Posted on 01/20/2009 8:07:45 PM PST by genghis
Obama will need to ready himself for demands from friends and threats from enemies. China released a report, timed to coincide with the new President taking office, that ‘advises’ the US that weapon sales to Taiwan harm the relationship between China and the US. Given that China is sitting on over a $ trillion of US Treasury Bonds (more than the report below cites according to economists in the know), you can be sure that Washington takes notes of disapproval from China very seriously.
The following report is from Associated Press:
China made a rare appeal for cooperation between its normally secretive military and Washington on Tuesday but said U.S. arms sales to Taiwan remain a “serious harm to Sino-U.S. relations.”
The statements came as China issued a major policy paper on national defense that said blocking formal Taiwanese independence remains the chief concern for one of the world’s fastest-growing armed forces.
A Chinese military spokesman presenting the paper made an apparent reference to Taiwan as one of the “obstacles” the Pentagon should remove for better relations with China.
“At present, when China-U.S. military-to-military relations are faced with difficulties, we call on the U.S. Department of Defense to remove obstacles … and create favorable conditions for the healthy growth of military relations,” said Sr. Col. Hu Changming, chief spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense.
The policy paper itself said U.S. arms sales to Taiwan caused “serious harm to Sino-U.S. relations.”
Though Hu did not specify those difficulties, China suspended some senior-level visits and other exchanges last fall in retaliation for the U.S’s $6.5 billion arms sale to Taiwan that included Patriot III missiles and Apache helicopters.
Defense sales to and relations with Taiwan have been an issue for every U.S. president since Beijing and Washington established diplomatic ties 30 years ago. China considers the self-ruled island a part of its territory and threatens to attack it to prevent it gaining formal independence.
While arms sales remain an irritant, Taiwan should be less of a headache for President Barack Obama than it was for the Bush administration. Prolonged tensions between Taiwan and China have given way to rapprochement in recent months following last year’s election of Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, who favors a less confrontational approach to China.
Hu noted there had been major improvements in cross-strait relations, saying “the situation across the Taiwan Strait has taken a significant and positive turn.”
But later Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu reiterated China’s opposition to Taiwan arms sales, warning that Washington should “cautiously and properly handle the Taiwan issue, (and) support the peaceful development of cross-strait relations with concrete actions.”
The new paper on national defense also focused on long-running separatist movements in Tibet and the far western, largely Muslim region of Xinjiang as threats to China’s national security.
“On these matters, we will not compromise,” Hu said.
China faced violent incidents in both regions last year, with an uprising in Tibetan areas last March and a string of attacks in Xinjiang around the time of the Beijing Olympics last August.
The military policy paper did not give new spending figures for China’s 2.3 million-strong armed forces for 2009. Last year, China announced a military budget of $59 billion, up nearly 18 percent over the previous year. It was the 18th year of double digit growth of military spending in the past 19 years.
China’s spending, which puts it on par with Japan, Russia and Britain, is still dwarfed by U.S. military expenditures, which are nearly 10 times as large.
The traditional security concerns that once dominated the U.S.-China agenda - including Taiwan and human rights issues - are not the only challenges that Obama must contend with. The bilateral relationship has become a far more expansive one focused much more heavily on financial interdependence.
Bilateral trade has soared to $400 billion, and China’s $1.9 trillion in foreign reserves makes it a potential lifeline in the midst of the global financial crisis.
The power balance between the two countries has also shifted with China now owning more than a half trillion dollars in U.S. government bonds.
No sooner than people around here picked up on it. Obama's limp wrist was obvious long ago. But who knows . . . maybe he won't fold like a cheap [empty] suit.
Don't think so. Obama is just going to be known as a worldwide coward as we cut and run everywhere. Aircraft carriers? Too expensive ... bring em home.
The Pax Americana ended today.
And Hussein isn’t going to do a damned thing that’s in the best interest of the United States.
i think that you have coined a new term -pPOTUS
;)
We aren't (yet) ... the military is unfortunately.
“It’s 3:00 AM.....Is Hussein’s phone hooked up yet?”
It wasn’t around 3 PM I don’t think, because I got a recording, then a screeching sound in my ears, and then a busy signal.
>I think things are going to get dicey as hell pretty fast.<
>>Don’t think so. Obama is just going to be known as a worldwide coward as we cut and run everywhere. Aircraft carriers? Too expensive ... bring em home.
The Pax Americana ended today.<<
You just reinforced what I said.
>>The bullying begins.
Funny how fast the thugs sense weakness.<<
Ronald Reagan: “Peace Through Strength”.
Don’t worry-I’m sure Urkel has put in a good supply of white flags for the coming years.
Chill...
Yikes...sorry...Penelope is in ire tonight. I absolutely detest these people after today. I am NOT gonna play nice..I am NOT gonna sit silent..I am NOT going to be afraid of being attacked as a rascist because I detest Obama and his minions!
MY WHITE mother fought for civil rights back in the day...I have nothing to fear from these race baiters...I know the truth.
These people are pure evil! Pitting race against race....poor against rich...evangelicals against catholics....jews against christians...christians against muslims...wall street against main street...mother against child.
How do they do that you might ask?
By bringing it up in every speech and soundbite they utter. Welcome to CHANGE!!
Ah, well if I were a foreigner ina country targeted for aquisition by one of the second (soon to be first) rank great powers in the world. Yeah, it's dicey as hell.
American citizens ... the threat comes from within.
Damn, ok you were right. :)
So how much dirt do our enemies have on Hussein? Would the Chicoms, et al actually warn Obama and Axelrod that they might reveal some substantially true information about Obama’s checkered past, on Day 1? How close is Indonesia to China?
i see no reason to be sorry. with what will assuredly come to test the zero, i believe that the moniker pPOTUS is fitting.
China to Obama: “Bend Over”.
I’m glad we’re on the same side, FRiend. Thanks.
It’s called “Divide and Conquer”.
me, too, China wants to bump the queue(sp?)
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