Comment by the_af

I don't agree.

Even the US suffers (their veterans do, anyway) but that's the country that in general least suffers from their constant involvement in warfare. They have this industry down to a "T". However, you cannot generalize from a nation that can project military force almost anywhere in the globe, with little fear of repercussion back home; most countries cannot afford this. China certainly cannot.

So what about the rest? Internecine conflicts are outrageously wasteful, and sadly common in the modern age. Russia's war with Ukraine has turned incredibly wasteful and costly, and Russians are suffering (and dying) regardless of whatever Putin says.

I think China is not generally oriented towards waging war. They do have their military, military projects, and their nationalistic things (what I learn from Wikipedia is called "irredentism"), but generally they seem to be trying to become an economic world power. War would mess and interfere with that. War is too fucking risky.