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This is a Hiptics original article by Contributing Writer Mike Dunn. Read up!

There has been much talk recently about China and how far it has come. Many have even taken to trying to paint China as a geopolitical threat to the United States. I feel this is a complete mis characterization of the current events unfolding.

1) China is a country of 1.3 billion people. A potential armed forces of over half a billion people. This, to many people, is scary – and one of the main reasons people fear China. Of course, no one ever takes the next logical step and asks themselves: How would China get half a billion people over to the United States? And guess what? There is absolutely no possible way this could be accomplished. The United States is completely immune to a geopolitical Chinese threat.

2) The United States currently spends about half of the entire world’s annual military budget. In fact, we outspend China 10 to 1 in military spending – every year. We have the most advanced military the world has ever seen, and we spend 10 times our closest rival (Which is China) to keep it that way. China is not a military threat to the United States.

3) China pays for our debt. This meme is always bandied about, as if one day China will just sell all its treasuries and sink the United States. If China actually did this, it would also greatly hurt Japan and Europe (2 of its biggest export partners) as well as the United States. Not only that, but by selling the treasuries at the low price in order to clear all the orders – China would hurt itself almost as much as the United States. Not to mention, once they stop funding our debt, we stop buying their goods (Because of the eventual cut in government spending and raise in taxes)

4) China is growing at 10% a year – therefore in about 20 years they should equal the United States GDP. This, of course, assumes that China can keep up their astounding growth (which has currently lasted less than a decade) for another 2 decades. This is pretty much impossible. China has actually shown great signs of weakness recently, from inflation, and falling GDP, to a slumping stock market. Of course, this is also really not the point, since China getting richer actually means we can get richer – it is not some kind of zero-sum game where any gain in China’s part is a loss on ours. China will not be an economic threat to the United States for the foreseeable future.

5) Let’s assume China actually overtakes America economically in half a century. Let’s also assume they started to match our military spending in a few years and then overtook us from then until 2060. Let’s also assume they landed their half a billion strong army in the United States. Now what? There are 12 guns for every single American citizen in the United States. So, if China somehow breaks with their culture (They are the longest running country to exist and their expansionism has pretty much included small territories around them and Tibet) and invaded the United States – they can enjoy the bloodiest guerrilla war the world has ever seen.

Good luck China!

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