I disagree. In a country with no form of social security, the closest thing to keep you from starving in old age are sons [1]. The older generations would riot if China started waging a war that took their sons - and thus their old age pensions away.
China's current massive population is the consequence of Mao's belief that the Chinese could outbreed any nuclear war. The one-child policy is an attempt to get China back to a sustainable population size, which, for China's land and resources is about 1/2 the current size.
Notes:
1 - Women marry into other families, and so one would lose the support in old age, as the resources earned by the daughters would go to the family she married into.
China's current massive population is the consequence of Mao's belief that the Chinese could outbreed any nuclear war. The one-child policy is an attempt to get China back to a sustainable population size, which, for China's land and resources is about 1/2 the current size.
Notes: 1 - Women marry into other families, and so one would lose the support in old age, as the resources earned by the daughters would go to the family she married into.