andyt andyt:
It's the old two faced approach. He's playing nice while the military is flexing it's muscle. I don't really take this at face value.
As for market economy, we just had a posting her (I think it was here) how the Chinese are building Potemkin cities that stay empty just to give their workers something to do and inflate their GDP. How long can they keep that sort of thing up?
Not that I agree with it, but let's be honest - the Chinese are playing catch-up - and given the huge US lead, it's going to take decades (if at all possible).
Besides, the US is already planning on ways to counter Chinese weapons programs.
$1:
Pentagon to Focus on Countering Chinese Weapons
On Thursday, the Pentagon announced it would invest in a new generation of ship-based jamming technology, a long-range penetrating bomber, a new generation of sea-borne unmanned aircraft and improving the radar on older the F-15 fighter planes.
Defense officials said those weapons systems could help counter weapons systems meant to prevent American access to international waters near China.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 57816.htmlAs for the conomy side of things, the entire western 2/3 of the country is still dirt poor, and residents in those provinces live on daily earnings well below their coastal cousins (in some cases close to that of some in Africa). There is plenty of work the government can do to make things better for people living there and one of them is building the world's largest network of high speed trains.
$1:
High-speed trains were once the preserve of Japan, with its "bullet train," and France, with its TGV. But China's trains are the world's fastest, its network of tracks the longest and its expansion plans the most ambitious. By 2012, just four years after it began its first high-speed passenger service, China will have more high-speed train tracks than the rest of the world combined.
After years of major investment in highways, China is now investing billions in a cutting-edge network of trains and subways designed to boost exports and revolutionize the flow of people and goods in the world's fastest-rising economic powerhouses.
"Just like our investment in the highway system in the 1950s and the rail system in the late 1800s, this will pay huge dividends for China to years to come," said Tim Schweikert, chief executive of GE Transportation China, which signed a deal last year to invest in China's rail expansion in exchange for using Chinese trains and technology to bid on high-speed rail projects in the United States.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 04950.htmlAdd onto that their other infrastructure investment (highways, ports, airports, etc) and their is plenty they can build to make things better for the average Chinese citizen. Shenzen was one of those 'Potemkin cities'. Back in the 70s, it was a sleepy village, today it is a factory and shipping centre of over 8 million.
When you have a country roughly the size of Canada that is for the most part as developed as Africa, the list of things to do to modernize is a really, really long one.
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