Anyone who uses the perjorative “ChiCom” can be safely dismissed as not to be taken seriously. It’s usually a warning sign that the person in question is an ideologue who hasn’t studied China seriously.
Claims like this are especially repellant:
“That’s about it. Weapons wise, they build poor copies of obsolete Soviet gear. What’s more as long as the Chi-Coms have to steal tech, they will NEVER catch up. When you steal tech, you don’t build the foundation in basic or applied research needed to move beyond what you have stolen. So you are locked in to staying one step behind.”
…because it is ignorant of early American history. In the Early Republic, American technology was “copied” and “stolen” from the European continent, whether by osmosis or deliberately lax enforcement of intellectual property norms. Like China today, “piracy” was rampant; as were technology transfers of the sort viewed as improper by today’s IP standards. Yet that didn’t stop the U.S. from becoming an ascendant major world power and an innovative one at that within a few generations.
The view that China “imploding” is a good thing is also ridiculous. Believe me, we in ASEAN do want the implosion of China. China’s stability and economic survival is paramount for the entire region. Why you Americans prefer to steer U.S.-China relations towards confrontation rather than engagement is a mystery to the rest of us.
Engage China. Constructively. Plug her into the international system so that having a stake in the economic health of the world averts the possibility of war. In a war with China, no one wins and everybody loses. China is not irrational. Its leaders know that. The U.S. knows that. So why steer relations in a direction nobody wants?
Beijing 1996 is very different from Beijing 2008. Beijing 2008 will likewise be very different from Beihing 2018. Basing your prognosis of China in 2008 on your knowledge of Chinese peasants circa 1996 is like predicting China’s decline in 1980 based on the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution circa 1970. Don’t be silly.
