Superpowers of the past should realize that the world of today moves by money. There isn't anything more pathetic than a poor superpower that has to sale guns to eat.

India could go either way.

 

A culture that is thousands of years old, that sees itself as the center of all, and with Heaven's mandate, and that historically has felt that others should pay hommage to it is less likely to find or keep allies except in the most extreme circumstances.  I think China is more comfortable going it alone and happy to not be obliged to the USSR or any other foreigners.  The Chinese in general don't like foreigners very much.

 

So, how does this affect China as alliance material?  First of all, they don't have much experience with that.  Before the PRC China's dealings with foreign states were not very favorable.  They were exploited because they could be.  The Allies in WW II, and the USSR afterward dominated China to their great humiliation.  China was not an ally, she was a dependant....and so much for that Communist solidarity under Mao.

 

Second, China's difficult geographic position makes it hard to find allies who are advantageous.  Iran is isolated and, despite the bluster, not much of a strategic factor. 

 

Venezuela is Chavez's socialist fantasy already discredited everywhere else, and of no value strategically as it lies in the Caribbean, and in a crisis would be nullified by the US.  Caudillos have come and gone and Chavez will too.  Long term, Venezuela is part of the Western Hemisphere.

 

North Korea.....well, that country is on borrowed time, and only adds value to China's attempt to run others out of east Asia.  North Korea is an obsolete economic train wreck that seems a threat to some but is totally under PRC control economically.  The future of Korea lies in the southern model, and absent a unification on that model, China does not want floods of starving North Koreans coming across the border.  Korea culturally has been in the Chinese sphere for many centuries, but Koreans are foreigners. 

 

The US will reduce her east Asian presence over time, but the Russians aren't going anywhere.  Therein lies another problem for China.  Russian-Chinese relations historically have rarely (if ever) been very good since the two came into substantial contact.  The USSR was a supporter in desperate times, but that lasted less than two decades, and China doesn't need Russia anymore.  I doubt China will formally involve herself with complicated military ties when Russian interests lie in central Asia...the future Chinese oil source.  Clash of interests don't you know.

 

Islamic states?  Well, there is Pakistan, but how many places are those Communist pork-eating Chinese going to be popular in the Moslem world? 

 

Pakistan has her hands full with India and Afghanistan.  That does not lend too much to China's geopolitical position except for a difficult, tenuous outlet to the Arabian Sea.

 

I would not look for any diplomatic/strategic revolution involving China in the forseeable future.