As I see it | The Chinese century may already be here
International competition will be won by nations with steady and realistic policies guided by a vision, not the ones indulging in cowboy militarism
Such Hollywood-style cowboy militarism no doubt makes its leaders feel all-powerful. That’s the problem. If you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail. That completely warps your sense of reality. But when violence becomes your first or primary resort rather than your last, you end up hurting not only others but yourself as well. That has pretty much been the recent history of US foreign policy.
I, for one, hope China will not need to develop capabilities to kidnap or kill other leaders at such a sophisticated hi-tech military level. A sense of constraint and limitation is what a state or an individual needs to keep it real.
After all, what purpose would it serve to, say, kidnap or kill Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te? That wouldn’t bring unification any closer. In fact, it would vastly complicate a combustible situation.
Sorry, but Beijing is far too smart for that, much smarter than some commentators whose default mode of China analysis seems to be what may be called “monkey see, monkey do”. Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, so wouldn’t President Xi Jinping follow suit with Taiwan? US President Donald Trump kidnapped Maduro, so won’t Xi try the same with Lai?