.
It doesn’t want the world. It doesn’t like the world – that is, the world outside of China. Unlike Greeks, Romans, Muslims, and European imperialists, it does not want to plant its flag outside its borders. Michael Pillsbury and Fu-Manchu (Cross-Posted from Asia Times Online) | Spengler
Posted by gerardvanderleun at February 14, 2015 9:32 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
I hope it is true that China is not interested in anything but China, but they're building an awfully large Navy. Hmmm, now who could they be looking to match militarily with such a large Navy, either offensively or defensively?
I hear claims all the time attempting to soothe us about China's ambitions; that China has never looked to expand beyond its borders, that China has a demographics time bomb about to explode, that her economy is about to collapse. I don't pretend to be able to predict the future.
Posted by: Clinton at February 14, 2015 11:05 PM
China not interested in anything outside of China. What? The Vietnamese, Mongolians, Taiwanese, Koreans, Tibetans, Indians, and Filipinos disagree.
Posted by: Eris Guy at February 15, 2015 2:54 AM
China is not interested in anything but China the same way England was not interested in anything but England in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Posted by: Bill Harris at February 15, 2015 7:21 AM
The Taiwanese would say to that, " Yubi do pe."
Posted by: Vermont Woodchuck at February 15, 2015 7:34 AM
I wish that was true, but I am not convinced. At the very least they want the entire world to be vassal states subjected to Chinese supremacy.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at February 15, 2015 8:34 AM
Christopher T. is on the right track, I think. What China has wanted for most of its long history is not conquest, but rather tribute and hegemony. This has meant acknowledging the Middle Kingdom as the font of superior culture, wisdom, and authority, and sending gifts to the court in Peking to keep the emperor happy. Fast-forward to the 21st Century, and we may be seeing a modern version of the Chinese wanting all to kowtow to the emperor. But Clinton does have a point about the blue-water navy.
Posted by: waltj at February 15, 2015 10:56 AM
The US was not organized to be an empire, and it did not seek to be one. But in time there existed a vacuum of power and resolve on the world stage, and vacuums being always filled, the US filled it. Now the vacuum of resolve includes the US as well, and the Chinese will surprise themselves filling it. The Chinese have a resolute contempt for bullshit which is not their own, and the west is full of that. The way is clear for them to succeed, or fail. I expect them to fail.
Posted by: james wilson at February 15, 2015 1:03 PM
The Chinese seem to be doing well with money. They hold majority stocks in a lot of corporations. Of course when the dollar collapses their notes will be worthless but they still can pick up the pieces.
I probably didn't say that right, I am ignorant with economics so if somebody chimes in I'll learn something.
I was thinking like this: I have a mortgage on the house I live in;the bank holds the note. if the dollar collapses and I have no way to make the payments I can lose the house, right? Even if the bank itself is no longer solvent due to the same dollar de-value.
Posted by: chasmatic at February 15, 2015 1:59 PM
"it does not want to plant its flag outside its borders." What they know, and many of us don't, is that they all know that someday their borders will be the entire earth. Oh yes it may take a while, 1,000, 10,000, 100,000 years. They dont' care they just know it's coming. An inch at a time, an acre (hectare?) at a time, a furlong at a time. It happens so slowly it's as if no one notices.
Posted by: Larry Geiger at February 16, 2015 11:59 AM