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Wednesday May 24, 2006

The world vs China?

In a story in The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post (and a second story there), and The Age talks of China's military build up and what it means for the USA.

In the comment list for the Washington Post story, it seems that many people have missed the comments on China possibly moving to threaten Japan.

My question is, would the world just stand by and watch if China took action against Taiwan? Would it make any difference if it were Japan? I can understand that the Chinese might feel the need for some retaliation, but my personal hope is that the world is becoming a more peaceful place. Of course this would appear at odds with the current Bush administration in the USA but I'm not a supporter of what the USA has done in invading Iraq or Afghanistan. Is there a chance that the next world war will be everyone vs China just in order to hold the Chinese back?

As an Australian, I don't beleve that China is far enough away and worry that their greedy eyes see the vast natural resources (iron ore, copper, uranium) there, with a miniscule population (by comparison with theirs) as being ripe for invasion and conquering. Maybe that is just paranoia on my behalf.

Could or would China use its economic strength to prevent others from entering into any fray it found itself in?

Maybe there is a lesson in the Iraq invasion for China: when you invade a country that does not want you, it is not enough to just conquer them militarily. And so if China did invade Taiwan, would that be the start of endless civil unrest? Is that what China would want as the outcome? Would the public in Taiwan take up the call of being a martyr? Of course it seems that America is unable to learn lessons like this or else Vietnam should have been the lesson that said to them "do not invade Iraq."

My only hope is that the desire for everyone to live peacefully outweighs whatever personal or political objectives someone might have. In the end, it should not matter whether Taiwan is independant or not. What matters is if they are forced to change the way they live because of who governs them. The only real difference is to the egos of a handful men, both in mainland China and Taiwan, about who gets to tell who what to do.

Can't we all just live peacefully and get along?