This is interesting...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusunoki_Masashige#Legend

An American official said, "We've never had this kind of experience with any country before that we're having with China."
China has developed a unique civilization compared to European, Middle-Eastern and Indian civilizations in that it had developed in isolation while the latter three had more or less contact. To add to the Chinese monumental sense of superiority complex Chinese neighbors were all dwarfs.

Henry Kissinger/On China is not a first-rate book though he wants to sound as if he were the first-rate authority. But the first chapter, Singularity of China, is intesresting. Kissinger compares the Chinese traditional tactics to the game of the wei qi, which is played in Japan, Korea and some other places. In the wei qi the player employs "the art of strategic encirclement...moves into 'empty' spaces on the board, gradually mitigating the strategic potential of his opponent's pieces."
One day you find yourself in an environment, not being able to realize how it all happened, where you have to give up or give in.
Small countries in Central Asia and Africa and small South-Pacific islands, each country or island negligible, matter a great deal in this game.

George F. Kennan, popularly known by his containment policy of the Soviet Union, said on his 1964 visit to Japan that Chinese mandarins were refined in speech and manners but that we should not be deceived by them, as I quoted in my comment, It Is Not China's Fault, dated Nov. 16, 2015, on Michael Pillsbury/The Hundred-Year Marathon. amazon usa. I hope it won't be a loss of time to read it.

To be continued.

Hi Michi

At last I can agree with you on something.

That is on China's Encirclement Strategy.

SURROUNDING AUSTRALIA

China is:
- building Infrastructure
- providing excessive unrepayable "Debt Trap" Loans
- Bribes to senior politicians, and
- Trade Deals
to a crescent of Pacific islands just East of Australia (Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomons, closer relations with NZ)

and North (PNG and East Timor (the last likes to politically/for aid associate itself as a Pacific Island nation. ASEAN nations see East Timor as too different to be really in ASEAN.)).

Also, in Australia's North, China bought ("99 year leased") the Port of Darwin and in Australia's South negotiated a de facto Nation-to-Nation deal with Victoria.

So through this subtle process China is little by little surrounding its Australian "Outer Barbarians". China can steadily convert this
peaceful geographical encirclement into an increasingly militarised blockade in the medium-term, ie. in 10+ years.

Japan tried and failed do this rapidly by using raw military power in 1941-45. China has noted Japan's failed strategy.

More see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Pacific_relations

plantagenet,

Spot on.

Did you see where China and Russia have recently confirmed that they have a defensive/offensive pact?

But nothing to fear according to The Forum's pro-China camp. Is there Fouul-Mouth?

I just ran across this post from Aljazeera:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/8/28/us-says-chinas-south-china-sea-missile-launches-threat-to-peace

Reminiscent of the lead up to World Wars 1 and 2 as belligerents struggled to outmanoeuvre and/or contain each other in an attempt to defend themselves from attack by their opponents.

Is the world now on a war footing?

There is nothing to stop China from sweeping into SE ASia, Australia and the western Pacific. Look at how successful Japan was in taking control of European colonies and expanding its empire in the immediate wake of its attack on Pearl Harbor.

How much infrastructure does China control in Australia that they could turn off at the flick of a switch and how many non-Australian Chinese are there in Australia (half a million according to Foul-Mouth)? What I call our Trojan Horse.

Hi Mr Opinion

Firstly, Joe Loudmouth, being a fellow Centrist, is saintly, like the Pope.
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Secondly like any 2 great powers sharing a long border Chinese and Russian relations are complex, so flactuate. They are nowhere near being in alliance.

True, on 22 Dec 2020 "The Russian military said that a pair of its Tu-95 strategic bombers and four Chinese H-6K bombers flew over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea on Tuesday." http://7news.com.au/politics/russian-chinese-bombers-fly-over-pacific-c-1820089

But http://7news.com.au/politics/russian-chinese-bombers-fly-over-pacific-c-1820089 goes on to say:

"It follows Russian President Vladimir Putin's statement in [Oct 2020] that the idea of a future Russia-China military alliance should not be ruled out - a signal of deepening military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing amid growing tension in their relations with the United States.

Until that moment, Russia and China had hailed their "strategic partnership" BUT [PUTIN] REJECTED any talk about the possibility of their forming a military alliance."
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This is noting in 1969 Russia and China mobilised 10,000s of troops against each other in a border war. A war in which the Russian High Command discussed the nuclear weapon option. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Soviet_split#Border_conflict
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Russian_relations_since_1991

"Russian commentators have increasingly raised concerns about China's ambitions and influence in Central Asia, an area traditionally within Russian influence.[6]"

In December 2019, Rostec officials accused China of intellectual property theft of a range of military technologies.[143] In June 2020, Russia charged one of its Arctic scientists of passing sensitive information to China.[144]
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So Russian-Chinese relations remain complicated. They are nowhere near being in alliance.
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I trust you will provide a serious, considered reply Mr Opinion.