Why would China want to rock the boat? Instead, it's the nation who's currently on top (USA) that has the most to lose, and therefore has the greatest incentive to "start something".
China has only just begun it's ascendency as THE global power. I believe that many will be blown away by what will be decdes of continuous growth, due to almost unlimited labour resources and capital. Those who doubt that this will continue are probably just hoping that this won't be the case, but just like stopping global warming, China is a big ship going at a great pace, so it's not easy to turn in a hurry. What's more, based on the global balance sheet China is currently the world's richest nation while the US is the poorest... Every great empire comes to an end, usually on the back of the rising of a new one. Just take a look at the recorded history of the world and you can see that this is the case, from the Etruscans to the Persians to the Romans to the Incans to the British Empire - now it's the turn of the North Americans. Che (who is living up to his user name with that rant )
http://www.gakei.com/dhk/20040715a.jpg http://www.friedmanarchives.com/China/Page1/images/Shanghai Skyline.jpg http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=^HSI&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c= http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=000001.SS&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c= ..... http://www2.goldmansachs.com/hkchina/index.html
Dude, didn't the CIA kill you? You read like a bad cover of Time or Newsweek...nothing but conjecture and crapola.
what is it lassie? what are you trying to say boy? china is a mean machine? the hang seng is going to double top? timmy is trapped in a well? big buildings...wow. amazing. too bad you won't be able to see them through all of the pollution soon.
I didn't say anything about the US dying, but perhaps you can't read...your insightful response to my post would suggest that this is the case. If you're a representative of the intellectual level of the average US citizen, it's little wonder the US is in the state it's in. What I did say was that every great empire comes to an end. The US is a great empire - depending on your definition of great - but history suggests that the power of the US will decline at some stage, with the face of the US as we know it changing forever - a recent example is the British Empire. I believe that the recent rise of China and eight disastrous Bush years makes this a more likely scenario in the near future - but not by any means a certainty. Just my point of view. I'm not Nostradamous and I have certainly been wrong with predictions in the past. I'd be a lot richer if I were always right... Che
So you don't mind slave labour, as long as it's from a country that isn't a threat to the US. Is that what you mean? Or did you just contradict yourself... You said that my post was "conjecture and crapola" - well, what would you call your post - facts? Do you have better information that I do, or is it just that you truly believe that your 'opinion' is worth more? BTW blast19 - have you even been to China? In fact, have you ever left your home state?
The problem is that we have 10,000 nukes. We aren't going anywhere whereas the old empires could be conquered.