Yes becaue China has many disputed borders which seems to make it the nation with the greatest potential to spark a future world war.

 

Yes because many wars are started by nations which face internal pressures that either drive them to expand their territory to gain resources. China faces enormous population pressures, the potential for

 

Yes because many wars are waged because the Nation launching the war perceived some claim to the region they fight to rule. China technically considers itself the heir to the entire Mongol empire which once stretched across most of mainland Asia except for the Indian subcontinent, much of the Middle East Eastern Europe as far West as the Black Sea.

 

No because China is a free-market nation albiet a politically oppressive one, whereas the Soviet Union was strictly totalitarian. The problem with freedom, is that the more freedom a person has, the more they notice where their freedom is impinged. The other problem with freedom is that it is vital to competing in an information and technology based economy. I predict that within a couple of decades China will be a true democracy.

 

Unless it decides to distract its citizens from such ideas by trying to rebuild the Mongol Empire... One of the two will happen.

 

It sounds like a lot of what your saying is that there even more of a threat.

In my opinion yes. We have to prepare for potentials, and China has more potential. It all depends on how things develop. Right now the middle class is becomming the key to China's wealth, and they are discovering that corruption is limiting their ability to enjoy that wealth. The problems we've seen coming out of China with things like contaminated food are nothing compared to what the people of China face.

 

I've heard that the middle class has discovered the lawsuit and that Chinese courts have decided it is acceptable to allow it to be used, at least for the time being. There is no concept of precedent though, so they can decide later that it shouldn't be used. On the other hand taking away rights causes more friction than never allowing a right in the first place.

 

China has a huge potential to become a true democracy over the next couple of decades. I sincerely hope that is the path that China's leaders choose to take. If they were to convert their economy to militarism to the extent that the Soviets did, it would be a truely frightening thing.

 

One thing I didn't mention is that global warming is making vast areas of Siberia that were once uninhabitable now able to be farmed. This might be an attractive prize considering China's vast population. Also a lot of Chinese have already migrated to these areas and more will likely follow. I have heard that they are not popular in these areas because they are generally more successful than the native Russians. I can see the possibility of either a Sudetenland-like or Texas-like scenario developing here. Also, if climate change should make currently cultivated crops fail in significant areas of China this could increase pressure to annex Siberia. If China was to do so it would make sense to go all of the way to at least the Urals, since this is the natural division between Europe and Asia, and by far the best defensive terrain around. It would also mean control of most Russian nuclear silos. Not that the Chinese would probably be able to employ the missiles, but it would definitely remove a great deal of Russia's national clout.

"Not that the Chinese would probably be able to employ the missiles, but it would definitely remove a great deal of Russia's national clout"

 

And such an attempt would definately remove an even greater part of the Chinese population....permanently!

Which would arrive first, the Topols or the D-5s?

I'm guessing it would be a photo finish.

 

See what having a bunch of bandits MISGOVERNING you does?

 

It gets you killed.

 

Wakeup Chinese people!

 

Herald

I think that the Chinese military is the new threat to the USA just as the Soviet Union was during the cold war.

I agree, Russia is now finaly getting funds to rebuild its military after more than a decade of neglect, there air force is getting new fighters and their bombers are back in the air, their navy is now going out to sea, they are building new nuclear warheads for SS-27 TOPOL-M ICBM and new ballistic missiles and submarines., SU-34 and PAK-FA(T-50) and their army is being upgraded.

China = Soviet Union?  No.  Two different beasts.  They share only two things in common:  Land mass and population.  Perhaps the single most outstanding difference is that China can play the capitalist game quite well and is now outplaying the US, so much so that it has become the single biggest lender to the US.  Furthermore, today's China (also India) is the newest rising kid on the block, unlike the US-Soviet combo who became prominant around the same period in time (in 1945, after former great European powers have self-destructed themselves to such an extent that the only the US and Soviet Union were left as the major players of the globe).  Needlessly to say, there are three 'four sick men of the world' -- the US, the EU, Japan, and Russia -- as the center of gravity of world's manufacturing activities are in developing countries, most predominantly in China.  (Already, the developing countries are outconsuming energy compared to developed countries, which should say a lot about who will have more clout in the near future.)  As for the US, not a whole lot to show for vis-a-vis China, except for its military power.  Even then, I am not sure how much longer can the American bubble economy afford its extravagant military.