On balance, the rise of China is beneficial to the interests of the United States.

I agree with all that stuff at the top. Contention 1: Cyber Warfare There are two predominant problems with my opponents rational. The first is that she has proven that cyber attacks are already at an all time high, consider her source, "Chinese attempts to collect U.S. technological and economic information will continue at a high level and will represent a growing and persistent threat to U.S. economic security". This tells one thing, the chinese (coorporations, hackers, government etc...) already have the infastructure required to hack well. Thus the question we must ask is simple, "will the rise of China result in more hacking or less hacking?" With a little thought, the answer to this question is self-evident. The chinese hack U.S. technologies in order to become more internationally competitive. Phrased another way, the chinese want access to our sophisticated technology, so they attempt to steal our intellectual property by hacking. If the chinese do not rise, then their economy will remain lower than ours which will increase their incentive to compete. On the other hand, if their economy continues to rise their will be less and less need for the chinese to hack the U.S. At some point chinese technologies will reach the sophistication of U.S. technologies which will preclude the need to hack altogether. Thus my opponents first contention is actually an advantage for the Pro. The second problem with this issue is that of "weight". Although the Chinese do occasionally hack the U.S. the economic detriment generated does not outweigh the economic benefits of our competition. I will extrapolate more on this point in a later contention. Moreover continued hacking attempts generate internet security jobs within the united states which help drive the economy. Consider the latest hiring statistics as a result of hacking: http://www.wantedanalytics.com... Contention 2: That Hegemony and How Scary China Could Never Be The contention falls for three extremely compelling reasons. First we should consider exactly how China has managed to prosper in the last ten years and how they are projected to keep growing. China is an export driven economy which means they rely on other nations to buy the goods that they produce. So who does China increasingly sell to? The answer is the United States, China exports almost as many goods to United States as to the entire European Union (http://en.wikipedia.org...). The ramifications of China starting a war with the United States is that of economic suicide. The chinese economy would never survive destroying it's single largest trading partner, and thus, China will never initiate a war against the United States. As the Chinese continue to rise, and to sell more to the United States, our economic interdependence will only become more crucial to their economic success. Secondarily, their exists a more pronounced problem. The current international curreny is pegged on the United States dollar. This fact, and the dollars strength, allow China to export their goods for cheap. So what does China risk if they attack the United States or engage them in any war? Well first the United States will immediately denounce their commitment to pay back the trillions of dollars in treasury securities which China owns (http://www.treasury.gov...). This will serve as an initial shock the Chinese economy but it will also downgrade the value of the dollar (because investors have no interest in a zero commitment). Furthermore, sucessful confrontation with the United States means the dollar risks being shattered. In doing so the Chinese currency will outvalue international peg which will destroy their ability to export to ANY country. For these reasons the Chinese, in a world where they continue to rise, will never seek military agression against the United States. And third, mutually assured destruction checks back any risk of chinese aggression. My opponent can literally list every theoretical technology in the world but it quite simply doesn't matter when nuclear warheads exist. The fact that the United States will retain the abiity to destroy the world (multipe times over) makes any military acquisition by China a non-issue. In reality this entire contention is a massive advantage for the Pro case. The rise of yet another nuclear hegemon means that the United States will waste significantly less resources intervening in places like the middle east. Furthermore, saber rattling will decrease in place like the South Chinese Sea because it becomes absolutely pointless if the United States can't intervene (how much saber rattling does the U.S. conduct against other significant nuclear powers? none). This reality once again saves the United States significant resources. Contention 3: Stealing all that IP, Finally My first answer should be quite obvious by this point. What would happen if China didn't continue to rise? Well obviously the status quo, "99% of China's music and 78% of its personal computer software" would continue to be pirated. What happens if the Chinese continue to rise? As in any economies of size, their technology will continue to develop in sophistication. And as it develops the advantage of pirating U.S. IP will become less and less net beneficial. In fact, the chinese continuing to steal our technology is hugely advantageous because it allows them to build on already useful designs, this has two predominant effects: a. The United States will continue to beef up cyber security thereby creating more and more jobs. b. The Chinese will start to compete with U.S. market goods. Competition is hugely advantageous for both parties because it drives additional innovation. In fact this effect is already occuring. Consider that U.S. exports to China have also been on the rise (http://articles.washingtonpost.com...). My opponent suggests that many jobs would be created if China had IP regulations comparable to the U.S. This point doesn't help my opponent in the slightest. If China does not rise then the status quo will remain as it is and those jobs will continue to not exist. However, if China does continue to rise the most obvious outcome will be increased regulation. As their economy grows more complex and stabilizes, officials will have an increased incentive to regulate growth. Furthermore, as the Chinese technologies begin to rival American technologies the Chinese will have to worry about hacking of their technologies. This situation will create a quid-pro-quo. As chinese technologies develop they will become increasingly sensitive to the U.S. upholding international IP. In return they will become increasingly more receptive to international IP regulations. Thus China's rise is actually the catalyst for creating the jobs that my opponent talks about. And finally on the points about economies. Let's not forget that increased economic interdependence precludes international conflict because any conflict become a fairly lethal two edged sword. The chinese desire to undercut the U.S. economy will continue to decrease as an inverse function of mutual trade. Underview: In this debate round my opponent has delineated substantial analysis about how the world currently exists. But that's not what the resolution asks us to examine. The resolution wants to know if "the rise of China" will be beneficial or detrimental. I have used my round to agree with my opponent, the status quo is not optimal, but I have demonstrated how the rise of China will substantially benefit the United States. This is especially true because the Chinese rise will continue to drive competition and thereby create innovation (jobs/technolgies). With that I look forward to the final round.