China’s strategic interest to be the Number One super power

It would be hypocritical to take the position that China does not have the ambition or aspiration to be the Number One super power in the world.  But there is a big difference being the Number One super power and world dominance or hegemony like behaving like an Empire. The Number One super power China is pursuing is a status by virtue of its wealth and influence rather than military domination and oppression. China will eclipse the USA as the Number One super power but on its own terms. China will want to win this war with the Americans cheaply, without having to go to war with the Americans. And this goal of a peaceful transition of power is a long one. China is patient, is in no hurry, and time is on China’s side.

China’s strategic plan to take over world leadership from the Americans is based on a two prong strategy in the economic and military fronts. Militarily, China does not need to over take the Americans in military hardware. There is no need for China to have seven fleets of naval armada to police the seven seas. This is obsolete in the 21^st Century and in theChinese strategy. Only an anachronistic Empire still thinks of ruling the seven seas.

With a policy of non intervention in the domestic affairs of foreign countries, without the need to conduct regime change, and without the ambition of occupying foreign land and setting up foreign military bases, all archaic concepts of an imperial empire, China does not have to spend extravagantly on its armed forces. China only needs to maintain a sufficient force to keep the Americans from their wildness, to stop them from thinking that it is possible to fight a war with China and win.  A strong enough deterrent force to check the Americans from becoming reckless and trigger happy would be more than enough to maintain peace between the two super powers. China could thus spend modestly on defence while allowing the Americans to continue to indulge in their extravagant ways in military spending. The Americans will spend itself to poverty if unchecked.

With the military front covered and maintained at status quo, China will move rapidly in the economic front to invest all over the world and gain influence and leadership in economic development and commerce, in infrastructure development, in financial assistance, anything but the use of military force. This is an area that the Americans would not be able to compete with China’s cheap labour and cheap cost of production and cheap finance with no political strings attached. China has been making big strides in South America, Europe, Africa and Central Asia. Its next big target will be South and Southeast Asia. When these two regions accept Chinese investments and infrastructure development, China’s economic conquest of the world will be more or less complete. By then the Americans would be left alone as a solitary military power but unable to do anything with its military might. It will be a new prosperous world under Chinese leadership in economic development, in peace.

Of course in the process the Americans would try their best to incite and provoke wars, regional wars, to upset and derail the Chinese plan for world leadership. How many countries would be sucked into the American military pipe dream of empire building, to start wars and to fight wars, when they have all to gain in peace and to grow and prosper and elevate the quality of life for their people? Who would want wars when they can have peace and prosperity?

China has already seized the initiative in economic cooperation and development with the rest of the world without asserting any military or political pressure on countries that it is investing and helping to rebuild. The economic benefits to these countries are tangible and immediate. Compare what China is doing in Central Asia, Africa, South America and what the Americans are doing in the Middle East, in agitating and provoking tensions in East Asia and the South China Sea.  China is moving in with money and expertise for economic and infrastructure development. The Americans are moving in with all their military hardware and weapons of war, to set up military bases and to start wars.

The strategies of both the Chinese and the Americans for world supremacy are in stark contrast and not difficult to see except for those that chose not to see. Who shall eventually triumph and win this war for influence over the world? The Americans would be left with crazy allies that are trigger happy and think war is fun and glorious. China would be gaining fans in countries that it invested and brought economic growth and prosperity to their people in peace.

The battle has begun in a long protracted war in all corners of the world, without the use of guns and bullets. It may take several decades for the victor to stand on the rostrum in a war without bloodshed and with winners everywhere. Should the Americans win this war, it would be a brutal and devastating world war and nothing much will be left standing and could also mark the end of civilization.

Some western analysts are speculating that China would want to push the Americans out of the western Pacific by force. This is too shallow a view to come from supposedly serious thinking people. The cost of a military conflict with the Americans is unimaginable. China would avoid an all out war with the Americans at all cost unless forced into it. There is nothing to be gained by the Chinese except to bear huge losses of lives and the destruction of their country and with no certainty of winning. China would seek to win this war peacefully, by economic means.

At some point in time the rest of the world would have to choose between peaceful economic development and progress led by China or continuous tension, armed conflicts and destruction led by the Americans.