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As China becomes more capitalistic, in my opinion it will be interesting to see whether, and for how long, a communist country can exploit capitalism before a capitalistic society will cease to tolerate communism.
My only frames of reference is in the petro-chemical industry and the steel industry, where Chinese companies have an industry-wide reputation for not playing fair and sucking up all the supply of American steel. National "corporations" have the full weight and advantage of a sophisticated and powerful government behind them in competing with non-chinese companies. (Think-Exxon getting free access to NASA satellite imagery and CIA intel on a potential field; or the massive collective bargaining power of all the heavy industry in America, if it could somehow combine to put pressure on the suppliers of entire classes of industry.)
I don't even think it's a matter of investment in China, as there has been Massive investment in China, and almost none of it, save for maybe KFC, has panned out.
There is the potential for a great and powerful nation there, but for now, it's just potential, and a pain in the ass for companies competing with them or trying to order steel for domestic use.
Strategically, (as I've stated before) the US should be encouraging Japan to figure out the whole missile-defense thing that we can't quite seem to figure out. It's kosher with their constitutionally limited military goals, and let's face it- they'd probably do a better job than we would of getting it, if properly motivated.
Until the Chinese have advanced navies, air power, and a complete package, rather than just plenty of disposable male troops (because there aren't any women for them to marry because the baby girls were all aborted) I honestly don't think we have to worry much militarily absent a freak missile attack because we have no defense for it. On the other hand, China can, and has been, a thorn in the side of US industry for years now.
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