| > decide it in an international court all parties can agree on An international court is about to rule on a dispute between the Philippines and China. China has said ahead of time that it will ignore the court's ruling and furthermore, AFAIK, will accept no outside authority. They insist it's only between them and the Philippines - a 'negotiation' that the Chinese can dominate through sheer power and coercion. > there is no obvious reason why they should switch to a US style expeditionary military with world wide ambitions. There are many obvious reasons: China has global interests and therefore needs global power, and desires to be the world's dominant power. Regardless of the reasoning, it's already happening: * China has become highly aggressive and is threatening many of its neighbors and their territories, including Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, India, and South Korea (indirectly via their ally in North Korea). They also threaten the United States and other nations from Europe to Africa to Australia with retaliation if China's wishes aren't complied with. * China already is building military infrastructure from Djibouti in the Horn of Africa to the Indian Ocean (the 'String of Pearls' bases) to the South China Sea. * China is building economic infrastructure (which can have as much influence as military) throughout Eurasia (Silk Road), Africa, and even the Americas. |