Japan essentially turned itself into a Western level society in 40 years. Meteoric post-war recovery, climaxing in a shift from manufacturing and agriculture to

Japan essentially turned itself into a Western level society in 40 years. Meteoric post-war recovery, climaxing in a shift from manufacturing and agriculture to softer work like software and finance. Property costs started to spike. Debts become silly. And when everybody starts to default after a small economic contraction, banks start going out of business. Economy crumbles. Sound familiar? China has the numbers and control in a way Japan never did. Their growth has been slower and in that time, the West, China's market, has all but ceased manufacturing. China owns (almost quite literally) poorer countries in Africa. They sponsor mining infrastructure, they buy mines and they have a local workforce that will turn up for bread. If China ever develops a substantial middle class (as the West and Japan did) they can shift their manufacturing to another country they have control. They still own all the natural resources, they just need people (or tech) to build it all. They don't just own Africa, they underwrite huge national debts. They've started selling these to other cash-rich countries. China is controlled. They want more agriculture, they say so. They want to avoid explosive growth, they implement a one child policy. I'll sure something could trip them up, but they have exit routes for most major historical economic issues. And totalitarian control as gravy.