China's Emergence as a Superpower (till 2014)

[Ray]

Ray, if I've read your comments correctly, you seem to feel that the West behaves somewhat 'arrogantly' towards the so-called third world. Do you think a democratic, Christian mainland China (Taiwan is predominantly Chinese Folk Religion/Buddhist/Taoist) would conduct itself in a less 'arrogant' manner than they do at present, or than the West in general for that matter? Personally, from a simplified historical perspective, I don't think the West behaves any more arrogantly than any other culture that might find itself standing on top of the corpse heap when the hurlyburly's done. A case could probably be made that the US is by comparison one of the least arrogant in a long line of such 'victors'.

Also, since we're talking hypotheticals, if internecine religious conflict broke out between mainland Chinese Catholics and Protestants, who would the US support? Or would they just bomb all of them and let God sort them out?

Do my posts appear that I find the West 'arrogant'? If that is the impression, then I apologise since that was not the intention.

My posts were merely to indicate the events as seen from the non Western perspective since most of the views here are from the western perspective. The non western perspective is important since the 'hot spots' of the world are in areas having different cultures than what is there in the West.

Even my views may not entirely be the same as what the reality is since I am looking at issues through the subcontinental lens. But hopefully it would be closer than the western view.

Further, most of us are keen that the US does not lose out in this race. Not that there is some serious dislike for China, it is just that China's imperialist past does make one uncomfortable, more so, as they tend to twist history to suit their ends as in Tibet or even Shaksgam, the area in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir which was ceded by Pakistan to China.

US is not 'arrogant'. It is just that the US wants to impose its will forgetting the sensitivity to local realities. In the long run, it puts those in government in a tight spot as they are seen to be always giving way to the US perspectives at the cost of the local requirements.

I don't think that even in the middle future the control by the CCP will be lost. Since not much is known about the actual situation in China, I would not like to second guess beyond that. There are troubles brewing, but it could be mere local discontent and more on the lines of the discontent because of the economic divides.

The rapid growth of Christianity has got China worried and of that there is no doubt. They are afraid that it would pollute the Han culture and the Theory of Legalism, which has held China in good stead so far.