Let's be realistic for a moment here

Beijing increases defense spending - International Herald Tribune

I know there are a lot of pundits within the US who enjoy pointing to China as a new mega-villain - another black-hatted rogue that allows us to don our own white hat that has been gathering dust in the corner since the early 90s...but, frankly, trying to force China into that role worries me more than increased Chinese defense spending. Why?

1. China is a giant, nuclear power. We aren't going to be waging conventional war with them any time in the near future. That's just the bottom line. The benefits will very likely never outweigh the risks.
2. Our military-industrial establishment LOVES pointing out "threats" that justify maintaining our preferred force structure, doctrine, and procurement processes. We don't, as a military, like fighting the wars we get asked to fight. We WANT to prepare for the Big One. So painting China as the next big military opponent only pushes us further down the wrong road.
3. It drives us into a more confrontational stance with China simply because we choose to view them as a military opponent. We can't stop China from growing more powerful. We can try to avoid making Chinese leaders assume they can only rise if they weaken us.

Okay...enough pontificating on a subject I probably don't know enough about anyway...

How long will it last?

This article in the IHT leads me to wonder...how long will China's image of the "anti-hegemon" last within the world in general and the Third World in particular? How long until the tables begin to turn and nations tire of the caveats, requirements, and coalitions required to enjoy Chinese largesse?

Yet Chinese support does come with conditions, including a ban on formal ties with rival Taiwan and expectations that recipients vote with China at the United Nations. This month, South Africa joined Beijing in voting against a resolution to censure Myanmar for human rights abuses, arousing criticism that South Africa had forgotten the United Nation's role in abolishing apartheid.

In much of the world, anti-globalization is synonomous (currently) with anti-Americanism - since we are generally seen to be the strongest cultural force advancing within its context. But in economic terms, it is China that gains the most from globalization - and China that does so at the expense of developing countries since it's labor pool directly competes with that of many smaller countries.

In South Africa, where trade unions have complained that Chinese textile imports have been devastating domestic industry, President Thabo Mbeki pointedly told a student audience last month that Africa needed to guard against allowing relations with China to develop into a "colonial relationship."