Secure Da Bag
Veteran
Military might is probably secondary in this matter. Especially when it comes to colonization.
Don't forget that China was
- a colony to Japan
- the UK's bytch before that
- and the Land of the Rising Rice Paddies up until 2000.
Plus, we're talking post colonization. 50 years after it in fact.
No one is gonna just walk into a country that's a military power, much less a superpower, and feel they can do whatever they want.