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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Risk of war with China diminishing |
| 2006-02-04 |
| The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said here on Friday that the risk of war with China was diminishing with the growth of economic ties between the emerging superpower and the United States. Despite concern over Beijing’s rapid and secret military build-up and tension in the Taiwan Strait, General Peter Pace said Washington and Beijing had more shared interests than differences. “I am optimistic about the future with regard to China. There is much more that the two countries have in common than we have not in common,” said Pace, the top military advisor to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. “As we continue to build the economic bridges between the two countries and as each country becomes more and more dependent on the other for prosperity, when you do that you lessen significantly any probability of military complications,” he said. A Pentagon report last year estimated China’s defense spending at two to three times greater than acknowledged by Beijing, or up to 90 billion dollars for the year. Last month Japan identified China as a military threat because of its opaque military spending. Pace, a Marine Corps officer who took over as chairman of the joint chiefs last year, said it was the military’s job to identify the capabilities it would need for future events. “You do not focus on countries but on potential capabilities that you will need, and then build to that,” he said. He said that on North Korea, Washington needed to look at the communist country’s fighting capabilities which included an army of 1.2 million troops and “be prepared to counter that overwhelmingly.” He said a transformation of the US-South Korea alliance was in progress, including reducing US forces in South Korea from 37,000 to 25,000 by 2008 and withdrawing them from the border with North Korea to bases south of Seoul. He said it was hard to be certain of North Korea’s intent, but ”you need to be prepared if their intent is ill.” “We are fully capable today of defeating any North Korean aggression and we will maintain that capacity,” he said. Pace said that Pentagon’s Quadrennial Report, to be released next week, will assess US military needs over the next 20 years. “It will be a lookout, as best you can look out, 20 years into the future,” he said. South Korea’s move to regain wartime control over its troops, which now would come under the operational control of the commander of US forces here in times of conflict, was welcome, he said. “This is an opportunity, not a challenge,” he said of talks scheduled for this year. Pace was visiting Seoul for a change of command at the US military base here. Outgoing commander General Leon LaPorte was replaced by General B.B. Bell as new head of US Forces in Korea and head of the combined US-South Korean command. He also leads the UN Command, representing the 16 nations that fought against the communist North in the 1950-53 Korean War. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #7 Russia was - German intel detected the movements of large Russian units to near the Polish-German border in violation of the Non-Agression Pact, Hitler. amongst other reasons, basically attacked Stalin before Stalin could attack him. Historical revisionissm > No one remembers that Russia's military deployments caused TWO WORLD WARS, NOR THAT STALIN'S BOYZ OFTEN SHOT/FIRED AT ALLIED FORCES GIVING THEM AID TO SURVIVE AGS GERMANY. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-02-04 21:49 |
| #6 But what did Pace say in Arabic? "We're planning for it - it'll be here someday" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-02-04 13:42 |
| #5 NS - WWII The Molotov-Ribbentrop nonagression pact was signed on August 23, 1939, just a week before Poland was finally invaded by both Hitler and Stalin. As to China, I think there is an understanding that any conflict will result in the collapse of trade and the undermining of their economy resulting in civil disorder and a much greater threat to the leadership's power than any external one. |
| Posted by: Glitch Jamble7687 2006-02-04 13:28 |
| #4 Russia and Germany were never friends, you think Russia wouldn't have done the same thing to Germany if it had half a chance. |
| Posted by: djohn66 2006-02-04 13:27 |
| #3 Russia and Germany were fast friends too, before the war. Which one? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-02-04 11:18 |
| #2 China has to be feeling the heat regarding the Islamist threat as well. I don't know enough about China to predict - but it would not surpise me if China will someday want to work with us to fight against it. |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-02-04 11:01 |
| #1 Russia and Germany were fast friends too, before the war. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-02-04 10:56 |