Waters
Schmaters
[China confronts Indian navy vessel By Ben Bland] "A Chinese warship confronted
an Indian navy vessel shortly after it left a Vietnamese port in late July in
the first such encounter between the two countries’ navies in the South China
Sea.
The unidentified Chinese warship demanded that India’s INS Airavat, an
amphibious assault vessel, identify itself and explain its presence in what it
said were Chinese waters, shortly after it completed a scheduled port call in
Vietnam..."
China confronts Indian navy vessel
Related:
[Is China Planning a Surprise Missile Attack by Gordon G. Chang] "A retired
Chinese general recently revealed that his country might be planning a surprise
missile attack on the United States. The public comment of Xu Guangyu came in
response to WikiLeaks revelations that last year Washington had warned its
allies beforehand of China’s test of a missile interceptor..."Is
China Planning a Surprise Missile Attack?
Response to comment [from a
Christian]: "The Chinese may be kinda short but they are not drooling idiots."
[Is U.S.
Strength Provocative to China, or U.S. Weakness? By John R. Bolton] "...China's
Communist Party, still dominated by the Peoples' Liberation Army ("PLA"), will
continue to restrict political and religious freedom and reassert control not
only over the economy's "commanding heights," but also over sectors now
relatively free. An authoritarian power structure could accelerate the existing
military buildup, both nuclear and conventional, combining a rapidly growing
force-projection capability with increasingly belligerent political and
territorial claims in the nearby seas -- particularly against Taiwan -- and
greater assertiveness across land borders against weaker neighbors (eschewing
confrontation with Russia and India for now). This "rising China" would not be
Maoist in the old revolutionary sense, but a "machtpolitik" troublemaker.
An infinite number of scenarios exist between these corner alternatives, and it
undoubtedly behooves America to press China in the "peaceful rise" direction.
But here is the dilemma: is U.S. strength provocative to China, or U.S.
weakness? Friedberg makes clear that weakness is provocative
,
and that what separates Beijing and Washington is not lack of communication or
cooperation, but "the underlying divergence of interests" that inevitably shapes
world political competition..."
Is U.S. Strength Provocative to China, or U.S. Weakness?
By John R. Bolton
"All they have right now is a crazy
huge infantry..."
Could you make
those Chinese finger traps?
"The Pentagon is considering a range of options to meet a bipartisan call to
greatly reduce defense spending in what is a “perfect storm” rocking the
military’s once-sturdy budget plans.
The Army is looking at paring down combat brigades and ending some targeting and
communications systems. The Navy might delay ship construction and shed sailors.
Also, the purchase of the most expensive weapon system ever, the $380 billion
F-35 joint strike fighter, could be pared from a planned 2,443 stealth jets..."
Full text:
Pentagon ponders budget cuts in face of ‘perfect storm’: May reduce personnel
and delay new jets, ships, tanks
"...[W]ake me up in about 15-20
years."
Ok. I'll send you
a reminder.
"That July 2009 cable, posted on the WikiLeaks Web site on Friday, is one of
hundreds from the American Embassy in Beijing that offer a glimpse into the
depths, and heights, of relations between the United States and Chinese
governments. The cables, involving secret but not very diplomatically delicate
correspondence between the two powers, cover topics ranging from China’s claims
on the South China Sea to the daily exercise regimen that the Chongqing
Communist Party secretary, Bo Xilai, designed for himself..." Full text:
Leaked Cables Offer Glimpses Into Relations of U.S. and China
Waters
Schmaters