Crouching Tiger: Mearsheimer Interview

vesicles

Colonel
The answer to US-China power sharing will determine what happens in the short to medium run. But, there's a bigger problem in the long-run, and that is even if US embraces China as an equal, would it be enough, for China? I say that because the Middle Kingdom doesn't have a history of treating other states as equals, so what makes anyone believe it will do so when it returns to being the most powerful country once again?

Does anyone or anything view weaker ones as equals? Does your boss view you as equal? And do you view your subordinates as equal? Isn't this why people want to be the boss? So that they won't be treated like trash...

On the other hand, China maintained absolute dominance in Asia for nearly 2000 years. Yet, they did not colonize any of the Asian nations, not even one. Have they ever traveled thousands of miles and enslave foreign nationals? the ancient Chinese navy certainly had the capability to do it. Yes, many small Asian countries were China's subordinates and had to pay taxes to China. Yet, China almost always returned the favor by giving those nations massive amount of gifts more than the tax that they paid China. Throughout the entire time when China was the dominant force in Asia, the Chinese philosophy had always been "If you are nice to me, I will be even nicer to you. If you respect me, I will respect you back even more."

I admit that their mentality was more like how a wealthy person looks at a homeless guy, more of sympathy than anything less, which was definitely not equal. However, they had never attempted to exploit those small nations.

I say that because the Middle Kingdom doesn't have a history of treating other states as equals, so what makes anyone believe it will do so when it returns to being the most powerful country once again?

Personally, I don't think this type of questions should even be asked. Does it contribute to any real world issues? Even if, by some miracle, we all agreed that China would have behaved badly once it became #1, is there anything that can be done to stop that? Ask the Chinese nicely that they should stop developing and should be content with being #2? Nuke them and wipe them all out? what options do you have?
 

Blackstone

Brigadier
Does anyone or anything view weaker ones as equals? Does your boss view you as equal? And do you view your subordinates as equal? Isn't this why people want to be the boss? So that they won't be treated like trash...

On the other hand, China maintained absolute dominance in Asia for nearly 2000 years. Yet, they did not colonize any of the Asian nations, not even one. Have they ever traveled thousands of miles and enslave foreign nationals? the ancient Chinese navy certainly had the capability to do it. Yes, many small Asian countries were China's subordinates and had to pay taxes to China. Yet, China almost always returned the favor by giving those nations massive amount of gifts more than the tax that they paid China. Throughout the entire time when China was the dominant force in Asia, the Chinese philosophy had always been "If you are nice to me, I will be even nicer to you. If you respect me, I will respect you back even more."

I admit that their mentality was more like how a wealthy person looks at a homeless guy, more of sympathy than anything less, which was definitely not equal. However, they had never attempted to exploit those small nations.
One thing Mearsheimer got right is you can't determine future intent, and that carries to intentions of future PRC leaders, whomever they be. From that perspective, it makes logical sense for China's neighbors, and yes, US is a neighbor because it's a Pacific Country, to hedge against the Middle Kingdom.

Personally, I don't think this type of questions should even be asked. Does it contribute to any real world issues? Even if, by some miracle, we all agreed that China would have behaved badly once it became #1, is there anything that can be done to stop that? Ask the Chinese nicely that they should stop developing and should be content with being #2? Nuke them and wipe them all out? what options do you have?
What do you mean these types of questions shouldn't be asked? What the heck are discussion forums for then? If certain topics offend your senses, then you know what to do.
 

AndrewS

Brigadier
Registered Member
But there are certain things you can infer.

China is already the world's largest trading nation, so access to raw materials imports and overseas markets is very important to the health and growth of their economy.

China is also now the world's largest net outbound investor, so we will see a significantly larger stock of investments overseas.

And as the Chinese economy continues to grow larger and Chinese companies more sophisticated in terms of technology and also global viewpoint, we can expect international trade to continue growing in line with the economy along with a coming boom in overseas investments by China.

Therefore it is in China's short-term and long-term interest for a liberal trade and investment order to flourish, because that will help deliver economic growth that solidifies the legitimacy of the government.

A liberal trading order means that it can import raw materials and find export markets for its products, whereas in the days of colonialism, this was NOT the case and you had to go conquer other lands for this.

Plus as I stated before, China has reached the natural limits of its territorial expansion.

To the North is freezing Siberia, in the West are the sparsely populated Muslim steppes and deserts, to the South are the Himalayan mountains and the jungles of SE Asia.

So the remaining territorial disputes comprise uninhabited Himalayan borderlands with India, Taiwan, and a bunch of small insignificant islands in the SCS/ECS.

Remember that China already rules a territory which is the same size as the USA which spans a continent, and has large tracts of sparsely populated land that it can settle population. But in any case, the other East Asian economic tigers are even more densely populated than China, and have demonstrated that you can become wealthy and hitech without need to obtain new lands, unlike in the old days when Japan and Germany were seeking lebensraum.

Plus one of China's worldviews is that China was the victim of nasty colonial powers like Fascist Japan (which tried to conquer China) or the British Empire (when China tried to ban the sale of narcotics by British traders).

This nationalist worldview has been ingrained into the psyche of generations of Chinese schoolchildren for decades now, so it would be very unlikely for China to become one of those nasty colonial imperialists by trying to conquer everyone else in Asia.


And you call the US a neighbour to China (and presumably the rest of Asia), but that is not accurate.

Asia and the US are separated by the vast Pacific Ocean, which is 2weeks by boat or 12+ hours by airplane. Furthermore the time zone difference means Americans finish work just as Asians are waking up for the working day. Add in the profound cultural differences and it's obvious that Asia and the US aren't neighbours in any sense.

All this limits people-to-people interactions and retards trade/investment opportunities.

In comparison, China sits in the geographic centre of Asia and operates on a simlar time zone to everyone else in Asia. The Chinese mainland is a 1hour flight from Korea/Japan/Philippines/etc, which means a lot more flights and ships operate between China and Asia than between Asia and the US.

And the average American knows very little about Asia, and doesn't really care what happens there. However, the average American cares way more about Europe as this is where most Americans originally hail from, and also the Middle East because of Israel and Jesus Christ.

Asians understand this viewpoint, which is why there has always been an undercurrent that worries about America neglecting or leaving Asia.

Think about how the US and the rest of the Americas used to be a playground for the Europeans, and how the US has steadily pushed or persuaded them all to leave.
 
Top