This film is either incorrectly named, or it missed the point entirely.
It starts with human rights abuses committed by the US in the Marshall Islands arguably still continuing to this day. In fact if it ended there I would've rated it a 9 out of 10.
There is a little history thrown in about the Opium Wars and Pilger does a good job of surmising that this is where the US's foreign policy regarding China comes from, however he failed to discuss the impact these events had on China's opinions of the US.
He shows US military bases in Japan and Japanese protests against them. Whilst the argument is made that these bases are a threat to China, he spends more time portraying US military personnel in a very poor light, "they would be more liked if they weren't molesting Japanese school girls".
This film lacks an unbiased look at China, Pilger briefly mentions the Tienanmen Square Massacre and social inequality in China, but that's it, whilst the damning facts about the US flow like a tsunami. I have no reason to believe his claims are false, it's just that they do nothing to illustrate a coming war. "If War is Coming to China the US is the Aggressor" would be a more appropriate title, maybe even "I don't like the US and Here's Why".
Despite it's flaws this documentary is worth watching, mainly for the great piece about the Marshall Islands, but there are some other interesting tidbits throughout.
It starts with human rights abuses committed by the US in the Marshall Islands arguably still continuing to this day. In fact if it ended there I would've rated it a 9 out of 10.
There is a little history thrown in about the Opium Wars and Pilger does a good job of surmising that this is where the US's foreign policy regarding China comes from, however he failed to discuss the impact these events had on China's opinions of the US.
He shows US military bases in Japan and Japanese protests against them. Whilst the argument is made that these bases are a threat to China, he spends more time portraying US military personnel in a very poor light, "they would be more liked if they weren't molesting Japanese school girls".
This film lacks an unbiased look at China, Pilger briefly mentions the Tienanmen Square Massacre and social inequality in China, but that's it, whilst the damning facts about the US flow like a tsunami. I have no reason to believe his claims are false, it's just that they do nothing to illustrate a coming war. "If War is Coming to China the US is the Aggressor" would be a more appropriate title, maybe even "I don't like the US and Here's Why".
Despite it's flaws this documentary is worth watching, mainly for the great piece about the Marshall Islands, but there are some other interesting tidbits throughout.