Well call the QBZ whatever you want, but it still suffers from all the
"problems" that bullpups face - love it or hate it, its a bullpup that does not sparkle with innovation.
More telling is a simple fact - despite all the effort in designing the QBZ and the 5.8 round, the Chinese still managed to half-ass it as design a cartridge that is still corrosive - they put all this effort in designing a modern cartridge and rifle and yet they still can't seem to figure out how that non-corrosive ammunition is the way to go...
Sorry to get off the topic of rifles but...
They have limits on childbearing, and people kill their baby girls. Therefore, they have an excess of tens of millions of young men.
Cute. Except for the fact that as you mentioned chinese cultures values boys, families are very protective of their only sons ("little emperors" as they are known in China because they are pampered to the extreme). Imagine sending your only son - you entire genetic line to get killed in a war. You would not be a happy camper, and neither would your average Chinese family.
For all you anti-china trade people out there - in my opinion, an isolated China is a more dangerous China. China is as dependent on the US as the US is on dependent on China - if we increase China's dependancy on the US through trade, wouldn't that better than trying to isolate it? Trade is a good thing, as CAT tractors, the american farmer, the american steel worker all realize now - while the US economy faces a recession, China's trade demands are keeping Americans prosperous.
I have lived in Asia for over 20 years and spent time working in China. I personally observed Chinese PLA units and I can tell you they have a lot of catching up to do. The unit I was with was driving around Korean War era trucks and had to cook their own meals using firewood and a cauldron. Most credible military experts think that China's military is around 20 years behind the US, and I don't doubt it for a minute. Even with double digit increases in defense spending, China's military spending still nothing compared to the US. Hell the Russians even aren't selling the Chinese anything these days, making it tougher for them to modernize.
China has so much to worry about with modernization - military modernization is just a small part. There are roads, hospitals, schools, power that all has to be built. Couple in rampant corruption, not all of China's resources are going to the military. China's military also has to get a whole lot smaller before it get stronger...
China is so weak in so many ways - this winter cities ran out of coal because of storms - this in a place that literally sits on coal!! Rising costs of food and fuel, infrastructure problems, rampant corruption, widespread poverty, AIDs epidemic running wild, restless minorities.
Ah yes, a worthy enemy indeed...
