Posted on 11/17/2004 10:32:59 AM PST by TapTheSource
CHINA WATCHES, WAITS: MASSIVE MILITARY BUILD-UP, MAJOR ESPIONAGE EFFORT
November 17, 2004 By Toby Westerman Copyright 2004 International News Analysis Today www.inatoday.com
Despite assurances from just-resigned Secretary of State Collin Powell regarding U.S.-China relations, the second term of the administration of George W. Bush could encounter a major war in the Pacific, and is witnessing a major espionage offensive.
Communist China is demonstrating an increasingly high level of aggression and military intrusion against its neighbors, engaging in actions which could pull the United States into a naval war in the Pacific.
Taiwan faces invasion - possibly at any moment -- from China, at least one Chinese submarine has intruded into Japanese waters, and, most amazingly, Chinese intelligence services have been able to acquire a file of personal data on nearly every inhabitant on the island of Taiwan. Communist China's spy services have targeted and succeeded in obtaining files on military service records, vehicle and household registration, and national health data, according to the Taiwan news daily, the Taipei Times.
China claims Taiwan as a rebel province. The government on Taiwan, known formally as the Republic of China on Taiwan (ROC), fled to the island following its defeat at the hands of Communist forces on the mainland. Although the U.S. no longer has formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the U.S. remains committed to the island under the terms of the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.
China's ability to compromise nearly every citizen of Taiwan, including the highest ranking military and governmental personnel, raises alarming questions concerning Beijing's espionage capabilities directed against other opponents, including the United States. Already in the mid and late 1990s, newspaper headlines reported the loss of important U.S. military and technology secrets to China. It is an open question as to how far Beijing has gone in the penetration and documentation of American society.
The mainland Communist government remains adamant in its determination to invade at the first declaration of Taiwan independence, and recent statements from Beijing declare that Taiwan is "playing with fire" as it presses for recognition as a separate nation.
Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has vowed to seek a membership for Taiwan in the United Nations as an independent state, further enraging Beijing.
China is conducting an impressive modernization of its armed forces, which leads Pentagon observers to warn that Beijing could eventually rival U.S. forces in the Pacific. China is building an increasingly sophisticated military to successfully obstruct any U.S. attempt to aid Taiwan in case of Communist invasion.
China's military capabilities potentially not only threaten Taiwan, as China's disputes with its neighbors grow and as the nations in the Asia-Pacific region keep a wary eye on the increasingly powerful Red Dragon.
Japanese naval forces recently hunted a foreign submarine intruding into Japan's territorial waters. Indications from the sub's identifiable sounds and its course of sail pointed to Communist China as its nation of origin.
The incident occurred 75 miles south of a group of disputed islands, known as the Senkaku to the Japanese and Diaoyu to the Chinese, highlighting the contest between Japan and China for oil and gas resources believed to exist in the region.
Following two days of international crisis, China finally admitted that the "mystery" sub was theirs, and claimed a "technical error" for the intrusion.
The United States Navy is the only major force in the Pacific belonging to a democratic nation, and America remains committed to the defense of Taiwan, Japan and other allies in the region.
In 1958, the U.S. fought alongside Taiwanese forces in a deadly artillery conflict with China's Peoples Liberation Army, and in the following years sent naval forces on several occasions to deter a mainland attack on Taiwan.
As China's power grows, so too will the challenge to the U.S. presence in the region, and America's commitment to its allies.
"I really do think we're going to throw Taiwan under the bus on this one."
See post #60
Please see the information behind the following.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1282223/posts?page=59#59
All Billion of them?
The author here reveals himself to be a clueless nitwit.
Yet again forgets about the enormously powerful Japanese Navy. And Japan was a democracy, last time I checked.
Have you ever been to China? Your characterization is grossly inaccurate.
Defending Taiwan isn't going to really require any US ground troops at all. Just a fairly small portion of our already existing Navy and Air Force.
"What kind of help is Taiwan extending us in the WOT? I'd be happy to hear of it. Generally, our warmest allies are those who depend on us, not those allies we can depend on. With a few exceptions...GB, Aus, and Poland..."
Given Taiwan's location and Red China's sabre-rattling (backed up by a massive military build-up) I don't think Taiwan is in a position to send he badly needed troops anywhere else at the present moment.
Exactly, Source.
China wants Taiwan because Taiwan would provide the US a major staging ground of operations should a war break out between China and the US or if China were to invade its neighbors. Their economic interests are secondary as we have been foolish enough to boost their economy by buying cheap products produced by slave labor.
China knows that Taiwan would be a stage of operations. If they take it and we do nothing, they'll know we have no intentions of taking them on militarily. They will then be able to run roughshod over the entire region (India included).
If we stand up to their threats and send our military to protect Taiwan, they'll know we mean business and will have to follow another strategy.
As with so much of international strategy, the issue of the sovereignty of this tiny island and our allegiance to it has potentially catastrophic and certainly historical ramifications.
We must not abandon Taiwan. And, once again, it is up to conservatives to clean up the mess of Clinton and his Leftists. They were the great 'enablers' of China's increasing threats to take Taiwan.
If Taiwan is lost, Japan is next.
"If Taiwan is lost, Japan is next."
Bingo!...don't forget about S. Korea and then the Phillipines, etc. Very dangerous situation brewing.
China is currently incapable of invading Taiwan, and will be for a couple of decades.
The idea of China invading Japan is even more laughable, given that the Japanese Naval and Air Self-Defense Forces are both currently superior to China's and actually are getting more powerful at the same or an even faster rate than China's.
It's an evil government and I'd be thrilled if the entire PRC Politburo was run over by a bus tomorrow, but there are a variety of ax-grinding agendas given to frantically overhyping the capabilities of the PRC military in the same way the "1 million man battle-hardened desert-experienced Iraqi Army" was hyped before Gulf War I. These groups include:
1) Those looking to sell books and articles, and hype sells
2) Trade Protectionists
3) People so fanatically obsessed with Clinton loathing that they feel compelled to overstate the capabilities of the PRC military (almost entirely the result of Russian, French, and Israeli technology) so that it can be all blamed on Clinton.
Memo to self, do not invest money in China.....
Sigh, Wishful thinking. We can't even let one of out soldiers kill an enemy terrorist at this point.
This story of the marine has me pretty demoralized. I just don't see how we are every going to have a clear desicive victory again with this rulebook.
Many thanks. Taiwan is in good hands, at least for now.
Well, then America has plenty of lawyers to protect violence, force and not truth and peace. The result is that we will have invited a market for such evil on our own shore.... hence 911.
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