More of the benefits of U.S. Trade beginning to kick in...
Posted on 02/21/2008 1:49:33 PM PST by Red Badger
Beijing is looking to take the lead in an increasingly militaristic space race, and it wants Washington to keep out.
China plans to launch more than 10 spaceships and satellites this year, Agence France Presse has reported. This will be a record number of spacecraft for China, coming after 16 launches over the past two years. The announcement, made by China Academy of Space Technology chief Yang Baohua, comes at a time when tension is high over the military use of space.
The United States announced late last week that it was preparing to shoot down a defunct reconnaissance satellite using a ship-based weapon. Beijing has criticized Washington for the planned operation. Liu Jianchao, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said Washington should fulfill its international obligations and avoid threatening security in space and the security of other countries, Xinhua reported.
“Relevant departments of China are closely watching the situation and working out preventative measures,” Liu added.
Apparently Liu avoided discussing China’s own satellite shoot, which occurred a little more than a year ago when Beijing destroyed one of its weather satellites with a ballistic missile. Only the United States and the former Soviet Union had previously accomplished such a feat.
For its part, Moscow joined with Beijing to denounce the upcoming American endeavor, with Russia’s Defense Ministry saying it has fears the U.S. plan is a veiled weapons test and an “attempt to move the arms race into space.” Russia and China last week announced new plans for a ban on space weapons in an attempt to get an edge on the U.S. Russia is at odds with America over U.S. plans to install a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.
The significance of developing space technology, including the ability to shoot down satellites, is not lost on Beijing or Washington (International Herald Tribune, February 18):
For the Chinese military, the capacity to destroy U.S. navigation and communications satellites could undermine the overwhelming technological dominance that U.S. forces have enjoyed in recent conflicts, according to U.S. and Chinese security experts. …
In academic papers, books and magazine articles, Chinese strategic thinkers have identified U.S. dependence on satellites for battlefield communications, guiding smart weapons, reconnaissance and weather forecasting as a potential weakness that could be exploited.
Senior U.S. military commanders have acknowledged that without the advantage of satellites, U.S. forces could be forced to fight as they did decades ago, without detailed information about the battlefield and enemy movements.
The successful destruction of the ailing U.S. spy satellite would send a reminder to Beijing that China’s space assets would also be at risk in a conflict, experts said.
But China is also increasingly vulnerable to this kind of warfare as it deploys high-technology weaponry. China has been devoting considerable resources to building and deploying its own communication, navigation and weather satellites in recent years.
Some analysts have suggested that Beijing ultimately wants to deploy an independent navigation satellite constellation with similar capabilities as the Global Positioning System network.
The New York Post’s Ralph Peters exposes how relying on satellites makes America vulnerable in “A Maginot Line in the Sky.”
The missile/satellite collision was just exactly what we needed to let the commies know we can play with the best and still beat em every time.
Yeah, but 20 minutes later you'll have to launch another.
Pull!
More of the benefits of U.S. Trade beginning to kick in...
This is becoming like dealing with pre war Germany.
Regards
I’ve made that comparison for more than a decade now. Think Austria / Hong Kong, Taiwan / Poland...
The point is, Germany had aspirations and acted on them. So will China, and it’s only a matter of time. And this time we’ll be Western Europe.
I wholeheartedly agree.
I see the 10 Chinese spaceships and satellites are starting to reenter the atmosphere.
China’s problem is similar to pre-war Japan’s problem. They need to secure oil, and that means Indonesia to the Middle East. The problem is compounded by the fact that they need to keep the USA out of it. The alternative is to turn toward Siberia, which would be insanely difficult if Russia objects.
If we had real patriotic men and women in Washington, ie: LEADERS, China, an unrepentent totalitarian communist state which is our chief economic rival and military adversary, wouldn’t own our asses or wield a suicidally insane trade imbalance over us through corrupt and despicable preferential trade agreements made by Washington beltway political prostitutes and economic traitors.
If we want to stop China’s jackbooted march to global superpower hegemony, we need to cut this communist rat off at the knees by revoking the insane permanent preferential trade status they enjoy and the massive economic trade imbalance it represents which funds their massive global economic and military ambitions of which America is the number one target.
Any nation that exists in a dangerous, suicidally, dependent trade relationship with an economic adversary and military enemy, is begging for its own eventual destruction. America must sever this malignant and insane relationship, and restore our technical and industrial base and the millions of skilled jobs and professions that support it for the sake of our own national survival which is measured in far more than dollar amounts from “cheaper” labor. That so-called cheap labor has proven to be very, very expensive for all Americans in the long run as the current situation clearly demonstrates.
Besides, employing our own people in gainful, meaningful employment first and foremost, the world is also full of genuine American allies who deserve our trade and commerce far more than China who opposes us at every turn and whose military hierarchy has threatened to wage nuclear warfare on us and our Asian allies on repeated occasions. Trade with totalitarian police states like China is NOT “free” trade. Trade with China, is trade with China’s communist military hierarchy. Huge amounts of cash and credit derived from this suicidal trade relationship funds their vast war machine, ballistic missile, and space programs. This GD nonsense must end and end now.
Even the average American can see that when he or she shops in any store in America and reads “Made in China” instead of Made in the USA on virtually every product and good they can see or buy. Screw China and the economic traitors in business and government.
Exactly RW. Best thing in my opinion would have been to keep their need for oil to a minimum by not trading with them and keeping them poor as long as possible. Eventually an angry populace would have turned on the communists leaders.
Then again, why build up even a "friendly country"? Though it would make much more sense to build up Mexico and South America if we were hell bent on "trade".
All I have seen from China trade is job losses, poisoned pets, poisoned toothpaste and toys and higher energy costs and worst, decreased international security. I don't get it. Follow the money.
Regards
If it didn’t cost so much, it would be great target practice!
Since the founding of the USA a dominant idea has been to open a direct trade route to China. Such trade has always been seen as important and the trade route not passing through the Middle East has been part of the plan since Columbus.
Yes but they were after silk and and things only available from China. As well as a huge market. Now all China offers is cheap labor and threats. And still no market.
Regards
Is that Les Nessman?
Or is it Nes Lessman? Hummm... 
guess I'll have to ask Andy, Herb or the Big Guy. Be right back!
we are funding a war against ourselves
Not even close. First of all, for China to launch any ground offensive they'd have to do it by Navy over thousands of miles of (Pacific) ocean. (Hitler merely had to roll his panzers across relatively the unprotected borders of his immediate neighbors). The chances of any Chinese landing craft not becoming fish condos before they make it anywhere near Hawaii is essentially zero. Oh, and then there's the small detail that we have many thousands of nukes on innumerable delivery systems. I doubt China is in the suicide business. They may very well one day get Taiwan (although it's doubtful), but any aspirations regarding a land invasion of the U.S. is laughably ridiculous.
Mojo, the implication wasn’t that the U.S. would be subject to a land invasion. It was meant to reference the fact that the United States will be the number one target of China’s global quest for dominance.
Germany’s intent was to conquer the world, but initially to take out the most prominant western nations and Russia. Then resistance would have been minimal.
What is China’s plan other than that?
Laugh all you like, when China gets up and running for real, they’ll have a considerable engine over there that will tough for us to compete with dollar for dollar man per man as that applies to global efforts, minimizing U.S. influence and isolating the U.S.
I don’t believe either nation will go nuclear, but even there you’re forgetting Bush is currently implementing a plan to reduce our nuclear arsenal to about 25% of the 7000 warheads he was handed off.
Their plan is to gain superpower status, and at the rate they're going (and given the nature of their economy that rate is unsustainable, imo) it might happen. ...in another generation or so. And if they do they'll then be legitimate competitors, not our conquerers.
Even a U.S. nuclear force at 25% its current strength is far more capable than anything the Chinese can field in the next 10 or 20 years. And I doubt we'll be standing still on that front.
Obviously China is a force to be reckoned with, but you're overestimating their capabilities. ...and perhaps underestimating our own.
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