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| China-Japan-Koreas | ||
| China PLA officers urge economic punch against U.S. | ||
| 2010-02-10 | ||
| Political opinion from some Chinese military generals. Notice anything about where they think they are headed, and the lack of censorship on the part of the Chinese government? Personally, I think some of those TARP funds should be used to buy back some of these bonds, but not too aggresively lest they artificially raise the buyback price. The calls for broad retaliation over the planned U.S. weapons sales to the disputed island came from officers at China's National Defence University and Academy of Military Sciences, interviewed by Outlook Weekly, a Chinese-language magazine published by the official Xinhua news agency. The interviews with Major Generals Zhu Chenghu and Luo Yuan and Senior Colonel Ke Chunqiao appeared in the issue published on Monday. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) plays no role in setting policy for China's foreign exchange holdings. Officials in charge of that area have given no sign of any moves to sell U.S. Treasury bonds over the weapons sales, a move that could alarm markets and damage the value of China's own holdings. While far from representing fixed government policy, the open demands for retaliation by the PLA officers underscored the domestic pressures on Beijing to deliver on its threats to punish the Obama administration over the arms sales. "Our retaliation should not be restricted to merely military matters, and we should adopt a strategic package of counter-punches covering politics, military affairs, diplomacy and economics to treat both the symptoms and root cause of this disease," said Luo Yuan, a researcher at the Academy of Military Sciences. "Just like two people rowing a boat, if the United States first throws the strokes into chaos, then so must we." Luo said Beijing could "attack by oblique means and stealthy feints" to make its point in Washington.
MILITARY SPENDING BOOST Chinese has blasted the United States over the planned $6.4 billion arms package for Taiwan unveiled in late January, saying it will sanction U.S. firms that sell weapons to the self-ruled island that Beijing considers a breakaway province of China. China is likely to unveil its official military budget for 2010 next month, when the Communist Party-controlled national parliament meets for its annual session. The PLA officers suggested that budget should mirror China's ire toward Washington. "Clearly propose that due to the threat in the Taiwan Sea, we are increasing military spending," said Luo. Last year, the government set the official military budget at 480.7 billion yuan ($70.4 billion), a 14.9 percent rise on the one in 2008, continuing a nearly unbroken succession of double-digit increases over more than two decades. The fresh U.S. arms sales threatened Chinese military installations on the mainland coast facing Taiwan, and "this gives us no choice but to increase defense spending and adjust (military) deployments," said Zhu Chenghu, a major general at China's National Defence University in Beijing. In 2005, Zhu stirred controversy by suggesting China could use nuclear weapons if the United States intervened militarily in a conflict over Taiwan. The United States switched official recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979. But the Taiwan Relations Act, passed the same year, guarantees Taiwan a continued supply of defensive weapons. China has the world's biggest pile of foreign currency reserves, much of it held in U.S. treasury debt. China held $798.9 billion in U.S. Treasuries at end-October. But any attempt to use that stake against Washington would probably maul the value of China's own dollar-denominated assets. China has condemned previous arms sales, but has taken little action in response to them. But Luo said the country's growing strength meant that time has passed. "China's attitude and actions over U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan will be increasingly tough," the magazine cited him as saying. "That is inevitable with rising national strength." | ||
| Posted by:gorb |
| #10 CHINESE MIL FORUM > INDIA'S "AGNI-V" CAN REACH ALL OF CHINA | INDIA ANNOUNCES LONG-RANGE, NUCLEAR-CAPABLE MISSLE TEST. Strategic BMS. * WMF > NATO IN AFGHANISTAN: THE THREAT OF MASS EXODUS OF MILITANT TERROR, MUSLIM REFUGEES TO CHINA'S BORDER REGIONS AND PEOPLE. US-NATO "victory" or other success in Afghanistan = AFPAK doesn't bode well for CHINA + CENTRAL ASIA. * SAME > INDIA IS SURROUNDED ON ALL SIDES BY RADICAL, OTHER MUSLIM ENCIRCLEMENT. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-02-10 20:27 |
| #9 ION WMF > TWO US SIRCRAFT CARRIERS PER HOTSPOT: USDOD PREPARES STRATEGIC PLANS TO FIGHT WARS IN KOREA, TAIWAN STRAIT, AND PERSIAN GULF [North KOrea, China, Iran]. US NUCLEAR FORCES ON GUAM CAN STRIKE UP TO 944 NORTH KOREAN TARGETS, DENYING OR DESTROYING NORTH KOREA'S ABILITY TO FIGHT. * SAME > STRATEGIC FLEXIBILITY: US HAS OPTION TO TURN SOUTH KOREA INTO ITS "GLOBAL MILITARY FORCES" SUPERBASE IN NORTH ASIA. GLOBAL OFFENSE, DEFENSIVE THORN IN CHINA'S SIDE. * INDIA GIVES WAR SIGNAL TO CHINA: WE ARE WILLING TO WAGE WAR OVER BRAHAMAPUTRA DAMS WATER CONTROL PROJECTS. INDIA WILL NOT ACCEPT CHINESE DOMINATION OF SOUTH ASIA'S WATER. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-02-10 20:20 |
| #8 The US should honor all its debts. It used to. That's why the dollar was good as gold. I'm older than you think (on SS). It was before my time, when the US outlawed the possession of gold coins, exchanged them for an arbitrary amount of dollars, and then devalued the dollar. The US Supreme Court ratified that action, when they should have called it unconstitutional. The dollar is only a ghost of what it once was. I do not see how the US public debt can ever be paid off. It can only devalued one way or another. Repudiating a debt is one way to devalue it. But there are other ways. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-02-10 18:40 |
| #7 I wonder what kind of a punch the US could deliver by simply repudiating US debt held by China? You might want to add Alexander Hamilton's Report on the Public Credit to your reading list. You might then wonder where such a punch might land. The US should honor all its debts. It used to. That's why the dollar was good as gold. But something tells me you're too young to have ever heard that expression except perhaps in a social studies class. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2010-02-10 17:06 |
| #6 some of the manufacturing contracts that used to go to China are going elsewhere as a result One lesson to be drawn from this is, don't alienate your customers. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-02-10 16:48 |
| #5 Interesting background article here, courtesy of Instapundit. China hasn't much time before their aging population, and particularly the aging excess of males, causes them real problems. In the meantime, there are plenty of other countries that can provide low-cost manufacturing without the dangerous quality control issues Chinese firms cause entirely too often, and at least some of the manufacturing contracts that used to go to China are going elsewhere as a result. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-02-10 16:21 |
| #4 I wonder what kind of a punch the US could deliver by simply repudiating US debt held by China? I suspect China would be hurt way more than the US would. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-02-10 14:20 |
| #3 The PLA is thinking, they just need to think about this a bit more. If they dump bonds, the dollar softens, the renminbi is pegged to the dollar so it softens, so their currency and our currency they hold loses value. That means stronger exports from the US, and blood from chinese savers. Brer Rabbit on line one. |
| Posted by: flash91 2010-02-10 12:27 |
| #2 China has the world's biggest pile of |
| Posted by: YourExesinTexas9747 2010-02-10 09:57 |
| #1 "Capitalists selling rope" comes to mind, except we're not selling much of anything except accumulated wealth. |
| Posted by: ed 2010-02-10 09:24 |