China in the 18th and 19th centuries was largely a victim of various colonial powers and the US, which pent-up resentment finally resulted in the nationalistic Boxer Rebellion—which China lost handily and suffered greatly for as a result. In those days China was a rural nation, economically undeveloped, and, militarily speaking, of no significance as compared with the US and other colonial powers.
But that was then. China has gone from victim to victimizer: continuing to suppress human rights in its own nation (a legacy going back to Chairman Mao and the so-called People’s Revolution) and now venturing for the first time into spaces outside of China as well, claiming as Chinese territory the South China Sea, heedless of the claims of other nations to that same area. Indeed, its military has declared that certain areas in international waters/air-space are now under Chinese sovereignty, and Japan, the US, Philippines, South Korea, Viet Nam, et. al. be damned.
What is particularly galling about China’s rise to the front rank of military powers is that the West, and the US in particular, has made her military prowess possible by having Corporate America relocate industry after industry to China, with China then copying (or stealing) manufacturing secrets and setting up its own industry as a result. We also have educated countless Chinese in US universities, mathematicians, physicists, engineers, computer specialists, et. al. professions vital to their military-industrial complex and the development of new weapons, jets, ships, etc. being unveiled. China is already rivaling the US in developing stealth ships, aircraft, drones, submarines, computer technology (including a virus that destroys a computer if downloaded), and nuclear weapons—and they spend only about one-fifth of what we outlay for the military!
China is now flexing its military muscles. It does not take a great imagination to see that a war in Asia could easily rsult. And we have only ourselves to blame—I mean Corporate America, which made this now full-grown tiger possible through their amoral lust for more and more profit heedless of any and all consequences. Stamped on the backside of every armament in China’s arsenal is “Thank you Corporate America. We couldn’t have done it without you.”
Len Sive Jr.