If China had democracy would we still be at war with them?

yep because without enemies america wouldnt know what to do .
theyd have to find a new way to make money .

On this matter, I agree with Nixon. Friendship with China as a balance against Russia.
China isn't interested in invading countries across the world.
The first thing China wants is borders and regional influence back where it used to be, before the weakness of the nineteenth century. Hence controlling Tibet and pushing India back a few miles in the Himalayas. In the long-term, Taiwan back.
The second thing China wants is secure access to global resources and markets. Hence building friendships in Latin America, Africa, Middle East. (South China Sea comes under both headings).
For the second reason, China can't afford to have the oceans of the world under the undisputed control of a hostile power. If you go for hostility with China, you oblige China to challenge your power at sea.
Friendship is a better idea.

Democracies tend not to fight each other. Diplomats sort out issues.

If China and Russia had not fallen for communism then a hell of a lot of people would not have died. Stalin and Mao were monsters.

originally posted by: DISRAELI
China isn't interested in invading countries across the world.

Er, Tibet? Wars in and with Korea, ROC, India, Soviet Union, Vietnam et al. Attempt to press ridiculous territorial claims to the entire South China Sea is just the most recent belligerence from China.

originally posted by: paraphi
"China isn't interested in invading countries across the world."
Er, Tibet? Wars in and with Korea, ROC, India, Soviet Union, Vietnam et al. Attempt to press ridiculous territorial claims to the entire South China Sea is just the most recent belligerence from China.

I did say "across the world". All the wars you mention are covered by the remarks following the one you quoted;

The first thing China wants is borders and regional influence back where it used to be, before the weakness of the nineteenth century. Hence controlling Tibet and pushing India back a few miles in the Himalayas. In the long-term, Taiwan back...(South China Sea comes under both headings).

(Vietnam used to be a tributary state. The current border with Russia is another border imposed in the nineteenth century)

You should have continued reading.

When did we go to war with china?

a reply to: makemap

Can I just ask, has a state of war been declared, in amongst the constant cycle of propagandist dirt which has cycled out of the current abode of the Airhead In Chief? I was not aware that China and the US were in a state of war with one another. It would be surprising, since most of Americas war material has Chinese parts, including PCBs for control systems, which, one would have thought, would make war with China a very unwise proposition.

Could you explain what you mean?

I like to read threads where people have no idea what China is really like, historically or otherwise.

No we wouldn't be at risk of war with China if they were a democracy because the government wouldn't be able to weaponize it's history to create toxic nationalism at a moment's notice. We wouldn't have nearly the trade imbalance either.

To correct some previous posts -

China is not Buddhist by and large. Most Chinese people are atheists and don't give much thought to god or the afterlife. Or reincarnation.

Chinese people do not respect their government. They're apathetic and ambivalent towards it. If you ask them about something the government did bad they will shrug and say "What can you do?". They basically are inclined to ignore the government provided their life is ok to good and they feel their children's' lives will be better than theirs.

China does want regionally superiority and the South Sea reclamation is towards that end AND securing the food supply for the greater southern half of China. Fukushima also sealed that deal when it poisoned large parts of north Pacific fishing grounds. Tibet, Taiwan, Vietnam and Korea I won't comment on because of the firestorm it's likely to create.

I don't understand where people get this 200 million man army number from when the government's own internal reporting is far less than that number. Most soldiers and sailors are from poor countryside backgrounds and probably would run from a serious fight because if they died in any numbers the government wouldn't be able to pay death benefits to that many families.

I've lived here for 10 years, going on my 11th and married into a Chinese "Civil War" family - mother-in-law's side were revolutionaries fighting in the civil war and father-in-law's side are hardline communists. My wife thankfully is modern and neither. But I do get some great family stories at the dinner table on holidays and some great inside info and dirt.

新年快樂

Xin Nian Kuai Le! (Happy New Year - Chinese New Year February 16th)

a reply to: SpartanStoic

Chinese people do not respect their government. They're apathetic and ambivalent towards it. If you ask them about something the government did bad they will shrug and say "What can you do?". They basically are inclined to ignore the government provided their life is ok to good and they feel their children's' lives will be better than theirs.

That is the cultural attitude I am talking about. The idea of kharma. Sure, they may not be openly Buddhist, but that cultural attitude comes from that background from the days when most Chinese were.

We have similar values in the US that come from Judeo-Christian roots. It ticks off people to tell them we have those roots and that our values come from that because atheists really hate having that pointed out, but there were indeed days when most everyone in this country was Christian of one stripe or another and the dominant culture was ingrained with a series of values from that. They still linger even if plenty of people today are not practicing Christian.

ITT: People that don't have the first clue what they are talking about, speaking as if they were experts.

a reply to: makemap

Why should it matter, wether China is a democracy or not? Does it concern us, how the people of China decide to live their pathetic lives?

Think about, we allow different religions to "torture" their own children ... cut the penis of male children, the vagine of female children.

So, we allow "torture" in our own country ... so tell me, what exactly do we "oppose" in China? Is it the state of government, or the state of "compliance" to our own demands?