The Rise of China

Kos is worried about The Rise of China.

The United States military is wastefully tied down in an unwinnable nightmare in Iraq - a quagmire which has hollowed the strength and reach of our forces. At the same time, the United States government (as embodied by the Bush administration) has manifested an appalling level of disinterest in most world affairs that aren't centered around Baghdad.

North Korea is the most glaring example, but the rise of China's power and influence also seems to be taking place without much notice. (The first two stories are sourced to nameless "Pentagon officials.") Will we be prepared in the coming new world in which China can readily flex its military and economic muscles? Right now, the answer does not seem heartening.

The Bush Administration is very much interested in world affairs. What the USA is doing in Iraq is affecting China. North Korea is where the USA wants it. The Sino-Japanese tension suits the USA right down to the ground.

The USA is in Iraq to control the Middle East oil supply. China, Japan, Europe, and South Korea are dependant on imported oil. USA control keeps these US competitors in line.

North Korea is kept isolated from South Korea by US pressure. With US interference, the South Korean Capitalist class would buy out the North Korean Communists as the West Germans did with the East Germans. The DMZ would disappear and the South Korean Capitalists would have a new market to exploit. The risk to the USA is that the reunified Korea would become more independent of the USA in economic and political terms. The DMZ keeps the South Koreans in their place.

The current tensions between Japan and China reflect the growth of nationalism in China. Nationalism grows along with the Capitalist economy. This tension derails any immediate hope of a Sino-Japanese alliance against the USA.

I would think GWB is very happy at how things currently are.