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America has a number of enduring advantages: 1. Its geography means it's impervious to conventional invasions. 2. Its embracing culture will attract more immi

by Leary 8y ago

America has a number of enduring advantages: 1. Its geography means it's impervious to conventional invasions. 2. Its embracing culture will attract more immigrants. 3. It is an offshoot of western civilization and therefore has natural allies in Europe. China's advantages are: 1. It has a population that is 3-4 times the size of the US. 2. Its economy is still underdeveloped, therefore economic growth is a lot easier.

AnimalMuppet 8y ago
> 1. Its geography means it's impervious to conventional invasions. You'd have to be insane to invade China, though. "Never get involved in a land war in Asia". Especially never get involved in a land war in Asia against someone with an army the size of China's. > 2. Its embracing culture will attract more immigrants. This advantage the current administration seems to be working as hard as possible to destroy. As far as I know, though, this is still an advantage for the US compared to China. > 2. Its [China's] economy is still underdeveloped, therefore economic growth is a lot easier. It's not nearly as underdeveloped as it used to be. Further growth will be significantly harder than past growth was. Can China keep it going? I don't know.
- Leary 8y ago
  Nobody is capable of invading China, that is true. But American mainland is a lot more secure than China's. Any military conflict will be fought near China and have direct costs to China. For example, a blockage of the strait of Malacca will cripple China. As to the economy, as long as China grows faster than 3%, it will gain relatively to the US.
  - everdev 8y ago
    Infrastructure destruction by missiles, terrorism and hacking (power grid, financial system, etc.) seem more dangerous at the moment and geography plays little to no role in any of those. Also, weaponize space and all terrestrial advantages become mostly moot (no GPS, communications, etc.).
- w0de0 8y ago
  Yes, you'd have to be insane to invade China. Their massive army makes it mass suicide. Maintaining that deterrence is the the actual disadvantage to China - not the risk of invasion, but the cost of preventing invasion.
  - everdev 8y ago
    I don't think they're actually concerned about that. I think their standing force is more about building national unity and pride. Battles are rapidly migrating to the air (drones, missiles, etc.) and cyberspace.
    - meschi 8y ago
      You cannot fight in cyberspace when a foot soldier turns the server off.
- Pmop 8y ago
  Actually, it isn't impossible. You don't need to invade the entire land, you just need to bomb a few targets. A nice chunk of China's population and structure is distributed across China's shores. If you take a look at photos of China at night from space, you'll see that the shores are way way brighter than inland. Interesting enough, there are plenty US allies nearby which could be used as base to make bombing easier. Edit:However, I, personally, don't think we'll see big dogs such as U.S and China fighting in any moment near future. We have developed tools so efficient to kill each other that the best ideia possible is to not use them. At these times, big wars are too costly for everyone, involved or not.
- jewelthief91 8y ago
  The US would never need to invade China in the (horrific) event of a conflict. Simply cut off their access to oil by blocking the Strait of Malacca. Better yet do nothing and allow Japan do it for you.
bobthepanda 8y ago
The easy growth is gone, though, now that the labor market in China is tightening up. A lot of countries have made it to the middle stage of development and then petered out on growth; that list includes Thailand, Malaysia, Turkey, etc, all of which rank higher either on GDP per capita or GNI per capita. China is interesting in that its society is rapidly aging before it becomes a high income country, which is enough of a rough transition for high income countries.
cjbenedikt 8y ago
Re #1 it isn't about conventional invasion at all Re #2 it currently is not embracing immigration Re#3 it is currently alienating its European patners
jbrun 8y ago
That is all true. However I would say that the divisions within US society (black vs. white, guns vs. no guns, abortion vs no abortion, tax rich vs. tax no one,...) and the horrible public education system will be its biggest challenge going forward. At the end of the day, empires are build on economic / technological advantage - Roman army & aqueducts, British longbow, French knights, British steampower, US microprocessors,...
everdev 8y ago
Political system is a huge one and could go either way. 1 party rule can make quick, bold changes for better or for worse. In the US, we're stuck with slower change again for better or worse.
golem14 8y ago
Pro.3 and pro.2 is being shot to pieces by Trump right now. Pro.1 does also apply to China I would think. I'm not sure con.1 is that much of an advantage. other than a larger national market.

by Leary 8y ago

AnimalMuppet 8y ago

> 1. Its geography means it's impervious to conventional invasions. You'd have to be insane to invade China, though. "Never get involved in a land war in Asia". Especially never get involved in a land war in Asia against someone with an army the size of China's. > 2. Its embracing culture will attract more immigrants. This advantage the current administration seems to be working as hard as possible to destroy. As far as I know, though, this is still an advantage for the US compared to China. > 2. Its [China's] economy is still underdeveloped, therefore economic growth is a lot easier. It's not nearly as underdeveloped as it used to be. Further growth will be significantly harder than past growth was. Can China keep it going? I don't know.

Leary 8y ago
Nobody is capable of invading China, that is true. But American mainland is a lot more secure than China's. Any military conflict will be fought near China and have direct costs to China. For example, a blockage of the strait of Malacca will cripple China. As to the economy, as long as China grows faster than 3%, it will gain relatively to the US.
- everdev 8y ago
  Infrastructure destruction by missiles, terrorism and hacking (power grid, financial system, etc.) seem more dangerous at the moment and geography plays little to no role in any of those. Also, weaponize space and all terrestrial advantages become mostly moot (no GPS, communications, etc.).
w0de0 8y ago
Yes, you'd have to be insane to invade China. Their massive army makes it mass suicide. Maintaining that deterrence is the the actual disadvantage to China - not the risk of invasion, but the cost of preventing invasion.
- everdev 8y ago
  I don't think they're actually concerned about that. I think their standing force is more about building national unity and pride. Battles are rapidly migrating to the air (drones, missiles, etc.) and cyberspace.
  - meschi 8y ago
    You cannot fight in cyberspace when a foot soldier turns the server off.
Pmop 8y ago
Actually, it isn't impossible. You don't need to invade the entire land, you just need to bomb a few targets. A nice chunk of China's population and structure is distributed across China's shores. If you take a look at photos of China at night from space, you'll see that the shores are way way brighter than inland. Interesting enough, there are plenty US allies nearby which could be used as base to make bombing easier. Edit:However, I, personally, don't think we'll see big dogs such as U.S and China fighting in any moment near future. We have developed tools so efficient to kill each other that the best ideia possible is to not use them. At these times, big wars are too costly for everyone, involved or not.
jewelthief91 8y ago
The US would never need to invade China in the (horrific) event of a conflict. Simply cut off their access to oil by blocking the Strait of Malacca. Better yet do nothing and allow Japan do it for you.

bobthepanda 8y ago

The easy growth is gone, though, now that the labor market in China is tightening up. A lot of countries have made it to the middle stage of development and then petered out on growth; that list includes Thailand, Malaysia, Turkey, etc, all of which rank higher either on GDP per capita or GNI per capita. China is interesting in that its society is rapidly aging before it becomes a high income country, which is enough of a rough transition for high income countries.

cjbenedikt 8y ago

Re #1 it isn't about conventional invasion at all Re #2 it currently is not embracing immigration Re#3 it is currently alienating its European patners

jbrun 8y ago

That is all true. However I would say that the divisions within US society (black vs. white, guns vs. no guns, abortion vs no abortion, tax rich vs. tax no one,...) and the horrible public education system will be its biggest challenge going forward. At the end of the day, empires are build on economic / technological advantage - Roman army & aqueducts, British longbow, French knights, British steampower, US microprocessors,...

everdev 8y ago

Political system is a huge one and could go either way. 1 party rule can make quick, bold changes for better or for worse. In the US, we're stuck with slower change again for better or worse.

golem14 8y ago

Pro.3 and pro.2 is being shot to pieces by Trump right now. Pro.1 does also apply to China I would think. I'm not sure con.1 is that much of an advantage. other than a larger national market.