02-21-2017, 01:22 PM
Quote:My argument with Jordan is I see no reason for China to act as Spain did, and start exhausting wars in their interior, when there is an overseas empire waiting to be occupied as the old leader declines. As for the Russians, unlike Portugal and the Netherlands, China will be far stronger than they so there is no percentage in provoking a fight they can't win. Better to expand in the other direction.
My contention is that I think there are limits on the extent to which China can become a fully maritime power, as opposed to a more hybrid power like France or Spain. They're not an island, nor are they surrounded by political dwarfs like the US. They're always going to have to balance their maritime interests with their position on the continent. Large, autocratic land empires do not make good neighbors, and there is ample cause for competition and maneuver there between them. Likely a cold war, rather than a hot one, at least at first, but those tensions will be there.
*sigh*
Looking at the news, talking to people in RL, and reading some of the posts here from people who should really know better, I am getting worried that the 4T start date may be 2008, not because of the FC, but the Russo-Georgian war. The level of hysteria over Russia I have been watching over the last 2 years or so is bloody ridiculous. Trump appears to be the only goddamn brake on that in sight, which is not a comforting thought.