China . . . might repel her enemies outwardly, but would have yielded to them inwardly.

The Problem of China (1922) by Bertrand Russell.  

If China were led astray by the lure of brutal power, she might repel her enemies outwardly, but would have yielded to them inwardly. It is not unlikely that the great military nations of the modern world will bring about their own destruction by their inability to abstain from war, which will become, with every year that passes, more scientific and more devastating. If China joins in this madness, China will perish like the rest. But if Chinese reformers can have the moderation to stop when they have made China capable of self-defence, and to abstain from the further step of foreign conquest; if, when they have become safe at home, they can turn aside from the materialistic activities imposed by the Powers, and devote their freedom to science and art and the inauguration of a better economic system—then China will have played the part in the world for which she is fitted, and will have given to mankind as a whole new hope in the moment of greatest need.

 

I am currently rereading a book on the Burma campaign within the CBI theater in World War II.  The substantially forgotten war in the China, Burma, India theater.  It is adjacent to the main story but one of important insights provided was the various challenges faced by Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Chinese government and armed forces.

Not only was he committed to supporting the Allies against the Japanese in the Burma campaign (with some 250,000 men), but he was fighting the Japanese in mainland China and the Communists under Mao.  Further, most of his regional generals were of dubious reliability such that all his commitments and intentions were sharply constrained by his ability to actually sway the generals to follow commands.  

Russell's observation in juxtaposition with the real history of regionalism and fragmentation under warlords is an interesting contrast.