PC: Democratic China-US Cold War

Will a Democratic China be at odds with the US after the Cold War ends like OTL China?

  • Yes. Chinese and American interests cannot coincide with each other (Blatant Nationalism)

    Votes: 6 26.1%
  • No. Since China and the United States are both democracies, both are close friends.

    Votes: 4 17.4%
  • Maybe not, because China does not want to destroy its reformist image.

    Votes: 2 8.7%
  • Maybe yes, because China can mask its nationalism with its democratic image.

    Votes: 11 47.8%

  • Total voters
    23
So let's say democracy succeeds in China in 1989 (spring to be exact; shout-out to Tony! :) :D ). Would a Cold War between a democratic China and the United States occur by, let's say, the late 2010s, like what is happening between the US and the PRC?
 
Not really. I'd view the situation as a mix between OTL India and China.

India is very nationalistic, but people generally like it since it's democratic.
 
So let's say democracy succeeds in China in 1989 (spring to be exact; shout-out to Tony! :) :D ). Would a Cold War between a democratic China and the United States occur by, let's say, the late 2010s, like what is happening between the US and the PRC?

There's no Cold War between the us and China. Just great power politics. Big difference.
 
There's no Cold War between the us and China. Just great power politics. Big difference.

I maybe influenced by the fact China's trying to take Philippine land.

But really, no cold war, like virtual country-weight throwing and influencing, massive arms race, etc?
 
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If China's truly democratic, the more interesting question to me is what's happening opposite Russia? Are they basically where they are OTL in terms of their government? If so, they're probably feeling even more cornered, with a less-friendly China and more competition for their Central Asian satellites, not to mention their OTL beef with Europe and the US. That could be where the new Cold War takes off, albeit a vastly more one-sided war. Some would say that's already happening without the addition of a democratic China.
 
I maybe influenced by the fact China's trying to take Philippine land.

But really, no cold war, like virtual country-weight throwing and influencing, massive arms race, etc?

I'm going to be stickler on semantics here. The difference between great power politics and the cold war is evidenced by contrasting Britain and Germany pre-WWI and US/USSR post WWII. The latter was marked by ideological differences that were essentially incompatible while the former was driven by two countries that sought to retain or expand their influence, wealth and power. This is more like Britain/Germany and it's virtually unavoidable given the US' ability to project power and China's desire to protect its coast while also acquiring resource deposits.

The best you could possibly hope for is a US/France type relationship ex-NATO. India/US if reasonable too. But more likely, given the US' long established military presence in the Western Pacific, there's going to be the tensions you currently see.
 
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