"an optimistic view of US and China" Topic

link

Argues that the US is effectively containing China

Xi is very aware of his own problems. Two years ago, he was on the verge of controlling the approaches to North America. Today America has flipped that script. So isn't it at least possible that Xi is recognizing how we've kicked his butt out of the Caribbean, humiliated his armaments industry in Venezuela and Iran, and locked down Malacca, Sunda, and Lombok with our new Indonesian defense pact(s)?

And that's not even mentioning Japan's reassertion as both a major power and arsenal to our allies, South Korea's and Australia's nuclear submarine deals with the U.S., the defensive implications of the Taiwan arms deals, the growing forest of missiles in Luzon, and the recently announced $1.5 USD trillion Trump defense budget, up from under $1 USD trillion. If we obsess about China's strengths, do we really think they don't obsess about ours?

One can only hope. China intends to replace the US as THE top dog.

"1982 is a long way…that's a big far distance away….Certainly brought that up. He talked about that to me, obviously. What am I gonna do? Say I don't want to talk about it because I have an agreement that was signed in 1982. We discussed the arms sales, too. The whole thing with the arms sales. In great detail actually. And I'll be making decisions."

"You know, I think the last thing we need right now is a war that is 9500 miles away."

China definitely has some issues. But the USN controlled and still controls approaches to North America. China is only now beginning to come up with the vessels it needs for significant force projection. As is any navy still mainly powered by 20th century fuel. They still have no carrier resources ..oops forgot to finish this part….that are close to matching us. But they are moving faster than we are in development of the new ships they need. They will soon began using nuclear power, in their carriers and they are getting way ahead of us in alternative energy in general. Somewhere somebody recently said that Xi sees us as beginning to decline.

Japan's rearming program is not new, but it is in high gear due the perceived increased threat posture China has taken in recent months at sea in the region.not that they haven't been harassing 3verybody all along. But the USN 7th Fleet, long based in Japan, is a check. And Japan is set to help maintain and repair USN vessels. Our own deficiencies in this area should have been a priority. The steel for the Trump battleships was ordered concurrently with their announcement, Congress no longer consulted, but finding it and building them is another matter.

Whatever happened" in great detail" in China is not how Trump works, IMO. The fact that we are heavily jcommitted in the ME seems like a plus for both Xi and Putin. We are still there, they get to watch our ops, logistics, and strategic planning.