The Chinese government represents what they see as the interests of the Chinese state. They have not, so far at least, been reckless – quite the contrary, they are patient and realize that the machine they run has many moving parts, some not so well lubricated as others. It is large, powerful, and a bit fragile in spots. They will practice the projection of power, at least initially, in those areas where there’s little chance of a forceful response, and they will learn.
Our current leadership sees foreign-policy issues and the US standing in the world as someone else’s problems, their goal is to kick the can down the road as cheaply as possible while draining the defense coffers to pay for their domestic-policy agenda. Any problem can and will be dealt with as minimally as possible on the feckless assumption that nothing truly matters unless it costs votes.
Our ‘brilliant’ boy president is kept from his true isolationist longings only by the foreign entanglements Bush left him.
