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by caligarn 1298 days ago
China was never an imperial force like European colonists, but it always saw itself as the “Middle Kingdom” and the most important civilization on earth. It may be a different paradigm but the right to power or hegemony is still embedded in the culture and ethos.
2 comments
jasmer 1298 days ago
It was - and still wishes to be 'Imperial' in it's direct sphere of influence, which is to say, most of E and S/E Asia.

China is not ever going to invade the USA of course.

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woooooo 1298 days ago
It's actually a healthy and non-threatening paradigm?

If they think they're the best and have no reason to expand because of that, the only threat is to our egos.

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frognumber 1298 days ago
Tribute. China always expected tribute from its neighbors.

The benefits in return for tribute were often greater than the tribute, but it did show a high level of domination of its neighbors for most of its history.

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nyolfen 1298 days ago
maybe you should tell that to the tibetans, uyghurs, taiwanese, etc.
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woooooo 1297 days ago
That's it exactly. They don't tell us how we should treat native Americans or Cuba.

But we have it baked in that we're the arbiter of what every country does globally, and a history of military action putatively justified by those moral concerns.

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nyolfen 1297 days ago
we have a critical security interest in taiwan remaining independent -- zero moralizing needed. any empire, nation, group or individual human has some sin you can point to, china is not unique, and neither is the US. the US will lose the throne to china in the 21st c if it takes taiwan. there will always be a throne, the only question is who is in it.
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woooooo 1297 days ago
That critical interest is short term until we get the Arizona fabs up. Then it'll be back to standard levels of ideology, nationalism and domino theory.

And if it's just about power for its own sake, fine. But the records of military adventurism are in fact starkly different over the last 200 years. Xi might ramp it up and we might ramp it down, but for now the spectre of Chinese militarism reminds me of those two hunter guys from South Park, "it's coming right at us!"

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