How China is replacing America as Asia’s military titan • Hacker News Board

Re: How China is replacing America as Asia’s military titan

#11

Post by devoply » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 5:31 PM UTC

terryschiavo22 wrote: post #7

devoply wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes just as it was righteous for Japan to assert itself over all of Asia. No it's isn't. And this will not be good for the world. The reason being that being a sleeping friendly giant is much better for your long term survival than being an asshole looking to assert themselves. Especially in a world in which other people exist to challenge you, and you are challenging them. Because then they will conspire against you…

Let's be clear. Being the world's military titan is not a desirable job. Someone has to fend off the Somali pirates, but it's not glamorous and everyone benefits equally from it (as in not just the US).

Yeah you're right the protection racket is not a glamorous job but someone's gotta do it.

Re: How China is replacing America as Asia’s military titan

#12

Post by olivermarks » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 5:39 PM UTC

In fiscal year 2015, US military spending was projected to account for 54 percent of all federal discretionary spending, a total of $598.5 billion.

Translation: they need even more money.

Re: How China is replacing America as Asia’s military titan

#13

Post by mrb » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 5:42 PM UTC

Hillsborough wrote: post #9

deepVoid wrote: post #2

It is long overdue. China has 1.3B people and the second largest economy in the world. It is righteous for them to be Asia's military titan.

I wonder if you meant 'right' like 'appropriate'? Clearly you could not have meant 'righteous' since it does mean something else in English.

> > It is long overdue. China has 1.3B people and the second largest economy in the world. It is righteous for them to be Asia's military titan.

> I wonder if you meant 'right' like 'appropriate'? Clearly you could not have meant 'righteous' since it does mean something else in English.

I think "righteous" is still appropriate. The word means "characterized by or proceeding from accepted standards of morality or justice". I would argue that aiming for countries to have equality (same GPD per capita, same military spending and power per capita, etc) is not only morally acceptable, but also just.

Re: How China is replacing America as Asia’s military titan

#14

Post by NTDF9 » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 5:46 PM UTC

I can't be the only one noticing so much noise about China in American media.

Is America really so scared of being number 2?

Re: How China is replacing America as Asia’s military titan

#15

Post by jayd16 » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 5:47 PM UTC

noobermin wrote: post #8

We should match our military spending with China's, that should do it. EDIT: I hope everyone realizes this is sarcastic. We already spend more than China and then some.

To be fair, this is projecting power in Asia but the US projects power globally. That said, I'm no fan of this military budget.

Re: How China is replacing America as Asia’s military titan

#16

Post by onepointsixC » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 5:50 PM UTC

olivermarks wrote: post #12

In fiscal year 2015, US military spending was projected to account for 54 percent of all federal discretionary spending , a total of $598.5 billion. Translation: they need even more money.

Aka 16% of the total budget.

Re: How China is replacing America as Asia’s military titan

#17

Post by mc32 » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 5:51 PM UTC

Ideally the US, EU and CN would work cooperatively rather than adversarially with regards to leading the world into a brighter future. The US and EU share s lot in terms of philosophy and economic goals. Japan and the “Asian tigers” also fit in. I think India to a great degree shares the same, but China currently is not in synchronicity with the EU-US-JP and to a lesser extent India’s goals on the world stage. We can quibble about climate change or tariffs, but we’ll agree on basic frameworks around trade, security, cooperation, and many other policies. We need a way to weave China into this (Russia too, but that’s another story) MFN status and WTO could have been leveraged, but that ship sailed a long time ago...

Re: How China is replacing America as Asia’s military titan

#18

Post by JimboOmega » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 5:51 PM UTC

noobermin wrote: post #8

We should match our military spending with China's, that should do it. EDIT: I hope everyone realizes this is sarcastic. We already spend more than China and then some.

It kind of worked with the Soviet Union. They tried to keep up, but just didn't have the economic power to do it.

It won't with China, because China isn't playing the force projecting world superpower game like the SU was.

Re: How China is replacing America as Asia’s military titan

#19

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 5:52 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: How China is replacing America as Asia’s military titan

#20

Post by mrb » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 5:52 PM UTC

Half the comments in HN are flagged or downvoted. Is it a sign that the HN crowd feels uneasy and divided about China's rising power?

Meta comment: wonder if my comment will get downvoted too when it's just asking a question meant to start an intelligent discussion.