> China is now pumping out ... sixth generation military jets, and nuclear aircraft carriers.
They are not. They have some initial versions.
The thing about long distance navies is that they require lots and lots of oil. No matter if you have a nuclear powered aircraft carrier or not.
The most damage China can do to western interests is that they start some local war, which we disapprove of, and so we end up sanctioning and embargoing them, which means we lose their production. The end of mass production from China. This is how we killed the USSR and a bunch of smaller wannabes. It's just geography. USA and Europe have the most productive land and port access. Most access to oil to give us long reach. China is practically land locked because of the first island chain. Think of it as being surrounded by a thousand aircraft carriers with infinite fuel. They don't have enough oil domestically. Middle eastern oil is trivially interdicted.
i doubt that - the USSR killed themselves with their poor economic policies (as well as expensive wars they cannot really afford).
China on the other hand, hasn't made the same mistakes. They posture, they build military installations (such as those in the south china sea), but they haven't committed much, if at all, to an actual war. Not to mention their economic policies are vastly superior to the USSR's - sucking in western capital at the beginning, and now, to overtaking them.
China's lack of oil is an achilles heel, but not a very big one. And every day, they're closer to diversifying away from oil as an energy source. Not to mention having pipelines through russia and the much of asia minor to have land routes that aren't blockade-able.
The economic modal of china is irrelevant to how their geography makes them easy to blockade. I think you might have just misread what I was saying here. I was saying how they don't have a viable long game _if_ they choose to start a war that the west doesn't approve of. Because they are practically land locked like the USSR when compared to the west.
Nothing replaces oil as an energy source for military reach.
China is decades away from having any pipelines to north siberia where most of the russian oil is. There's really nothing practical even on the drawing board atm.
Pipelines are the easiest transport of oil to stop. Look at ukraine.
They are not. They have some initial versions.
The thing about long distance navies is that they require lots and lots of oil. No matter if you have a nuclear powered aircraft carrier or not.
The most damage China can do to western interests is that they start some local war, which we disapprove of, and so we end up sanctioning and embargoing them, which means we lose their production. The end of mass production from China. This is how we killed the USSR and a bunch of smaller wannabes. It's just geography. USA and Europe have the most productive land and port access. Most access to oil to give us long reach. China is practically land locked because of the first island chain. Think of it as being surrounded by a thousand aircraft carriers with infinite fuel. They don't have enough oil domestically. Middle eastern oil is trivially interdicted.