putins-russia-basket-case-resurgent-072102065.html

In 1998, I remember reading the retired officer magazine talking about China as being The Reawakening of the sleeping giant. It was discussing the possibility of China going from a defensive military to an offensive one in the next decade or so. This is true now. I couldn't find the exact article but here is some other news source echoing the similar concerned but about 17 years later after I read the original article.

https://blog.oup.com/2012/07/china-sleeping-giant-21st-century/

China has what... 10 times the manpower... capability for renewable power generation (rivers & dams)... warm water ports open year-round for trade... neighbors nearby willing to trade tech for materials...

Russia has a head-start... but China has staying power.

In both cases... their economies are a shambles

China is a different type of threat. They are developing the battlefield in the South Pacific and growing their piece of the South China Sea. Within China they are an environmental mess. They cannot sustain their population with their internal resources. They rent land in Africa and export their people to farm the land to ship it back to China. They try to circumvent the American commodities market my offering farmers money for their crops before they hit the market. I’m sure they are doing the same in other countries. Cheap labor make them an economic force to watch out for. Russia is in our face as a military rival but China is an even greater rival to economy. Somewhat reminiscent of Japan in the 80s. Two different threats to our two strongest instruments of power.