Times of India got a hold of a leaked audio leak of China's military plans to take over Taiwan. I have long seen this as a forgone conclusion; China even put its land and water claims on their passports. Along with Taiwan, China claims large parts of the South China Sea; bits and pieces of Southeast Asia (remember they fought two wars against Vietnam - those wars pushed China into creating a real army); a piec of India (which would give China a path to build a road and railline to Pakistan).
Taiwan is legally a rebellious province of China, so their claim on it is pretty unimpeachable. No surprise they have plans to invade, they likely have had such plans since 1949. Another stupid Cold War fossil conflict. It would be nice if everyone could sit down and work out a solution, but diplomacy simply isn't practiced by the US anymore, so it could end up generating a war. Seems unlikely in the near future, but the world is changing.
It seems to me that regardless of the country, conquest appears to take a top priority once the country gets to a certain point in political growth. The ambitious goals are driven by either the need for more trade of resources or the never-ending greed and insatiable appetite for power. The US as well as many before us have been part of the latter reason more than the first.