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Comment by ProAm | Hacker News Reader

It's one of the first tenets in The Art of War, which applies fairly directly to business:

> Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.

China is very strong, maybe not supremely organized but they are still growing and have been for many years. Especially a country that actively manipulates its currency to reflect its apparent strength or lack of... its anything but unintentional.

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They are doing a superb job of giving the impression they have little control over money leaving the country. I'd love to read history books 50 years in the future when they are the undisputed and final ruler of planet earth.

Smart communism >>> capitalism.

> They are doing a superb job of giving the impression they have little control over money leaving the country.

Well, the US tries to promote the ability of Americans to engage in foreign investment, because foreign investment is a great way to suck money out of a country. If I buy a countries companies, then all the profit from that country goes to me. It's actually in China's interest to have "money leaving the country". And it is more in China's interest to have no one fight back.

It depends on where the money is going, and if it is ever coming back. I happen to believe a lot of it is people who covertly working with the government in order to establish significant presence in countries throughout the world, similar to what the US has done, only more economically efficiently. Pure speculation of course, but if they can pull it off...

Capitalism and freedom has a giant Achilles heel.

Yes, but foreign investment in China's case depletes foreign reserves. China is also printing money to maintain the current exchange rate, and this is leading to inflation. Their economy is going to result in recession, or they might go to war instead.

Inflation isn't a big concern for China, keeping the manufacturing and technological advancement machine running and public satisfaction high is what matters. And keeping the American public uninformed, but their politicians have that well under control.

China is way too smart to go to war, they can assume leadership without having to engage in significant conflict as long as they make sure they share the wealth with the proper people.

They actually deserve world leadership, I think they've earned it.

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