Thinking about century-ago history in the Pacific...
The US was far bigger than Japan, both in population and industrial capacity.
Neither the US nor Japan was a "nice" country, and neither thought well of the other...but the dominant political sentiments in Japan were particularly violent and imperialist, and Japanese politics were badly unsettled (prime minister assassinated by right-wing extremists in 1932, an attempted military coup d'état in 1936, etc.).
The war started late in 1941, after the US had managed to cut off Japan's oil supply. At first, things went badly for the US. But it had the attitude and industrial capacity to tank some heavy hits, and come back stronger. And it learned fast. The war ended in 1945, with Japan's surrender and occupation.
I doubt that most modern American "leaders" have much sense of this history. But I suspect that China's leaders know it very well.
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[ 1.5 ms ] story [ 14.5 ms ] threadThe US was far bigger than Japan, both in population and industrial capacity.
Neither the US nor Japan was a "nice" country, and neither thought well of the other...but the dominant political sentiments in Japan were particularly violent and imperialist, and Japanese politics were badly unsettled (prime minister assassinated by right-wing extremists in 1932, an attempted military coup d'état in 1936, etc.).
The war started late in 1941, after the US had managed to cut off Japan's oil supply. At first, things went badly for the US. But it had the attitude and industrial capacity to tank some heavy hits, and come back stronger. And it learned fast. The war ended in 1945, with Japan's surrender and occupation.
I doubt that most modern American "leaders" have much sense of this history. But I suspect that China's leaders know it very well.
At the same time they are unable to make Israel stop the genocide in Gaza.