INEPT, SURROUNDED AND DYING OUT DOESN'T MAKE FOR POWERFUL:

China's military budget has grown by double-digits year after year, but inflation has eaten away at the increases. China's army, navy, air force, and missile command are wracked by corruption -- and their weapons are, by and large, still greatly inferior to Western equivalents.

Yes, the People's Liberation Army is slowly becoming more technologically advanced. But that doesn't mean Beijing can mobilize its armed forces for global missions. Unlike the world's main expeditionary powers -- the United States and the U.K., to name two -- China is surrounded by potential enemies.

Russia, Japan, and India are all neighbors ... and historic adversaries. China's aggressive foreign policy targeting smaller states isn't encouraging submission but resistance, as countries such as The Philippines and Vietnam ally with the United States, Japan, and India.

China's other neighbors are weak or failed states, such as Pakistan and North Korea. Their instability -- or their outright collapse -- could have serious security repercussions for China, and help explain why Beijing lavishes funds on its armed forces.

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