Contrarian View: China's Right to Build Up Its Military

A contrarian view is:

China has a right to build up its military because of China's century of suffering and humiliation, including:

• 1st British opium-pushing invasion of 1839-42. (Numerous massacres. Huge reparations levied against China, unfair treaty imposed on China, plus the UK stripped Hong Kong from China as booty) 

 • 2nd British drug-pushing invasion of China in 1856-60. (Numerous massacres. More reparations and unfair treaties. Ransacked Beijing and Summer Palace) 

• Many other unequal treaties imposed by other foreign nations during the century. 

• Taiping Rebellion of 1850-71, which was not driven by the West (Western forces  actually helped put down the Rebellion), but still a major source of suffering. This is because Western actions had weakened China's central government - weakening that government's ability to impose law and order. Estimated dead may be 20-70 million - difficult to count because central record keeping had diminished with the rest of administration. 

• French naval attack (1884-85). (Chinese fleet destroyed) 

• Japanese invasion of Chinese-controlled Korea (1894-95). (Japan seized Formosa/Taiwan as booty) 

• Boxer Rebellion of (1899-1901). (Western invasion to quell rebellion ransacks Beijing. More massacres and reparations that virtually bankrupted China) 

• Japanese invasion and occupation of northern China (1931-37) (northern China called "Manchuria" by Japanese for imperialist reasons )

• Japanese invasion of Eastern China (1937-45) (Estimated. 20-25 million Chinese killed) 

• Chinese Civil War (1927-49) between Chiang Kai-shek's and Mao's followers. (US funded and armed Chiang for much of the period). Estimated.10-20 million dead. Mao won in 1949. 

• Now defeated Chiang Kai-shek occupies Taiwan (1949), denying it to the Communist regime. He establishes an army in northern Burma to launch guerrilla attacks on mainland China. Chiang also unsuccessfully invasions of mainland China from Taiwan. 

• Note: Western interference continues today eg. QUAD, AUKUS, some other NATO countries (like Germany and France), also India on China's border area and other East Asian bilateral alliances (eg. US with Japan and separately with Taiwan) involving US seek to “contain” China by militarily encircling it. Australia very much involved. 

• As a result, China has an abhorrence of disunity, of foreign intervention and of wars forced on it. 

• That's why, in part, China wants re-unification with Taiwan (as it wanted with Hong Kong): to complete the reunification of China and finally expunge from its memory of the Century of Humiliation. Re-unification of Taiwan may involve expulsion of the US military presence from Taiwan. Also expulsion of any Australian support of Taiwan - Australian support assumed by US foreign policymakers as a requirement of AUKUS security partnership. 

• That's also why the South China Sea—being the main Western invasion route during the 19th century, and a possible one today—is such a sensitive issue for China. Note that Taiwan (like the PRC) both claim the South China Sea within the "Nine-dash line".   

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-dash_line#History_of_the_line_segments 

"After retreating to Taiwan in 1949, the [Taiwanese]  ROC government continued to claim the Spratly and Paracel Islands. President Lee Teng-hui claimed^[24] that "legally, historically, geographically, or in reality", all of the South China Sea and Spratly islands were ROC territory and under ROC sovereignty, and denounced actions undertaken there by the Philippines and Malaysia.^[25] Taiwan and China have the same claims and have cooperated with each other during international talks involving the Spratly Islands.^[26][27]

• And finally, that's why, in part, China is so concerned about Islamic and Buddhist separatist forces in Xing Xiang province and Tibet respectively: it wants stable border regions and a united country. In those senses China has its own problems of counter-terrorism like the West and separatism issues (eg. like Spain's Catalan Separatism). So, why criticise China for wanting what we want: a harmonious, unified nation with secure borders and friendly neighbours—especially after all it’s been through, often at the hands of the West?