Years ago I used to read the American Science Fiction magazine, 'Fantasy & Science Fiction'. The 'Science' column, in the mag, was by Isaac Asimov - and it was a 'must read'. The one thing that used to bug me about this column was the fact that, the otherwise estimable and rational, Dr Asimov, could never bring himself to criticise the West's love affair with the internal combustion engine. I used to think, "OK, but what happens when all the people in China acquire cars?" Well, in the next few years I'll probably find out!
It's not China or the Chinese people that scare me - it's the sheer size of the Chinese population that is terrifying - and the consequences of giving them all a Western lifestyle. And yes, I know, we in the West have absolutely no right, moral or otherwise, to deny them any lifestyle that they aspire to.