China won't attack the Us directly. They see the future as being won by becoming the biggest economy on the eart and thus calling the shots. They are trying to build a Navy to allow them to extend their influence as the US has done.
In East and Central Asia as well as Africa they are building their relationships. They will do business with countries that the US won't, so Iranian and Venezuelan oil will always have a market.
They are basically copying US foreign policy from the 60's & 70s. Why conquer the US or risk a nuclear war, when your economy can turn the US into a willing bitch for Chinese companies. while the dollar is low they can buy US assets, stocks, property etc...
Don't ever underestimate their intelligence. Their leaders think beyond the next election so their long term strategies are for 20 and 30 year spans. In the 90's they embraced capitalism, even allowing capitalists to join their communist party. They sent people to the west to learn capitalism ready for the Hong Kong takeover. Western greed fuelled their economy in the 90's and the early part of this century, lifting them form the risk of bankrupot communes and drove their econony to its current strength, giving them trillions of dollars in capital.
A big difference to is their political setup. They can ignore the poor and old and sick. Politicians here can't because of the voting system. Thus here politicians need to do somehting for the underprivalidged. In China they just let them die.
Do not underestimate the Chinese. Or Russia, now free market policies are driving their economy along with the Oil income their government gets. They are spending more on defence now than they did pre 1990. US policy was king because countries did not want to go to war with the US and as such bent to their will. In ten years it will be the same for Russia and China. They will be able to expand their policies and influence because their military and economic machines will be too powefrul to force away.
We live in interesting times and the world is changing.
