Such countries no longer have a need to go searching for lebensraum .

FORBES: Declining Populations Make Peaceful Neighbors

Occasionally, from this side, you hear a comparison with the German Lebensraum ambitions of the 1930s and to an ongoing Chinese national military buildup.

FORBES: Issues & Ideas

Among other things, Germany wanted lebensraum (living space) for its people.

FORBES: Declining Populations Make Peaceful Neighbors

On the other hand, your correspondent recently heard a senior Japanese businessman give a speech (off the record) at a conference in Nagoya in which he described China's territorial ambitions in East Asia, and particularly its hunger for resources, as being akin to Hitler's Lebensraum policy in the 1930s, stating that it must be resisted at all costs.

ECONOMIST: China and Japan