Recently, such a question has arisen at international forums: China's overall military strength is already the third highest in the world, why is it still unwilling to easily join the war, and never start a war?
Indeed, China does not seem to have initiated any foreign war on its own initiative from modern times to the present. On the other hand, the United States, which ranks first in the world, and Russia, which ranks second in the world, are decisive in their attitude toward war.
We don't care whether it is right or wrong to start a war, but now the United States is trying every means to hinder China's development and has repeatedly provoked Taiwan and the South China Sea. The voices of the broad masses of the people in China have called on the central government to strike hard and resolve disputes through military means, and many have echoed them.
But why is China still reluctant to go to war, and if not, how should China deal with Sino-US contradictions in the future?
Political extension
China is well aware that peace is the foundation of development, and only peace can ensure long-term peace and stability in the country, so the mainland upholds the concept of friendly coexistence and joint progress with other countries in the world. War, as an extension of politics, is the most undesirable means of resolving international disputes, and China is not fighting now because we no longer need to resort to war to solve problems.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the mainland had border disputes with the Soviet Union, India, and North Korea, but the two sides eventually resolved key issues through political consultations. Even today, there is still a border issue between China and India, but the mainland still chooses to resolve it through negotiations.
Some people will take the self-defense and counterattack war against Vietnam as an example, but why the issue of border sovereignty between China and Vietnam was resolved through war? This is because there are other factors involved behind the Sino-Vietnamese war.
At that time, Vietnam chose to form an alliance with the Soviet Union, and relied on the influence of the Soviet Union to invade Cambodia and Laos, and ran amok in Southeast Asia and exacerbated regional tensions. If Vietnam succeeds in annexing its neighbors, it will pose a huge threat to China at all times as a pawn planted by the Soviet Union in Southeast Asia.
In order to curb Vietnam's wanton and reckless expansion of power, the mainland first issued a solemn warning to Vietnam and actively established friendly relations with Cambodia and Laos in order to deal with potential threats in the future. However, the Vietnamese side has always turned a deaf ear, and in desperation, the mainland launched a self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, so this is a counterattack war involving multiple factors such as confrontation of forces, ideological conflicts, and the defense of territorial sovereignty.
War losses
Since we have talked about the war of self-defense and counterattack against Vietnam, we have to look at the heavy losses caused by the war to the Chinese people since modern times. In the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, our army participated in 550,000 battles, 8,000 soldiers were killed, 24,000 were wounded, and 955 were missing.
However, the Vietnamese suffered even more heavy losses, with 30,000 soldiers killed and wounded, tens of thousands of civilians killed, 3.5 million people lost their homes, and many urban areas of Cao Binh, Lang Son, Tangtang and Lao Cai were destroyed.
In the first Sino-Vietnamese war, the continent returned triumphantly from the analysis of data, but how should we face the horse leather shroud of these 8,000 soldiers? The fragmentation of 8,000 families? The 14-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression spread to China itself, and the casualties of the people and soldiers were countless, with a conservative estimate of more than 35 million, a total economic loss of more than 600 billion US dollars, countless losses of cultural relics, and the suffering of the country and society.
In contrast, it is a wise and correct choice to invest national resources in social development!
Protecting the fruits of development
In fact, it is not so much about protecting the fruits of development as it is about protecting the fruits of reform and opening up. Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, the mainland has successfully advanced to become the world's second largest economy.
However, if we look at the economic layout of the mainland, we will find that the main events are actually distributed in the coastal areas, which account for half of the country's total economic value, and in the event of a war, whether or not the flames of war spread to the mainland, the coastal areas will inevitably become the enemy's primary target.
China's reform and opening up has developed in a peaceful international environment with calm and calm waves, and China has made use of its economic achievements to vigorously develop infrastructure facilities, develop scientific and technological standards, improve material life, and improve industrial chains. Although China has made major breakthroughs in science and technology, the core technologies in some fields are still not mastered. After the outbreak of war, the enemy will inevitably launch a technological blockade against China, destroy key infrastructure, and cause huge losses to China's achievements in reform.
The current contradiction in the country's economic transformation
At that time, the country vigorously developed infrastructure facilities, and even the proportion of infrastructure investment even exceeded that of scientific and technological innovation, although a broad road extends in all directions, and airports have risen from the ground, but due to the lack of scientific and technological innovation, there are infrastructure facilities that have not fully played their contribution to the economy, and even local investment will be wasted, which is manifested in the scarcity of cars and horses on the road, and few airport passengers.
At present, the country's economic transformation is aimed at promoting scientific and technological innovation to reduce backward production capacity. However, in this process, a large number of labor-intensive industries will be shut down, and the problem of unemployment and difficulty in finding employment will emerge in society. Every year, it is difficult for college students to apply for jobs, let alone the new labor force in rural areas, and the problem of unemployment is bound to lead to a series of potential social contradictions.
In recent years, the country has carried out economic reforms, but political reforms have been stagnant. The imbalance between reforms will also lead to social contradictions, and it is not unreasonable for the common people to complain about the more and more the yamen and the more difficult things to do in the institutional reform of the past dynasties, the more new departments have been reformed. A detailed division of labor is actually not conducive to economic development, and too many departments will complicate the work process.
This is also the reason why formalism is everywhere in today's society, and formalism will seriously affect the relationship between cadres and the masses and between the party and the masses.
The above are the reasons why China does not take the initiative to provoke a war, and then analyze why China's strength is on a par with Russia, and even better in actual combat, why it can't be as tough as them and strike hard in the face of provocations.
The most important point is the difference in economic development between China and Russia, China, as the world's second largest economy, deeply integrates the world's industrial chain, and participates in globalization far more deeply than Russia, which is why the US trade hegemony can bring such huge trouble to China.
But this is not the case with Russia, which is rich in natural resources and is the world's largest resource country, as the world's fifth largest economy, many industrial chains and trade are not deeply tied to the world. Therefore, since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, Russia has not worried about oil and gas resources at all, and they are completely self-sufficient.
Pan-pacifism and Sino-American Communication
Not seeking war does not mean avoiding war, perhaps because war is too terrible and the cost is too unbearable, and there has been a wave of pan-pacifism in the country before. The so-called pan-pacifism means that no matter what problems and disputes are resolved, they must be resolved through peaceful means, and any non-peaceful means are inappropriate and unjust.
In the early years, the trend of pan-pacifism even spread among the army, but in fact this kind of thinking is absolutely wrong and will paralyze the fighting spirit of the army.
Since the rapid rise of China in the 21st century, from 2016 to the present, China's surrounding areas have not been peaceful. Tensions in the South China Sea and Taiwan have risen with the participation of the United States. Some people think that sticking to Taoguang and peaceful rise is the right path, but the crux of the problem is not whether China can achieve a peaceful rise, but that some countries simply cannot accept your rise, even if it is peaceful and positive.
Therefore, on foreign issues, while adhering to the concept of "valuing harmony", China should also achieve "harmony without difference". When necessary, it is necessary to relax one by one, and practice the way of civil and martial arts, and blindly retreating will only show weakness. The word "power" refers to economic strength, military strength, influence, and moral persuasion.
All in all, the heart of harming others is indispensable, and the heart of preventing others is indispensable. In the current unpredictable international situation, China must make strategic arrangements for all countries with malicious intentions, especially the menacing United States.
The core of the Sino-US contradiction lies not in any factor, but in China itself. China's existence and development has become an issue that threatens the core interests of the United States. This has nothing to do with China's domestic and foreign policies, and in order to consolidate its hegemonic position, the United States wants to attack and contain China's development at all costs.
But we must not put all the future wins and losses of the two countries at the level of war, because once China and the United States go to war completely, it will inevitably rise to the level of non-stop nuclear weapons, which neither side can afford.
The beginning of the Sino-American war will completely destroy the foundation of subverting the old world order, and we cannot predict the future direction of the world after the war, so the comparison of military strength between China and the United States may be in a sense just a bargaining chip for both sides in the next stage.
At present, the only way to mediate the conflict between China and the United States is China's rapid development, and whoever can better maintain the operation of their own country and promote the rapid development of society in today's world will win the ultimate victory.