Sorry for being snarky… Of course modern China is an empire. Just without overseas military bases. A soft empire, one might say.
without overseas military bases
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Garrison
And if you’re gonna say Hong Kong doesn’t count because it’s already been assimilated into the empire, that’s not great evidence against it being an empire.
TF you mean ‘assimilated’
If I lease you a part of my house (AT GUNPOINT NO LESS) for 10 years am I doing an imperial aggression when I move my stuff back in afterwards?
They gettin into the overseas military bases; talkin’ bout Djibouti and a lil’ Cambodia as a treat
4 Chinese bases, as compared to 800 or so US bases. And what is the death toll of Chinese military interventions since the second World War? Not sure, but it certainly isn’t racking up to the millions upon millions killed by US foreign intervention. Like the other commenter is saying, don’t support nation states, good on you. But doing bothsidesism and false balances when talking about Empire is absurd. Like calling US empire ‘less problematic’ 🤡
Of course modern China is an empire. Just without overseas military bases. A soft empire, one might say.
4 Chinese bases
So China does have oversees bases and is therefore in fact not a “soft empire” but a fully fledged empire.
Don’t know why you bring up the US, we were talking about China. Which is by your definition an empire and should be treated as such.