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China-Japan-Koreas
Remember China?
2004-06-18
via The Weekly Std - EFL
Login, if needed: gdfs / gdfsjb
To satisfy some here who have an itch for China, here ya go...

While the war on terror rages, a new report reminds us that China’s ascent to great power status continues apace.
by Christian Lowe
06/17/2004 12:00:00 AM

While all eyes are focused on enemies who present clear and present dangers, such as those in Iraq, Afghanistan, and North Korea, another country whose military was a chief concern during the ’90s has faded to the background.

A recently released Pentagon report provides a stark reminder that America needs to keep an eye on developments in the far east. Though few in the news media paid heed to the 2004 report on Chinese military power, it offers an enlightening glimpse into Asia’s fast growing economic and military powerhouse and a vivid, although highly interpretive, look into how China sees the conduct of America’s wars.

In the 2000 National Defense bill, Congress required the Pentagon to report annually its assessment of China’s military strength, development, and strategic focus. That requirement came not without controversy, since these reports could be construed as hindrances to Sino-U.S. détente. After all, throughout the Cold War, the Pentagon printed a voluminous yearly report titled Soviet Military Power.

The first report on China, which was reluctantly released in June of 2000, stressed China’s overwhelming focus on a potential conflict erupting across the Taiwan Strait. China reacted to the victory over Iraqi forces in the 1991 Persian Gulf War by stressing the modernization of its forces and the development--or purchase--of precision-guided munitions, including cruise missiles, laser-guided bombs, and short-range ballistic missiles. The Chinese also learned from Operation Allied Force in 1999, which stressed the need for a capability to strike targets at long range using air power and to leverage space for greater battlefield information and intelligence.

Allied Force also offered lessons to the Chinese in the need to counter U.S. space systems, prompting increased development of anti-satellite weaponry and computer hacking attacks, previous reports state. And China recognized the importance of denial and deception, placing a greater emphasis on the ability to camouflage equipment, mask transmissions, and fortify complexes below ground.

This year’s report, which was released May 28, builds on previous ones, emphasizing the Chinese military’s interpretation of the global war on terrorism and the lessons drawn from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. According to the report, the Chinese military high command recognized the speed and shock of the American assault on Saddam’s forces and its ability to maintain lines of supply and logistics within a non-linear battlefield. Gone was the idea that one nation need only long-range precision airpower to dominate another.

The Chinese military also sees the global war on terrorism in a larger context, with some reading American victories in the Middle East and Central Asia not as steps toward a lasting security, but rather as further solidifying a U.S. global hegemony.
...more...

While it’s easy to see China as either a second-world nation with Soviet-style aspirations and prospects or as a behemoth awakening and soon to be able to leap tall bldgs in a single bound, the truth is, well, it’s a hash with a measure of both. Add massive doses of paranoia, ego, fear, arrogance, and everything-envy and you come pretty close. They are definitely on the schedule... Old Alma Mater More Science High is currently early in the 2nd Qtr with Islamic Jihad HS -- the Winner takes on Golden Dragon HS next.
Posted by:.com

#12  Most Chinese Empires either imploded or were pushed into history after decades of internal corruption. While everyone is projecting the potential Chinese threat to others, like the former Soviet Union, they ignor the internal dynamics which also threaten the existing state as well. Like the former USSR, too many assume that it is a well oil and focused technical government machine. It ain't.
Posted by: Don   2004-06-19 12:04:51 AM  

#11  SH - a successful amphib landing would only occur with a capitulating Taiwan - ergo the PRC efforts to bully, scare, infiltrate, and isolate
Posted by: Frank G   2004-06-18 11:12:12 PM  

#10  I still don't understand how our military leaders are projecting that the Chinese will execute an opposed amphibious landing on Taiwan. While the PRC could certainly nuke Taiwan into oblivion, I'm not sure how that would do anything but ruin China itself.
After the WOT is completed we could crumple China the same way that Ronnie broke the Soviet Union.

As for the trade deficit, there are plenty of easier ways to stoke our economic engines without worrying about where the laundry hampers in Walmart are manufactured. Most of items that are manufactured on China are commodity-type junk. What little margin there is comes from underpaying labor - not a recipe for a popular government. Here is a link to one simple plan to changes the mathematics of economics. A flat tax will work. Privatizing 10% of incoming social security payments as a 401K is another way to stoke the economy (a requirement that a percentage of that investment be in municipal bonds might also prevent all our bridges from collapsing as well.)
Flat Tax, Vat Tax or eliminate the Death Tax would also be helpful. We can do any of these just as soon as Americans decide to turn a deaf ear to class-warfare arguments and take a risk.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-06-18 11:07:41 PM  

#9  and we as a nation are helping her along by buying all those very cheap and cheaply made products from our wallmarts and 99 cent stores...sooner or later we will wake..i hope..

Just one more reason to not shop at Wal-Mart. As a capitalist, I usually promote whatever gives business or consumers the best functional model. I am not fond of how Wal-Marts tend to hollow out small business communities, but I also dislike restraint of trade.

Where I draw the line is that Wal-Mart alone represents 10% of our trade deficit with China. That's right, US$12,000,000,000 out of the 127 billion deficit. Wal-Mart needs to be boycotted so long as they help China gain economic ascendancy.

I wonder how many Americans realize that by shopping at Wal-Mart, they assist in eliminating economic opportunity here in the United States. This is something that needs a lot more publicity than it is getting.
Posted by: Zenster   2004-06-18 4:10:16 PM  

#8  yes china is a def threat - and we as a nation are helping her along by buying all those very cheap and cheaply made products from our wallmarts and 99 cent stores...sooner or later we will wake..i hope..
Posted by: Dan   2004-06-18 3:27:16 PM  

#7  IMHO, that is the real answer to the bulk of your (and my) objections: removal of the "communist" regime. Nor I would shed tears if there was sufficient regional unrest to arise resulting in the breakup of this far-from-homogenous behemoth - which might not be a far-fetched idea.

.com, I certainly hope so, but America should have the intestinal fortitude to pull the plug on trade with China. There is no way in H-E-Double Toothpicks that any other country or group of countries could absorb that much idled Chinese manufacturing capacity. Their economy would implode in less than a month year and we could bend them over a bushel of bok choy to show them how it's done in the West.

We need to midwife their downfall before those morons in Europe begin selling them the advanced weapon systems they're drooling over in their sleep. It was a deep personal pleasure to finally see China's military get a good pucker factor going when they realized that their precious Three Gorges Project is also a huge strategic target.

We need to covertly arm Taiwan with whatever conventional weapons it takes to ensure their ability to break that dam wide open. China's constant belligerence is not just tiresome, it is something that needs to be openly thwarted. If they breath their own exhaust long enough, they'll begin to believe it themselves, just like Iran.

These b@stards need to be stopped in a hurry. As if North Korea wasn't a picture perfect bellwether of what's to come from their meddling, we now have the exact same ploy happening in Iran. All courtesy of China. They need to be slapped down hard and fast.
Posted by: Zenster   2004-06-18 2:04:17 PM  

#6  Zen - I believe your closing thoughts suggest that the bastard commie-capitalist monstrosity currently in power is not long for this world.

IMHO, that is the real answer to the bulk of your (and my) objections: removal of the "communist" regime. Nor I would shed tears if there was sufficient regional unrest to arise resulting in the breakup of this far-from-homogenous behemoth - which might not be a far-fetched idea.

Chiner? Are you out there? If so, can you address this thread with your first-hand experiences?
Posted by: .com   2004-06-18 1:38:56 PM  

#5  Oh, I left out the part about China proliferating nuclear technology to wonderful little mullah infested backwaters like IRAN!
Posted by: Zenster   2004-06-18 1:21:59 PM  

#4  I'll repeat: China is the real terrorist.

Islam is merely a rather conspicuous religous convulsion. China's continual undermining of other world economies through intentional trade deficits, government sanctioned intellectual property theft and product counterfeiting pose a more significant long term threat to global prosperity.

If China does not install government by elected representation, they must be sanctioned. World health organizations must not divert a single penny's worth of medical aid for China to help them with the world's largest medically caused AIDS crisis.

As with North Korea, any money we spend on China is merely that much more capital freed up for them to spend on weapons. The west must demand trade equity with China or have the courage to shut off all trade with them. Sadly, too many American politicians are bought and paid for by China to ever permit the United States to take such an intelligent measure.

China's overheated economy is headed for a gigantic crash. Some US$200,000,000,000 in bad bank debt is just now coming home to roost. As government run hyper-inefficient and incompetently managed industries are shutting down, millions of Chinese workers will be displaced. These citizens have just recently gotten a taste of western style properity. Do not think that they will give up any hope of it willingly just because their corrupt leadership refuses to fart through anything less than silk.
Posted by: Zenster   2004-06-18 1:20:34 PM  

#3  Listen to Principal Poop. He has the answers.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2004-06-18 12:11:30 PM  

#2  ...But you can't ignore old favorite Communist Martyrs HS either. Good solid record, just a few off seasons, that's all.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2004-06-18 10:57:25 AM  

#1  Golden Dragon HS still gotta get by Nippon New Tech in the quarters finals tho and they historically have had problems dealing with them and have never won an away match.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-06-18 10:23:55 AM  

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