re: #131 BryanS

If that’s the case, then we don’t have any reason to hold back Japan’s re-armament then, do we? That’s the choice I think China faces—which is worse from their perspective.

Japan re-arming would kick off hyper-nationalistic frenzies of paranoia in China and North korea, and would be viewed, perhaps, with some concern by South Korea as well.

Again, the PRC’s leadership want stability at home and power abroad. An arms-race involving the Japanese would not be the sort of thing they’d want any part of; they ahve enough trouble already dealing with a NATO-style force. Given Japanese efficiency and effectiveness, they’d be a qualitatively superior force in all respects to the PLA, and the Chinese simply do not need that right now.