Posted on 05/17/2008 4:42:37 AM PDT by MARKUSPRIME
The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific has called on China to give up any plans to develop what he calls "high-end military options," and says the United States has no intention of abandoning its position as the leading military power in Asia.Admiral Keating says Chinese leaders should not expect to be able to become Asia's dominant military power."It is absolutely essential for us to continue efforts to engage our Chinese colleagues in dialogue, to exchange personnel, to share tactics, techniques and procedures primarily to ensure they understand our preeminent role as the dominating military in the Pacific, our firm intention not to abandon that position, our hope and our trust that they do not endeavor to take us on militarily," he said.
The admiral says that would lead to "sure defeat" for China.
Never yield to totalitarians aka Chicoms.
To share tactics and techniques? I don't understand.
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>> our hope and our trust that they do not endeavor to take us on militarily,” he said.
Admiral sir, we are feeding the Red Chinese wealth by the boatload, a large and increasing portion of which they are spending on their military.
The Clintoons helped them out with blueprints for advanced military hardware, which they are clever at manufacturing. They certainly have the edge in manufacturing capability, since we exported nearly all of OUR advanced manufacturing capability and know-how to their country.
Furthermore, they can crank out military hardware at a lower cost than we can.
Admiral, the Red Chinese are ALREADY “taking us on militarily”.
Sir, as a former sailor I share your view that we *must* remain the dominant naval power in the Pacific...
BUT WE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO DO A HELLUVA LOT MORE THAN “HOPE” AND “TRUST”.
Jingoism ain’t going to cut the mustard.
BTTT
>> American carrier airpower... Ships can be torpedoed.
I selected from your post two items, to which I’ll add a third: China has focused on sophisticated supersonic anti-ship missiles... and is now focusing on increasing their submarine fleet, as well as innovative basing techniques for their subs.
Consider also that Chinese shipbuilding capability is strengthening (while our own capability is decreasing).
Add in the fact that once the Chines come up with a reference design for (say) a nuclear sub — and I’m SURE their US spies (and allies like the Clintoons) have helped with that — they can knock it off quickly and CHEAPLY (maybe lower quality, but when you have 200 fast attack boats, who cares if you lose a few crews and boats).
Roll it all up and I wouldn’t be quite so glib about our carrier capabilities against the Red Chinese going forward.
>> China is vulnerable to seapower attacks. Most of the population and wealth is on the East Coast, well within range of American carrier airpower.
The US is quite vulnerable to seapower attacks also. True, it’ll be a while before the chinese have massive carrier firepower (but only a fool will believe they never will). BUT... it won’t be so long before the Chinese have a credible IRBM threat from their subs. Holding Washington state, California and Oregon hostage to the threat of nuclear attack is NOT a stretch for the imagination.
We need to move the US capitol to Missouri area. Saint Louis maybe. It’s almost as bad of crap hole as DC.
So we return to the MAD strategy. BTW, your screen name seems prophetic.
Yeah, I’m sure the Chinese will take his advice and stop their military building immediately. [/s]
>> So we return to the MAD strategy.
From a nuclear perspective, I don’t think “MAD” ever went away completely, at least, not with the Chinese and Rooskies.
But our relationship with a lot of these countries is asymmetric. A large part of that is that we’ve lost our will to remain soverign. And they all know it. I think today’s China is much more willing to (e.g.) attack Taiwan or Japan, and threaten heavy-handed action (e.g. nuclear strike on the West Coast) if we intervene. Not because they think they would win the confrontation, but because they are willing to bet that President (e.g.) Obama (or even McCain) WON’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT BUT “TAWK”.
>> BTW, your screen name seems prophetic.
Heh. Pay attention kids! Learn from my example! A coffee addiction and internet political forums are a dangerous mix...
Chiping
Oh, God..........a new version of "thinking about the unthinkable" [H. Kahn - 1962] groan. ;-)
>> a new version of “thinking about the unthinkable” [H. Kahn - 1962] groan. ;-)
I wasn’t familiar with Mr. Kahn, not by name anyway. So I googled him up. I LIKE the guy already. :->
Change is the only constant, so I’m afraid we’re going to have to RE-think the unthinkable, on new terms vis a vis new adversaries.
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