Reply #4: It's why I always laugh (bitterly) at "world's only superpower".

[Mechatanketra]

If there's only one remaining superpower in the world, like the press keeps saying, I guess they mean "China". Because whenever we butt heads, America is the one that ends up knuckling under.

Washington bitches and moans about China's lack of democracy or whatever, but they don't dare actually do anything. If China had declared themselves allies of Saddam Hussein, Bush would have suddenly 'discovered' his WMD intel was bogus (and blame it on the Democrats). If China said they couldn't imagine trading with a country that didn't have a decent pension plan, Bush would become a privatization apostate (and call it part of the liberal agenda).

Ultimately, I think size matters. If it came to war, China can afford to choke us with their dead, and they know it. (And they've got the bomb, so they don't have to worry about ours.)