The tone and (lack of) quality of your response tells me there is no real discussion to be had here.
Ponder the fact that the Chinese have a massive footprint and excellent diplomatic relations with two dozen countries in Africa. They have become exclusive military suppliers to much of Africa, in fact. Angola is selling 100% of their oil to China. China is perhaps the single most influential global power in Africa today. This points to the fact that Chinese diplomacy is truly global.
Ponder the fact that China is exporting weapons with no strings attached to key middle eastern states like Egypt. They have a good relationship with Iran and Syria, while they also maintain cordial relations with the Saudis, UAE and others. They are becoming a key military supplier to the middle east and Egypt is looking to become the third participant in the JF-17 project by setting up a manufacturing facility. They already manufacture K-8s under license. China is replacing the former USSR and the US wherever it makes inroads in the Middle East.
Ponder the fact that China is developing global power projection weapons, such as satellite killers, BMs with aircraft carrier kill capability, significant submarine forces based on ever more silent designs to the extent that one of them surfaced amidst a USN exercise without being detected. They have three carrier projects in the works and that's just the beginning. Unlike the IN which is trying to develop a greater footprint in the Indian Ocean, the Chinese are developing a Navy that takes them far beyond. Read some of the analysis written around the time that the Chinese deployed their ships under the guise of the Somali pirate "policing" role. They will project naval power globally. No question.
sry to burst ur bubble, but becoming the number 1 trading partner or whatever to countries run by dictators and tyrants isn't a very big accomplishment. i'm too lazy to look up sanctions against the African countries or who they're run by but I can guarantee that a majority are run by dictators and tyrants. as for the middle eastern countries... we all know the situation there, and influence in Africa is nothing compared to influence in Europe, Asia, South America, etc... which America has and china does not have. if china truly did have influence then Russia would not have stopped the sale of those rd-93 engines fearing competition in egypt.
satellite killers may be used in war, but using bm's in a war is a big no no due to the fact that they could be thought of as a 1st strike initiating a full response. anti carrier bms are basically a show off technology, which will NEVER be used.
also about china's global aspirations for its navy, china will NEVER be the dominant power in any ocean, the only ocean it may have power in will be the pacific and that too will be challenged by US, Russia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, etc... in the Indian ocean it will be challenged by India which is an unsinkable aircraft carrier along with the US and its CBG's. As for the Atlantic... china is too far away to have any real impact. The reason the USA and USSR were global naval powers were because they were bordered by 2 oceans or had easy access to the 2 oceans. geographically however china doesn't have this advantage.
and i think you should at least listen to what this guy has to say, he's backing it up with some solid data, maybe someone with the time could look up all the data on electricity and stuff from back in the day and conclude if the guy is right.
He is from MIT, and being hired there means ur pretty damn smart, they have the #1 engineering program in the world, and Engineers are some of the smartest people in the world, however this guy is an economics professor, idk how good MIT is in economics but given they have the #1 engineering program in the world, their economics program must not be that behind, meaning this guy must be pretty smart.