The Chinese are (wait for it)… inscrutable. They seem to be obsessed with reestablishing the Celestial Kingdom to its rightful place as the center of the world. In light of history, it’s easy enough to understand what drives this desire. The question is, how far will they go to make it happen.

Their weaknesses are that China is just a big American factory and they have bought dangerous amounts of American debt. That makes their prosperity and military expansion dependent on their largest, most powerful competitor. Each new Chinese aircraft carrier is financed by American taxpayers.

If I am still around, it will be interesting to see if and how they resolve these crucial problems.

Currently, they are playing a potentially lethal game with North Korea, one that, if it goes wrong, could dash their dreams and desires. Let’s hope they play this hand well.