Amitai Etzioni offers some perspective:
There are different assessments about the scope of Chinese military modernization and the country’s intentions; however, there is little doubt that China notes America’s six-fold budget advantage on defense. The United States maintains a stockpile of 5,113 nuclear active and inactive warheads. China has about 250. The United States has eleven aircraft carriers; China has one. Moreover, China’s military has little battle experience. And China’s history contains many chapters of occupation by foreign powers bringing great suffering. In short, China sees itself as weak and vulnerable.
At the same time, China is proud of its recent economic growth and sensitive to outside criticism and pressure. Hence military moves that command the attention of a much stronger, longer-established power reverberate strongly in Beijing. More of these moves are likely to push China to accelerate its military buildup and become less cooperative with the West. Indeed, they could quite readily lead to the kind of vicious cycle of which psychologists have long warned, in which the perceived threats of one nation lead the other to respond, leading the first to feel its fears have been validated, and so on—ultimately resulting in an arms race, if not in war.
The Dish 