Again, your media is hyping the supposed "build up" despite evidence to the contrary.
It's not the media that confirmed Chinese forces building new infrastructure in the region, next to new radar and most of all missile stations, but Indian government, Indian forces, just like some western governments did as well. They all can't be fooled by the media don't you think?
China has been pursuing the right policy, and your so called "threatening" neighbors is way off. Aside from India, Japan, Vietnam and Philippines, we enjoy decent relationship with all bordering countries.
The recent problems in the South Chinese Sea alone caused problems with Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia. Add Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan and you have issues with nearly any country that has Sea borders in that area. And what makes this even worse than the border issues with India, in that region your forces are even more offensive, while the politicians simply ignore the other countries:
In Chinas eyes, that U.S. return to Asia is driving tensions. Why is the Philippines so harsh toward China in this instance? Because they believe America will back them and China will do anything to avoid that confrontation, Xu Guangyu, a retired Peoples Liberation Army general, said in an interview...
...Association of Southeast Asian Nations: ASEAN, as the regional body is known, is an umbrella group that five South China Sea claimants Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei are members of. Hanoi and Manila have repeatedly proposed settling the disputes en masse via a negotiation between China and ASEAN, or via international courts. Beijing, however, rejects what it calls internationalization of the South China Sea issue. China is a big country and the other countries are small countries, and thats just a fact, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told the 2010 ASEAN summit in Hanoi.
In the South China Sea, two superpowers flex their muscles - The Globe and Mail
See, I can fully understand that the presence of US forces in the region is worrying for China (just like Chinese forces in Tibet is for India), but your actions against the neighboring countries are just helping the US and not you. That's why I don't understand that you don't went to find political solutions for these actually minor border issues, with the result to get these countries more on your side and that you have higher influence in the region, which weakens the US too.
Fighting the US by threatening other Asian countries is simply the wrong way, be it Philipines or India!
And no, we're not going the way of Soviet Union. Our military spending is less than 2% of our GDP, which should be higher if up to me.
I didn't mean it wrt to military spending, but that China similar to the Soviet Union put a higher focus pressuring other countries with it's military might, instead of going for political solutions and with the effort to gain more political influence in the region.
When I look at Asia today, I see the possibly most dangerous region in the world, not only because there are so many nuclear powers, but because there are so many issues between the nations and too much influence from external countries too.
When I look at Europe on the other side, with the EU and all their historical problems, today the likelyhood of war between these countries is more than small. They went beyond the past and countries like France or the UK are now allies with Germany and all this mainly caused by political solutions. Wouldn't be similar possible for Asia as well, if we would choose more political dialog instead to show off military might?
If China, Russia and India can work together with common routes and policies at the BRICS, why shouldn't we do it at an Asian level with other Asian countries as well?
When Asian countries find their common routes and policies, the influence and presence of external powers would be reduced as well and isn't that actually what China wants too?
My point is, there are better ways for China in Asia, you have the potential not only to be a economic and military superpower, but more importantly to be one of the leading political powers in the region too. Therefor you have to get other Asian countries on your side and not against you, especially not India!