Posted on 09/27/2010 4:16:04 AM PDT by nuconvert
The greatest geopolitical development that has occurred largely beneath the radar of our Middle East-focused media over the past decade has been the rise of Chinese sea power. This is evinced by President Obama's meeting Friday about the South China Sea, where China has conducted live-fire drills and made territorial claims against various Southeast Asian countries, and the dispute over the Senkaku Islands between Japan and China in the East China Sea, the site of a recent collision between a Chinese fishing trawler and two Japanese coast guard ships.
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China has the world's second-largest naval service, after only the United States. Rather than purchase warships across the board, it is developing niche capacities in sub-surface warfare and missile technology designed to hit moving targets at sea. At some point, the U.S. Navy is likely to be denied unimpeded access to the waters off East Asia. China's 66 submarines constitute roughly twice as many warships as the entire British Royal Navy. If China expands its submarine fleet to 78 by 2020 as planned, it would be on par with the U.S. Navy's undersea fleet in quantity, if not in quality. If our economy remains wobbly while China's continues to rise -- China's defense budget is growing nearly 10 percent annually -- this will have repercussions for each nation's sea power. And with 90 percent of commercial goods worldwide still transported by ship, sea control is critical.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I believe that the US is more than capable of winning the “free trade war.” We, however, have been fighting it very stupidly so far. Our nation’s strengths are severely hampered by our government’s efforts to extract revenue to perpetuate itself.
If we had a government that was truly interested in bettering the lot of its citizens, it would scrap the Internal Revenue code, the collection bureaucracy of the IRS, and repeal the 16th Amendment in favor of a National Retail Sales Tax - also known as the Fair Tax.
This would remove the taxation shackles from American manufacturing and businesses freeing them to focus on what they do best rather than on staving off the tax beast. Businesses would no longer need the tax accountants and wouldn’t need to do business in ways that minimize taxes rather than maximize efficiency.
Our citizens would also no longer need to spend the government estimated 8 hours (it took me over 40 hrs of work last year) to figure out how much Uncle Scam will steal from them each year. They can pay their Federal taxes in the same way that they pay their state level taxes - at the cash register when they buy new goods and services.
What corporation would not want to locate here when that is implemented? Unemployment will decrease, freedom will increase, and the ruling class will be greatly reduced in power.
“our subs and our navy’s aircraft carriers would deliver more ordnance in that hour to make the bombing of Tokyo seem like a picnic.”
Provided that it is approved by our CIC.
They call themselves DEMOCRATS.
Actually I think the pacific rim is mostly protected by law. We have treaties and bases in Australia, the Phillipines, Korea and Japan. We have congressional level laws that we are duty bound to protect all of them. If China wants to make a fuss, which they wont, we have a navy that will easily turn them into fish bait.
I don’t think we are distracted as much as we are engaged in self destruction by design ...
The Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama administrations have been systematically cutting back on Naval and Coast Guard assets.
The chief of Naval Operations, ADM Roughead started pushing the insane idea of a ‘1000’ ship navy, 5 or 6 years ago.
The 1000 ships of course aren’t US ships but ships of other nations, like India for example, so we don’t need to keep our fleet up. In fact we are below 300 ships at this time.
Our ship building businesses have been decimated by the ‘free traitors’ in the white house and congress. Our merchant marine is gone because of them. Our navy is just about gone because of them.
The ‘free traitors’ are so beholden to China they are doing everything in their power to destroy our military and empower China’s.
You are only partially correct.
The globalist free traitors which includes the two Bush administrations and the Clinton administration are behind the decline of our Navy and our military strength around the world. Free traitor globalists included Democrats, Republicans, and socialists in and out of both the parties.
You mean the Law of the Sea treaty? It dis-empowers the United States making us weak and unable to defend ourselves. Pushed by both Bush administrations, and Clinton, it took Obama illegally enact the treaty by utilizing the Executive Branch to implement it.
The globalist free traitors have won.
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While U.S. is distracted, China develops sea power
“
It’s not distraction.
It’s kow-towing and purposeful ignorance...bordering on treason on
the parts of Bubba Clinton and Obama.
No, I was talking about the the myriad treaties, including the one where we are obligated to go to war with China if they try to invade Taiwan. As for the Law of the Sea treaty, dont get me started. Just do a FR search for Delacon and LOST. I have been an opponent of it since it reared its ugly head.
China has a growing military because she is edging a little closer to her economic potential every year. I'm willing to bet, that in the next half century, China, ON A PER CAPITA basis, will not reach the military spending of what Britain and France (and I'm not evening mentioning the US) did during the peak years in post WWII.
Look at the raw statistics and compare with the size of China's population, economy, etc. China is doing nothing out of the ordinary for a country her size. Everything she has, the quantities, the expeditures, the research, etc. speaks of a peace time budget.
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