Yes, that is the original article and the Asian Defence article is one of the several translations floating around. In fact, this article was quoted in a
Hindustan Times editorial a few weeks back.
Having lived in China for several years, I can say (a) I am not surprised and (b) I won't take this too seriously.
I am not surprised because I've found the younger Chinese extremely nationalistic. Most believe that this is "China's century" after the "century of humiliation." They are very proud at what China has achieved - and rightly so - in the last 20 years and feel that China needs to regain its rightful place in the world. If you read this article (actually it was a blog to start with), you can tell that the author is a pretty sophisticated thinker. He proposes a 40 year plan! Further, his rationale that after absorbing Taiwan, China can use the Taiwanese territorial claims to go after Outer Mongolia - clever thinking which suggests to me that this is an academic or a political science student engaging in an intellectual exercise.
But I won't take it seriously because the Chinese government is probably one of the most level-headed governments in the world at least partly because of the communist party's instinct for survival. The party can hold on to power only if it's showing tangible economic progress and improvement in people's lives; further China has extensive economic ties with its neighbors. The government is very unlikely to jeopardize its export-oriented economic growth with wars.
Case in point: the Chinese government maintained enormous restraint despite the Japanese provocation around Daiyou islands (when the Japanese government raised public funds to "buy" the islands from its private owners, combined with senior Japanese politicians visiting the Yasukuni) and very strong public sentiment to do something.
In fact, I'd argue that the Chinese government is a moderating force that holds the nationalism of a lot of crazies (like the author of this article) in check.
