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Everyone neighbouring country has fought wars in indochina over the years. No country has been to successfully control them for long periods of time. In a land
by marme 13y ago
Everyone neighbouring country has fought wars in indochina over the years. No country has been to successfully control them for long periods of time. In a land war the chinese have a lot going for them, just look at the korean war to see the strengths of chinese military. The fact the china was once many small countries that were all conquered by the qin kingdom should show that china has a long history of conquest. Just in the 20th century they conquered tibet and xinjiang and held back the US invasion of north korea. On the sea they have next to nothing and their navy is a job. China has never been a big sea power but it looks like they are trying to change that only time will tell how that turns out
- thaumasiotes 13y agoChina has always had extreme difficulty expanding beyond its river basins. You might consider it quibbling, but China didn't conquer Tibet and central Asia; foreign armies conquered China as well as Tibet and central Asia. They then, being the same people as themselves, ruled those territories more or less together. And even beyond all that, a war between China and the US would necessarily be naval. They don't share much in the way of a land border.
- wavefunction 13y agoI wonder how the Tibetans and Uighurs feel knowing that despite being part of different ethnic and linguistic groups, they're "being the same people" as the Han. Probably warms their hearts these days to know they're being exterminated by "their own kind," as the Han are busy eradicating the native Tibetans and Uighurs and their cultures at this very moment. "Thanks" for your insight.
- thaumasiotes 13y agoThe Han are doing well against the Uighurs; the Tibetans are doing a great job of holding their own. Han who move into Tibet suffer a variety of health problems. And, obviously, I was referring to the Manchus, who overran China, Tibet, central Asia, etc., and administered it all together. The Manchus who conquered Tibet were the same Manchus as the Manchus who conquered China. Note that they are just as separate, ethnically and linguistically, from the Han as the Han are from the Tibetans (the Qing imperial family's surname was four syllables long!). Imagine a horde of barbarians sweeping out of Mexico and taking over all of the US and Canada, administering all of North America as one big empire. After 2-300 years, the Mexicans fall from power, and ethnic Americans assume control of the empire. Would it make sense to talk about how the US took over Canada?
- gaius 13y agoChina has never been a big sea power Not actually true; in the 1500s China was a huge sea power. They had ships big enough to grow crops on deck and Admiral Cheng Ho got as far as Middle East and Africa. Then the bureaucrats, losing power to the merchants and the Navy manipulated the Emperor into declaring owning a ship with more than one mast a capital offence (!) and that was the end of that. Fast forward a few years and the Portuguese show up on the other side of Africa, Vasco Da Gama at the helm. He should have encountered a Navy that embarrassed anything the Europeans had at the time. Instead, nothing, and then European colonial history happened.
- thaumasiotes 13y agoFun fact: jingoistic Chinese claim (without documentation of any kind, as far as I know) that Zheng He (= the guy you mention) actually visited the Americas. Also, wikipedia indicates his expeditions occurred 1405 to 1433, not 1500s.
- gaius 13y agoYou are right, I got 1500 and 15th century mixed up :-)