Posted on 06/21/2004 12:55:23 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
The U.S. government has cited China as the No. 1 threat to global security for the second time in less than a month.
Both the Pentagon and the Commission on U.S-China Economic and Security Review cited Beijing as a major threat to U.S. national security. The two reports noted the growing military capability of China combined with its predatory economic policy is aimed directly at the United States.
The latest report released by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission was approved by a "unanimous vote of all eleven Commissioners." According to the Commission China's co-operation on international security matters is "un-satisfactory."
The Commission examined in depth the extent of ongoing co-operation between China and the United States on traditional national security matters, most particularly China's assistance in re-solving the North Korea nuclear weapons crisis. The Commission believes that China's performance in this area to date has been unsatisfactory, and we are concerned that U.S. pressure on trade disputes and other unrelated aspects of the relationship may have been toned down by the administration as a concession for China's hoped-for cooperation on this and other vital security matters."
Economic War
According to the report, China is deliberately using economic warfare against America to seek a "competitive advantage over U.S. manufacturers."
"Economic fundamentals suggest that the Chinese yuan is undervalued, with a growing consensus of economists estimating the level of undervaluation to be anywhere from fifteen to forty percent. The Chinese government persistently intervenes in the foreign exchange market to keep its exchange rate pegged at 8.28 yuan per dollar, and through these actions appears to be manipulating its currency valuation," states the report.
The Commission also noted that China is violating its pledges to the World Trade Organization and that U.S. investors may actually be investing in the PLA military expansion.
"China has deliberately frustrated the effectiveness and debased the value of the WTO's TRM (Transitional Review Mechanism) which was intended to be a robust mechanism for assessing China's WTO compliance and for placing multilateral pressure on China to address compliance shortfalls."
"Without adequate information about Chinese firms trading in international capital markets, U.S. investors may be unwittingly pouring money into black box firms lacking basic corporate governance structures, as well as enterprises involved in activities harmful to U.S. security interests," noted the report.
Weapons for Oil
The Commission report also noted that China continues to proliferate advanced weapons to many of its client states including North Korea, Pakistan, and Iran. In addition, China now appears to be willing to trade weapons for oil.
"China's growing energy needs, linked to its rapidly expanding economy, are creating economic and security concerns for the United States. China's energy security policies are driving it into bilateral arrangements that undermine multilateral efforts to stabilize oil supplies and prices, and in some cases may involve dangerous weapons transfers," stated the report.
"China has sought energy cooperation with countries of concern to the United States, including Iran and Sudan, which are inaccessible by U.S. and other western firms. Some analysts have voiced suspicions that China may have offered WMD-related transfers as a component of some of its energy deals," noted the Commission.
New Weapons
The Commission report also revealed that Russia has sold China a more advanced version of the deadly SUNBURN (3M83 Moskit) cruise missile. Nikolay Shcherbakov, adviser to the director general of the Altair Naval Scientific Research Institute of Electronic Engineering, is reported as saying that "we are supplying China with new-generation equipment. We have been allowed to supply MOSKIT supersonic antiship cruise missiles with twice the range - 240km instead of the existing 120."
The Commission also noted a growing concern that China would use nuclear weapons to attack and defeat U.S. forces in the event of a war over Taiwan.
"Recognizing the possible involvement of the U.S. military, the current scholarship on China's R & D finds that PRC strategists believe that a superior navy could be defeated through the disabling of its space-based systems, as for example, by exo-atmospheric detonation of a nuclear warhead to generate an electromagnetic pulse," stated the report.
In addition, the Commission noted that China is pursuing an advanced laser weapon for use against Taiwanese and U.S. forces.
"It has recently been reported that China has successfully developed a laser cannon with a range of more than one hundred kilometers and might have already deployed it in Fujian Province facing Taiwan."
Shooting War in 2005
The Commission's report painted a deadly and growing picture of the Chinese threat with a possible conflict only a year away.
"The China Affairs Department of the Democratic Progressive Party published a report on China's basic military capabilities in which it said that Beijing had developed a 'sudden strike' strategy to attack Taiwan. This story discussed a scenario in which an attack would consist of an initial seven-minute shock and strike missile barrage that would paralyze Taiwan's command system, followed by seventeen minutes in which Taiwan's air space will be invaded by fighter jets. Within twenty-four hours of the strike, 258,000 Chinese troops could be deployed in Taiwan. China's fast-growing military modernization and expansion is aimed at a possible war between 2005 and 2010, according to the report," stated the Commission report.
In early June the Pentagon released a Congressionally mandated report on Chinese military developments. The Pentagon report outlined the double-digit increases in Chinese defense spending and major weapons purchases from Russia.
China currently is third in total defense spending, behind the U.S. and Russia, with nearly $100 billion a year now budgeted for the PLA. The Pentagon report noted that the PLA double-digit increases are expected to continue through 2010.
According to the report, the Chinese build-up of ballistic missiles has changed the balance of power in the Pacific, threatening to start a war over Taiwan. China currently has an estimated 550 short-range missiles opposite Taiwan.
"China most likely will be able to cause significant damage to all of Taiwan's airfields and quickly degrade Taiwan's ground based air-defenses and associated command and control through a combination of SRBMs (short range ballistic missiles), land-attack cruise missiles, special operation forces and other assets," stated the Pentagon report. The Pentagon report noted that China is increasing its long-range missile capability and is expected to expand its inventory to 30 such missiles by the end of 2005. The Pentagon anticipates the Chinese long-range nuclear missile force will exceed 60 before the end of the decade.
Nuclear War
The Pentagon report also warned that Chinese military strategists are considering the use of nuclear weapons against U.S. and Taiwanese forces. According to the Pentagon, a nuclear weapon detonated at high altitude would create an "electromagnetic" shock wave that will disrupt U.S. communications and scramble sophisticated military computers. "PLA theorists who have become aware of these electromagnetic effects may have considered using a nuclear weapon as an unconventional attack option," stated the Pentagon report.
Chinese authorities have reacted explosively to the recent reports, especially over the U.S. commitment to Taiwan. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao underscored the unstable nature of China's relationship by threatening to use military force to seize control of the tiny island nation.
According to the official PRC news Xinhua, China will never tolerate "Taiwan independence", neither will China allow anybody to split Taiwan from the motherland with any means.
"The Taiwan independence activities are the greatest threats to the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," stated Liu. The official PRC spokesman also asked the United States to stop selling advanced weapons to Taiwan under any pretenses and refrain from sending wrong signals to Taiwan.
Thought you may be interested in this.
Just curious, but how long do you think it takes to find a new factory, have them retool their manufacturing line, produce a prototype, get it approved, find suppliers in the area for raw goods for mass production, go into production, find a carrier that can ship it? Now I am just talking silicon and computer parts here. How long to you think it takes for an American Company to get this done and get the product back here?
So, how does everyone feel about Clinton/Gore giving them technology to make their missiles launch and guidance technology to accurately nuke us now?
The Commission report also noted that China continues to proliferate advanced weapons to many of its client states including North Korea, Pakistan, and Iran.
You might be interested in this then:
BEIJING (Reuters) - Syria, under fresh U.S. economic sanctions over its support of anti-Israel militants, wants increased and more balanced trade with China, Minister of Economy and Commerce Ghassan al-Rifai said on Monday
"We want to stimulate trade and we will work on that... The level of trade is modest and is very imbalanced," Rifai told Reuters in an interview in Beijing.
"The purpose is to foster ties between Syria and China and mending the malfunction in the world order," said Syria's ambassador to Beijing, Mohammed Kheir al-Wadi.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040621/wl_nm/syria_china_dc_1
Man, you just said a mouthful!!!
Wash DEE CEE is LOADED with 'don't rock the boat' careerists counting on DOING NOTHING to jeopardize their cushy pensions [and health benefits FOR LIFE]...look at the whole Flight School sitrep...
Wash DEE CEE has degenerated from a Government to an infestation of PARASITES!!!
A very fundamental fact about Nuclear exchanges
Let's speculate on the result of a theoretical nuclear-exchange between;
Small island states(Japan, Taiwan, Cuba, G.Britain etc) against the likes of large continental land-mass nations(USA, Russia, China etc)
In such a scenario, small island nation-states would suffer much, much, more devastating damages than their large land-mass nation-states counterparts
In 1957-59, during the SUEZ CRISIS, when the USSR treathened to use nukes against Britain, unless they (Brtits) withdraw from their invasion of the Suez Canal, the British knew thair their time as a great superpower had ended. They realized that in a nuke-exchage with the USSR, Britain would be 80% devastated whereas the USSR might suffer only 20% damage--- a very one-sided exchange. Hence, the British HAD to capitulate and withdraw
If China/Japan were to have a nuke-exchange, who would suffer more damage, proportionately??????
That would be true if the U.S. government had some recourse short of war. What exactly, can the US govt. do other than go to war? If GWB orders an attack on China to recover the money, what would the rest of the world do? Defend us or China?
Why is it that "conservatives" and some college hackademics are the only folks who believe that communism actually works?
China is Enron, with nuclear weapons. The only question is how hard they're gonna crash.
Minor point of correction here:
China doesn't export food to America; America exports food to China.
It gets seized. Then again, we simply stop paying on all those bonds held by China, and that will just about kill the ChiCom economy right there.
BTW, what happens to all that US investment in China when Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong get nuked by the Taiwanese? And what happens to all those US debt instruments in that same scenario?
What happens to our economy when we can't manufacture the things our military require?
Are you seriously arguing that the only place where anything is manufactured is China?
BZZT. Wrong answer.
Can you say consequences?
Absolutely. However, I doubt that you can. To assume that the Chinese can invade Taiwan without any consequences is, to put it mildly, pretty damn stupid.
If helpless hand-wringers like you are put in charge, too damn long. Leave that sort of thing to the grownups.
Just out of idle curiousity...
How can there be any "fundamental facts" about events that have never happened? Nuclear exchanges--i.e., two sides lobbing nukes at each other--are terra incognita.
And they are cutting that number in half, because they can afford 2.5 million poorly-equipped troops, or about 1.25 million well-equipped troops.
That is a sizable force if you ask me.
To attack overseas, and keep a lid on 1.3 billion people who just lost their meal ticket, all at the same time?
China doesn't export food to America
Major point of correction here: they do.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22chinese+exports%22+food
Ask some American farmers who are taking it on the chin, as their American customers buy from China, who can undercut them even with illegal Mexican workers here.
They're MFN, you know.
Oh, it's YOU again? Sheesh. Didn't I tell you to quit bothering me?
The net flow of food is from the US to China. Remember, "data" is the plural form of "datum," not "anecdote."
And as for not bothering you, don't post factually wrong material, and I won't supply a correction to said material. Otherwise, Tango Sierra.
Do you mean the kind you get at Wal Mart and other discount stores? How much of what we consume comes from China, and whose fault is that?
How about a deal: Taiwan for North Korea.
We support the non violent transition of Taiwan to the mainland, and China supports non violent regime change in the North and reunification of the Koreas.
I don't think that would work in the real world, but its an idea.
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