In not too many years, China may well be able to simply buy the eastern half of Siberia from the poverty-stricken Russia. Even at the height of the Union, eastern Russia was only a part because they had nothing better to do. Moscow could barely support the most minimal skeleton infrastructure out there. Of course, China now has the might to simply walk in and take it, or soon will, so their ability to buy it may be moot.
If they do get it, they will have access to a vast source of natural resources such as timber, oil/gas, gold and other heavy metals, and I believe coal as well. They will also own the only quiescent tectonic plate boundary on earth (as far as I can tell, and not that such a thing matters to anyone).
How do these long posts get here, mine always get limited to 300 words.
Anyway -- doesn't the bible mention something about the dragon and the eagle will combine to defeat the bear from the north? Or was that nostradamos?