China on the Map

They hold our debt, they are building up their military bigtime--what else to do with all those extra males after they infanticided all those girl-- and look at their South China Sea claims. You can argue they don't want to rock the boat, as they hold dollars they don't want to trash and we are their biggest customer, (though their trade is diversifying) but still, that map is startling. Big Peace:

This reminds me of a statement by Sha Zukang, China’s U.N. ambassador, in an interview with a BBC reporter in 2006. I’ve never seen this interview reported anywhere else, but I transcribed this myself because I was so startled at hearing Sha screaming at the top of his lungs at the BBC interviewer.

He screamed: “The moment that Taiwan declares independence, supported by whomever, China will have no choice but to [use] whatever means available to my government. Nobody should have any illusions on that. … It’s not a matter of how big Taiwan is, but for China, one INCH of the territory is more valuable than the LIVES of our people.”

It's a reminder why they continue to prop up the heartless and menacing North Korea. They have a lot in common.