Actually, China is pretty corrupt, but then it rarely invades other countries. The mandarins, since long before Mao, have feared their outlying suzerains might slip from under their control, and Iraq-style corruption is a manifestation of that.

And the Chinese army is so corrupt that it took Simonov rifles from its own troops to sell for $100 each to American gun nuts.

What makes them different from us is that the pure profit they made went back to the development of their country. But then America was awfully corrupt 100 years ago; the Republican robber barons had to turn part of what they stole into free libraries and hospitals, the Democratic vote machines created decent jobs for ethnic whites struggling to civilize their children. They were all patriots, in a way we can't understand now.

Super: I agree. The rulers of China appear to have the future strength of China as an important goal. Does anyone actually believe that the rulers of the USA have the future strength of the USA as an important goal- that a country which dominated the global economy 50 years ago declined so dramatically while everyone in a position of power was doing their best to prevent it? I doubt that. The reality is that the rulers of the USA, just like the rulers of Enron, realized that a better deal was to gut the thing from the inside and take what they can.

I can't decide what to worry about more:

that they have a plan for what they will do to us after they destroy society,

or that they don't.