On Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 9:54 PM, Mark Williamson<node.ue(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I disagree. All languages that have had a chance of
becoming world
lingua francas - English, French, perhaps Spanish, are some recent
examples - were not only the languages of economic or political
powers, they were also the languages of vast colonial empires.
You're working on the assumption that China won't colonise anywhere. I
have the feeling they're going to burst and spray their populace
across the greater part of the continent at some point.