Is China that threatening?

[Muthoni]

I do not think that China is threatening. I think they are just reaching out to the rest of the world. I must admit that they have very brilliant people. A Chinese firm was hired to make our roads. They are in the best condition today. Now, I enjoy riding in a public bus thanks to them. I think that they are good people with a culture that is very respectful.

 

[Gelsemium]

That might be true as well drc, I mean, what do we know about China? Not much, but we do know that they are peaceful, so I don't see them as a threat.

 

[starshine]

For milleniums upon milleniums, China was the most powerful, most inventive, most wealthy empire of the world. One needs to look at history to comprehend where China is at right now. There was a century were they fell down, hard, having not caught up with the industrial revolutions and overestimating their power, losing many wars and having to sign many unfair treaties. When it lost the dynasty system, China evolved fast, building cities, roads, encouraging young people to become engineers. It is not "becoming an important country" out of nowhere; it is going back to the way it used to be, a culture to be reckoned with. They have great pull over our economies -- else, the US would condemn their actions against human rights harshly, as we all know the US likes to play police. But what the US punishes in other countries, it lets slide for China -- and Saudi Arabia. China will only keep growing and becoming better, stronger. The US, in comparison, has already showed many signs of decline in its role as "world power".

I do not at the moment think it is about China being threatening, but one should realize how serious the threat would be if they wanted it to be. After all, the pitfall of dynastic China was to believe they stood at the top with such advantages against other countries that they did not see any possible threat from other countries and did not want to make any concession. When they turned out to have overestimated themselves, they lost most everything. Any country in this age would make a big mistake not learning from history and dismiss such a fast groowing powerhouse if it came to that.

 

[galmal]

What most find threatening about China is not what it is, but what it could be. The country has grown at phenomenal rate over the past few decades, and their ambitions are hard to judge. The US is a known variable that has been more or less the dominant economic power for centuries, while China is not.

I agree. They have grown so quickly, and are doing so well economically. This has all happened in such a short time (historically speaking) that we don't know what their ambitions will be. They may not have the military might of the US, but who's to say what will happen in the future. Their economy certainly is strong enough to build up a formidable military. I thinks it's important for the world powers to keep an eye on China.

 

[Gelsemium]

China is colonizing the world, if we notice in every single continent and country there is a Chinese store, restaurant or business, many times with advantage tax conditions, so that is why they are huge.

 

[krazyman]

This is an interesting topic. I don't know if I would call China threatening - but it's a place that needs to be on everyone's radar as a place to watch. It is the most populated country in the world and is slowly starting to build itself militarily and economically.

The technological piece is where the "fear" needs to be. They are growing by leaps and bounds when it comes to technology and how they use it with other nations. They keep their citizens censored and in the dark when it comes to what is going on with government affairs so a very limited population of people have access to information - but the ones who have access, they have some serious power.

 

[petesede]

Good post and you have some key issues that I didn't think about, but do you think America is that creative, or did they steal some tech ideals from the China, and just re packaged and renamed them? I could see cheap labor being a problem for China, especially if the quality of their products are low.

Apple, IBM, Microsoft, the automobile, the plane, the lightbulb, aerospace.. China invents or creates nothing, their entire economy evolves around taking other people´s ideas and doing it cheaper with cheap labor.

China is colonizing the world, if we notice in every single continent and country there is a Chinese store, restaurant or business, many times with advantage tax conditions, so that is why they are huge.

And you can by McDonalds, Coca Cola and an iphone everywhere also.

 

[kittyworker]

Remember why Russia was able to defeat Germany in World War 2? It wasn't technical armament which was inferior to the germans in pretty much every way. No, it was Numbers and production. China has the largest population in the world and its production capability is beyond that of the US. At their technological level at this point while still inferior, it is well with the capability to win a war against the US.

 

[Onionman]

China is definitely a growing story globally. Whether they are a "threat" is an interesting one. The country clearly has a growing economic reach, particularly expressed by companies being government-backed in their international acquisition strategy. China also remains as the workshop of the world, making everything for everyone. The country does have its own internal problems, which are likely to be an issue in coming years (e.g. in-fighting in the Communist party, the democratic movement and the male-female numbers imbalance). But no one can ignore China these days.

 

[Gelsemium]

Apple, IBM, Microsoft, the automobile, the plane, the lightbulb, aerospace.. China invents or creates nothing, their entire economy evolves around taking other people´s ideas and doing it cheaper with cheap labor.



And you can by McDonalds, Coca Cola and an iphone everywhere also.

LOL Pete, true. More, we can watch US contents everywhere. So should we ask the opposite and create a new debate? Are the US threatening?

 

[Bread]

As stated, China relies heavily on the support of other countries for their economy. No buyers, no money for China. I also don't think that their military capability is on par with USA or Russia, but it's noteworthy that they do have a lot of man power, just not enough resources to spend on them. Keep in mind though that China usually threatens smaller Asian countries, which are of course of no match to their military power, with Japan being the only exception. So no, they're not threatening to large powerful countries, but they are to the smaller and poorer Asian countries.

 

[gmckee1985]

China is a bad actor on the world stage. They gave their finger prints on a lot of bad things. Along with Russia Iran and North Korea they are one of our biggest adversaries. That being said I would say they are a threat. Their military capabilities arent neatly what ours are.

 

[Bread]

@Gelsemium It's extremely threatening when they say the whole of the south china sea should be theirs. Japan is a relatively quiet country, so when they take up arms and watch a country, you know that something is up. China just likes to play the business man and say that they have no intention to do anything that can cause potential harm, but they are bullies. They will look for an excuse and they will find it. The countries that are near the South China Sea are already feeling the threat from them, although it seems to have died out recently with the exemption of Japan who is still very wary of what China could do.

I think USA also offered the Philippines some help, should the need ever arise and that we are summoned to help as well, should the tension with Russia ever escalate.

 

[Gelsemium]

Yeah, you are right, they are bullying Japan, but we have rules and the expression territorial waters exist, so if they invade their waters it's like if they invaded Japan and NATO will act. I think...