I just thought it would be a good idea to ask the question why, exactly, is China an enemy? Why do we have a policy of physical, diplomatic, and economic containment of China? Can anyone list the reason(s)?
US what? You say to have "a policy of physical, diplomatic, and economic containment of China", but I can tell you that from an European point of view this doesn't seem to be the case. First of all ... why US allow China to buy US public debt? If you want to contain Beijing for real, you cannot allow that ... [if China owns enough US public debt, it will be Beijing to determine the value of US$ and the general American economical policy]. So, honestly, I have difficulties in seeing all this containment.
China's our enemy due to several reasons. The biggest being they differ idealogically to us, they are a left-wing control state, where the party dominates peoples' lives. We have conservative ideals deeply inside of the minds of many people, despite Obama and Clinton's left wing pull. The individual has rights in America. We stand coutner to many of China's ideals, such as repression of religion, total gun restriction, and the one child policy. Another big reason is China's rise. Their economy will surpass ours by 2020, and many American companies love to head over there to pay lower taxes and disrespect their employees, paying them 3rd or 2cd world incomes. Their military becomes more powerful yearly, the people increasing in number. They've become agressive towards Japan and Vietnam, while becoming friendly with Russia. They will one day be our rival, I believe. The Pentagon predicts this. My friend was a computer technican for the US Army. He dealt daily with cyber attacks coming in from the Chinese government he told me. Why they do this, I don't know. The US government keeps this down on the low, for their own agenda. They attack even US government websites, and military. They're not as friendly as people make them out to be.
While crises between China and U.S. allies on its periphery like the Philippines could escalate into US-China crises, we don't have anything comparable to the complex and finely balanced international system at the time of World War I. Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia and as a direct result of that Germany attacked Belgium. It's hard to see how, for example, a Turkish attack on Syria could cause China to attack Vietnam. Today's crises are simpler, more direct and more easily controlled by the top powers. On the other hand, the Middle East's supplies of oil will keep China, as well as other powers, more involved in events there than geography would suggest. The Balkans had no products in 1914 that the rest of the world much cared about; the Middle East looms much larger in the global economy than the Balkan peninsula ever has. Already, countries including Russia and Iran have been involving themselves in Iraq. If the slide into regional chaos continues and countries like China and Japan believe that direct action is needed to secure their oil supplies, almost anything could happen in a few years. Furthermore, the geopolitical situation of Xi's China is more different from that of Wilhelm's Germany than many observers realize. While it is true that many of the same forces that drove Germany toward war 100 years ago are present in China today (especially a public mood of nationalism and an aggressive military psychology among some of the armed forces leadership), there are differences as well. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/walter-russell-mead/new-global-war_b_5562664.html
