"China started the Korean War"
Now there's a horse's patoosie
One thing the US doesn't want is the unification of Korea under any circumstances.
China may not want it either but a unified Korea is more palatable than US.
A unified Korea would prove to be a powerhouse that the US could not contain and would relegate the US to no3 in the world economy in the near future.
The Korean position in Asia will possibly be as being what Italy is to Europe.

"China started a war with Vietnam"....another laughable statement.
The French were bleeding Vietnam for rubber.
The US went in thinking they could pickup a French colony for peanuts when they saw the French unable to retain control of Vietnam.
The French, having foresight, got out reel qwik when they saw how the US was handling the situation.
China helped Vietnam to gain it's independence which it has today instead of it being subjugated like Hawaii.
Vietnam was always referred to as a police action until the US started getting their backsides handed to them big time, then it became a war in the western media.

Hi SD,

You're right on both counts, re the Korean and Vietnam Wars, SM does like to reinvent history from time to time. Just a question, what's your take on the relationship today between China and North Korea and Vietnam, I read little about it, both countries have been traditional enemies of China for millennia. North Korea is a basket case that does rely on economic ties with China for some semblance of survival, but the Chinese don't seem to be over enthusiastic with them, particularly their nuclear program. Vietnam in the context of what they have been through a 30 year war, seem to be somewhat independent.

SD and Pauliar,

North Korea invaded South Korea with armament and support from both Stalin and Mao. So China was up to the neck in the plans to attack the South. The Sino-Vietnamese war AFTER the US-led war (which you two brain surgeons were ignorant of) was in 1979.

I assume you accept the rest so you can both now eat crow.

SM , must be wonderful to cherry pick items out of context and claim them as factual so I'll have to decline your offer of crow

1405,
Make no mistake, yesterday's enemy is tomorrows friend.
Everyone chooses alliances of momentary convenience.
The reason the US is out in the cold in Asia is because they have exhibited decades of disrespect toward cultures of old and to this day incapable of grasping any understanding of what they've done.
Birds of a feather will always flock together and the Asians are birds of similar feather in culture, respect, and family values.
The US is about, Use and abuse, like the supportive Afghans still waiting promises made and entry visas that will never come.
When the US gives aid it comes with big fish hooks, not small.
As far as China and N.Korea,
China is benefiting out of N.Korea testing and research and it will support them just to maintain the status quo.
Whatever manipulations the US has applied in the past the Chinese will emulate and do it better.
China may be hamfisted at times until they get it right unlike the US who keeps insisting they be obeyed thinking the Monroe doctrine will be their right to do so.
On Vietnam,
China doesn't need to control because they know when push comes to shove they will align against the US. 'birds of a feather'
If someone rapes your daughter and kills your son are you going to accept the 'that was yesterday, lets move on attitude?
That takes some cahoonies yet the US thinks it's their right to demand it!
Lets's be clear here, the US helps themselves under the guise of helping others and when that doesn't work they pull out a big gun.

Iraq is a prime example!
Support them while they do your bidding then decimate the country with not one person held responsible... and the Asian world sees it!
Australia continually does UK and US bidding, so why should the Asians be different?
Is being an Anglo Saxon supposed to put you at the top of the evolutionary ladder?

Divide and conquer only works when you have ignorant societies to manipulate and the Asians are far from ignorant.

"The Sino-Vietnamese war AFTER the US-led war (which you two brain surgeons were ignorant of) was in 1979.'

You don't have to be as ignorant of the facts as SD and Paul are to completely misread the situation.....but it helps.

Laughingly SD thinks all of Asia is behind the CCP ("Birds of a feather will always flock together and the Asians are birds of similar feather....").

Perhaps he needs to learn about nations like Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam and India (to just mention the big boys) who are most decidedly not flocking to the CCP banner.

China sees itself returning to its millennia old self-described position as the natural hegemon for east Asia. Those who don't want to bend the knee to Peking are left with very little choice other than to accept US help. That the current US leadership is so incompetent doesn't encourage too much confidence that the US help will be decisive, but beggars can't be choosers.

China has maybe a decade before its internal inconsistencies (a rapidly declining population and rapidly exiting manufacturing base) cause it to lose its once-in-a-century shot at regional supremacy. Thereafter the Han Empire will begin circling the drain as its done so many times before.

While-ever the US is run by the current kakistocracy, its allies msut remain nervous and wary. But those allies are already looking to each other for the support and stability to withstand an expansionist CCP. Australia getting its arms from the US that allows it to play its part in the Japan and Indian led resistance to the Han Empire, makes perfect sense.

The most interesting part of all this is that the most obvious path for the Chinese to expand their base and prolong their growth is not south and east where adversaries proliferate, but north and west where a Russia bleed dry by a futile war is a sitting duck.

China claims it wants to reverse the humiliations of the Opium Wars. At some point they'll start to talk about reversing the humiliations of the Treaty of Aigun and its aftermath.