PRC acting like a dick to Vietnam, Philippines

[Beet]

Unfortunately sometimes "Chinese foreign policy" is nothing but a bunch of overnationalistic US-hating internet posters and the CPC responding to them for populistic reasons. Everyone talks about Chinese democracy but don't assume that liberals like Ai Weiwei, Lu Xiaobo or Wen Jiabao would win the elections. It's just as likely to be some fascist.

With that being said China has historically not been all that aggressive. In the past 60 years it has fought 3 wars, all along its land border; in the past 30 years it has fought none. Before that Chinese history mostly consisted of getting invaded by 'barbarians'; absorbing the invaders into Chinese civilization, before getting invaded again by another group of 'barbarians' even less 'civilized' than the last group. Manchus, Mongolians, Khitans, Jurchens, Uighurs, and so and so on.

[Beet]

It's odd of you to refer to Wen Jiabao as a "liberal"

No, it's not "odd". It's conventional and boring. Lots of sources refer to him as a liberal, mostly conventional and boring sources. And he's comparable enough with the other two in the context that I was referring.

90 years is a flash in the pan, however interesting. For 4,000 years, although certainly aggressive, Imperial China showed remarkably little in both appetite and conquest in the realm of power projection, while most ancient empires conquered areas well beyond their ethnic homeland and often defined themselves by their military prowess (Roman legions?). In contrast, Imperial China's record, particularly those Dynasties led by ethnic Han (as opposed to Mongols or Manchus) has largely been one of military defeat and incompetence. Their strength lay not in their ability to win battles or resist invaders militarily but to endure as a civilization and assimilate its conquerers. One could certainly argue that this was an accident of geography; but then again the geography has hardly changed.

[Beet]

Edward Said would have a heart attack at the way this thread's gone.  Everything's there: the "essential unchanging" Chinese

The Chinese see themselves as essential and unchanging in many respects.

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The Chinese themselves use premodern history to think about strategy and politics.

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The Chinese see China as a single, continuous entity, and it is more true than it is for most other nations.

Right now the Indian and Chinese economies are somewhat complementary but as India moves into manufacturing and China moves into services that may become less so in the future. There will be more trade and growth, however. And economic competition won't necessarily translate into political confrontation. Both sides know there is too much to lose from a confrontation.

The one complicating factor is Pakistan. Everyone is worried about Pakistan becoming a failed state. I wonder if China would ever allow itself to get dragged into a conflict over Pakistan.