> Moreover, with profits repatriated to the US and the US awash with cheap
> exports,
> why exactly are US pundits crying about the coming war with China? Do
> people on this list really think China's purchase of US financial assets
> is the first step in the colonization of America?
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I might have a different take on this than yourself or Doug or Carrol, but I
doubt it.
My sense is that China's transformation and integration into the capitalist world economy through the WTO and other mechanisms have been widely welcomed by US and international ruling class opinion. Naturally, there are trade frictions and threats of sanctions, but this is how the system functions. There is some ugly pandering to US xenophobia by Lou Dobbs and other demagogues which plays well in some parts of the rust belt and is not infrequently exploited by politicians during elections, but US policy - in this area perhaps more than any other - is largely fashioned by Wall Street, which sees huge opportunities in the Chinese market and understands the central role Chinese labour and capital play in restraining US wages, prices, and interest rates. Two Street veterans - one a Democrat, the other a Republican - have been instrumental in forging a strategic economic relationship with the Chinese over the past decade .
China is being pressured to complete its process of capitalist restoration by further revaluing its currency, opening up its markets, and taking steps towards political liberalization. But it is already being treated as a responsible member of the inner circle of leading capitalist nations, and on present trends, there's no reason to suppose that its relations with the US, Japan, and the EU will not be the same as the members of the triad have traditionally had with each other. These are not colonial or neo-colonial relationships by any means, although deference continues to be paid to the US as first among equals, and will the case for so long as confidence substantially remains in US military might and the USD as the world's reserve currency.