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> China will have free reign to do whatever along the Pacific Rim with impunity So what? The intermediate term impact would be massive capital flight to the Am
by a8da6b0c91d 13y ago
> China will have free reign to do whatever along the Pacific Rim with impunity
So what? The intermediate term impact would be massive capital flight to the Americas. Asia as a reliable place for manufacturing would be over. Americans would think hard about what's really at stake.
- potatolicious 13y agoThe same "so what" as Vietnam, and the same "so what" as Japan circa WW2: the US does not want to see a pan-Asian superpower, either officially (see: annexation of territories by Japan in WW2) or unofficially (see: Soviet vassal stating of Vietnam). As a superpower the US's interests are necessarily long-term, strategically. Sure, the immediate reaction of China jack-booting all up and down the Pacific Rim would be economic and political turmoil. It's the long-term possibility: Chinese hegemony over the entirety of the Pacific coastline, that scares the shit out of the US. Bear in mind that the USSR, despite not being an export power (like, ever) was still able to pose an enormous threat to the existence of the USA. China losing its preferred-manufacturer status wouldn't be consequence free, but it also wouldn't de-claw them.