Idle thought: Traditionally, campaigns of conquest were used as pressure valves, to give ambitious aggressive men something to do other than overthrow the government. But China is just way too big for this, especially compared to the size of the territories it might conquer.
If ambitious Chinese men get mad at the Xi Jinping regime in the wake of its crackdowns on business, there's no way Xi can say "Here, instead of getting mad at me, go conquer Taiwan and the little bits of India, Japan, and Vietnam that we claim." Those are just too small.
In the Cultural Revolution, ambitious young men sought glory in politics, by denouncing other people in order to work their way up the power structure ("China in Ten Words" is a great book about this).
But I'm pretty sure Xi doesn't want anything like that.
But I'm pretty sure Xi doesn't want anything like that.
So if you're an ambitious young man in China right now, what do you *do*? How do you obtain glory?
Not sure Xi has thought this one through very carefully.
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Not sure Xi has thought this one through very carefully.
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