Everything you wrote makes sense but they are doing things to screw it up.They keep taking care of N Korea and they are not backing down on Taiwan and The China Sea.It would be absolutely stupid for China to lose everything they have recently achieved but their public stance is they will. Maybe its one big bluff and they will back down if war is about to start over these issues but so far they aren't backing down. I agree we should be laser focused on economic growth and not policing the world.Unfortunately the neo libs and cons still have a lot of power and appeal to many US voters
"If you have been to China lately this will be evident." A friend of mine is building hotels in Canada, went to China to get quotes on alot of the materials, most specifically "Tile" when he rolled up at the airport people picked him up in a limo to tour factories and then they said they could basically do what ever the fuck he wants. Compare this to the sissies we have over here, where the primary concern is our "carbon foorprint" This kind of nonsense is a luxury we have only because we are a rich, aging super power, as opposed to a country that is hungry for growth, and hungry to up their standard of living. Another funny story, my former boss was looking around in China thinking about opening up a prop trading office, so he checked out some of the offices in China from our firm, when he went down there, there was basially an entire strip mall, all dedicated to this prop trading office, when my friend asked why they needed all this extra space when everyone was trading in one room, the person who owned the office over there basically said the government pays them to take up as much space as possible, so they just put boxes in 90% of the empty space. But long story short the government down there is paying businesses to come in, while we are figuring out ways to regulate and tax the shit out of them.
I guess what im saying is that what they desire, versus what they would be willing to fight over is 2 very different things, not sure if this saying quite applies here, but i think Mike Tyson once said, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face"
China would be wise to stay out of it, the US would just go deeper in debt, China would then buy even more of America's debt and be able to flex more control over the South China sea. If they want even more power over America, "backing down" would be a good play.
China should be united with America against vagrants like NK. NK is a rogue nation and one of only a few left on our planet. There are many losers out there but it's one nation that can be considered a complete and total basket case with so much hope for a very quick turnaround once TPTB are swept away. As soon as the first bomb drops, I get long Korea because the Koreans are a fucking brilliant culture and a unification will do absolute wonders for the continent. I am not a Neocon or a Chickenhawk. I don't want war and I wish peace would just happen. Multiple generations say it's not going to without some kind of intervention.
North Korea has been an intractable problem for over 60 years. There are three primary reasons. One, it is a Chinese proxy. We nearly got our clocks cleaned there when they massively intervened in the Korean conflict. There is a school of thought that believes they would do so again to preserve the N. Korean regime, as irrational as that sounds to us. Of course, the idea that we would go to nuclear war to preserve Taiwan must sound pretty crazy to them. To me as well. Two, North Korea is not just next to South Korea. It is literally a stone's throw from its capital, Seoul, and major population centers. North Korea has massive artillery batteries, tank divisions, aircraft, missiles, etc that could create havoc in South Korea in even a very brief war. Three, North Korea has nuclear weapons. If war broke out, they could obliterate South Korea and the 50,000 or so US troops there, plus our naval and air assets in the immediate area. They could and probably would also attack Japan and probably destroy most of Japan's major cities. China might not regard these outcomes as a bad thing, as its two historic enemies would be decimated. So preemptive strikes risk a chinese response, and waiting risks letting the threat rise from annoying to existential. Facing this dilemma, every administration has chosen the option of kicking the can down the road.
@Max E. Pad has it right, the rest of you aren't thinking deep enough. China isn't going to war over North Korea, it has bigger problems at home. South Korea is US friendly, culturally they will align with China every time, everyone underestimates that part. To whoever said China gives up NK for South China Sea is on to something. NK is simply a distraction and a leverage tool in negotiations.
So you think a preemptive strike on them is the way to go? South Korea will never go along with that. They would see it as sacrificing their own country to keep us out of North Korea's reach. Actually, a rift with South Korea would not be the worst thing in the world for us. We could pull our troops out and force them to provide for their own defense. Maybe Trump is back at the three dimensional chess.
@AAAintheBeltway Well in geo politics its a push and pull and everything is grey. I love how people are entrenched in their side when debating this and completely ignore all actors act in their own interests above a moral ground. IMO a US pullback from South Korea is likely best for all parties involved, except those whose expect the US hegemon to continue. I believe Trump will eventually have to choose between the continental US along his policy or sell out and continue the global status quo. I see both as mutually exclusive.