From “The Vision Thing:”
And so, many Americans tire of the burdens of this world role and often think we are delusional in trying to help those who seem to hate us. But when we look at potential surrogate peacekeepers, it is even scarier. A rising superpower, China, is run by autocrats, renegade in much of its attitudes toward international trade and commercial protocols, and somewhat mad in its first forays into international adventurism. The world should ask itself why most of China’s neighbors - Russia, India, Pakistan, and North Korea - are nuclear, and a variety of others, like Taiwan, Japan, or South Korea, might be. So much for the stabilizing influence of Chinese diplomacy.
For the present, the idea that a Chinese navy might bring order to the sea-lanes off Japan, adjudicate claims of dispossessed Tibetans, or seek peaceful political integration with a democratic Taiwan remains laughable.
(Hat Tip to Jim Lynch)
