I dont know for you guys, but I think china is extremely scary. No matter how strong their capitalist illusion, china is still a communist and totalitarian country. They arm at an amazing rate, have high engineering talent and have a history of conquer. China is mad, china wants to a place in the world, and they want it bad. If they ever decide to expand their land (let's face it, it could be possible eventually in the face of eminent resource rarification), they may have no mercy for us.
They now control a big part of the world's manufacturing power, so they not only have millitary and human might, but also economic. Should they ever become self sufficient, they could choke the west by restricting their exports.
I'd rather have 10 american empires (which is at least human, democratic and respectful to a certain extent) than one chinese empire.
check these articles:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/28cfe55a-f4a7-11d9-9dd1-00000e2511c8.html
and
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/3/14/133903.shtml
scary... :?