The Threat to The World Isn't Russia, It's China

Something the American establishment constantly screeches about is how much of a threat Russia is to the world. In a military sense, this is true. This is just one important statistic out of many. When you look into other things such as their economy, healthcare and social welfare you will see that Russia isn't this mighty threat that it's former self once was. It's simply unrealistic to believe that Russia has the power to take over the world based off their current situation. They have nukes, sure -- but they're not going to be used. Apart from a few other weapons, Russia is fucked in terms of their inability to expand. China, on the other hand, has technology developed from the 1990's onward. They never had the opportunity to develop much of a navy or airforce due to the Sino-Soviet split. This left them with just a large malnourished army until Deng Xiaoping opened the country up. If you're vaguely similar with the Meiji Restoration that Japan went through, the steps went like this: - Embrace westernised ideas (Communism in '49 then capitalism in '78 for China) - Develop the economy (500 million people in the Chinese middle class now) - Expand their sphere of influence and power (Chinese investment in Africa & Silk Road) - Maintain colonies (Japan temporarily achieved this) There are a similar amount of similarities between the Meiji Restoration and the path China is heading down. It's true that historically China never expanded in the way that the Europeans did, this is beginning to change. Japan was in a similar position 100 years ago where they didn't have much opportunity to expand (they're an island). Then out of nowhere, they invaded Korea, China, Manchuria and S. E. Asia. China aren't expanding in the traditional military sense. The way they're expanding their sphere of influence is intelligently and in a discrete manner. They're using the power of agreements to expand their sphere of influence. For African & South Pacific countries they use a tool called "debt-trap diplomacy" where they deliver a large infrastructure investment, but the host country is unable to repay the loans so China gains strategic assets in the form of rail and road transport, docks especially built for their military and even things like stadiums. China aren't just messing with Africa and South Pacific nations. They're trying to toy with first-world, westernised, industrial countries. A great example of this is New Zealand. In the 2008 China-New Zealand FTA, there is a provision which allowed 1,800 Chinese people in for 3 years and another which brings in another 1,000 Chinese people for a year. To add more fuel to the fire, they've been given permission to register their "China Construction Bank". New Zealand could be at risk of being the next victim of debt-trap diplomacy. Historically, it was in China's best interests to send their own people overseas. Mao even proposed this to Kissinger in the 70's. Mao Zedong wanted to send 10,000,000 Chinese women to the United States. His reasoning was that women created disasters and that it would 'impair your interests'. Considering Xi Jinping has been compared to Mao, is this proposition so novel anymore? This comes after statistics saying that more and more Chinese people are migrating to western countries like New Zealand. While I would consider today's China to be better than the China of the 60's, there is an insurgence of social control there. Namely their 'social credit' system. This is one of the biggest obstacles to preventing democracy and more capitalism spreading in China. This could be what stops China from ending up like South Korea, Taiwan or Chile in terms of political freedoms. This level of social control is a communist wet dream. By no means do we need a cold war with China. What we need is to be vigilant and more suspicious of the Chinese. The opportunities they present aren't done with a good heart. They're done with the sole objective to expand their sphere of influence, something Russia is unable to do. PT. 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGl3HxEMJhI PT. 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwk0vZwpPpw https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand%E2%80%93China_Free_Trade_Agreement https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/22/new-zealand-immigration-hits-record-high http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-31/chinas-social-credit-system-punishes-untrustworthy-citizens/9596204 http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/djibouti-is-becoming-gateway-to-africa-for-china-a-1191441.html https://intpolicydigest.org/2018/05/08/behind-the-goodwill-aid-china-s-neo-colonialism-in-africa/