Thanks WDonway. All that rings true to me.

Can free trade exist when nation A buys products from B, but B buys only the ports, mines and farms of A? Maybe yes if these are financial investments, but no when the pattern suggest a long term plan for control. Then consider, in many cases we observe that nation B buys governments and universities. In Australia now there is a standing joke about Aldi shopping bags - re an incident when money from a company associated with the Chinese government passed banknotes in the Aldi bag to a political party, maybe or not one-off. Then there are the well cashed Institutes at universities supposedly promoting Chinese culture but more so to swamp dissident opinion such as from Falun Gong, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. In small nations it is less subtle.

On top of that there is long record of ignoring agreements when it suits, as the article described.

Thought. The free market, individual rights to trade and property, cannot exist without a suitable cultural framework.
So, we have to reconsider our government hands-off attitude to trade.
Some of us here, including me, need to explore this.

The theme of WDonway's article in SavvyStreet is also supported by-
https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2...
and
https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2020...

However, there is an assumption, that strong economic growth can exist over decades within an authoritarian framework. This did appear to be so before President Xi, but that was with substantial freeing up of the economy.
Now, Xi has kicked a couple of own goals:
1. suppressed privately owned business activity in favor of state-owned companies
2. delayed the news of the coronavirus until after the trade deal was signed with the United States
see-
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/...

Bear in mind that high level military threat can come from even a low production nation eg N.Korea.
China is different in that there is likely to be a more active internal opposition.

I like the "encirclement" strategy, but the world lacks the interest and discipline. People just want cheap stuff and cushy seats. Grasshoppers not ants.

Of course they want to take over. They're commies. They want to take over even more than we do! (mild sarcasm there)

China's goals of dominating the world go back thousands of years. They couldn't do it during the dynasties because of too much infighting - and the threat of the Mongols. Now, however, with the Communists in firm control and the largest military on the planet, they are probing to see how far they can go.

Thanks for the detailed, thoughtful comment. Such challenging questions. I would love to see just the questions laid out.