Posted on 08/05/2016 9:28:56 PM PDT by iowamark
A recent report from the US Congressional Research Service outlines China's 2.3 million-member armed forces and sheds light on misconceptions from Western military analysts.
Simply put, the report challenges the idea that Westerners can understand China's military and foreign-policy decisions without first understanding Chinese philosophy and culture of warfare.
Unlike the US, China has a media apparatus controlled by the state, so its military reports lack the transparency established by a free press.
China also has a fundamentally different understanding of aggression. For the Chinese, there is little difference between peacetime and wartime cyber espionage, and they have engaged in stealing military secrets from the US and others because they can.
The report, written by Ian E. Rinehart, a CRS analyst in Asian affairs, urges Congress and military leadership to examine a "Chinese way of war."
With a population of 1.3 billion to draw from, more than four times as much as the population of the US, China has over 2.3 million in active service, with an additional 1.1 million as reserves and military police. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has actually shrunk from its estimated 1992 level of more than 3 million in active service.
The US military has about 1.4 million active service members, which represents a much lower total number of personnel, but a much higher percentage of the population engaged in the military.
Also important to consider is that China's last war was a short fight against Vietnam in 1979. The Chinese have not been in a sustained conflict since the Korean war that ended in 1953.
Though the US has larger and more modern forces, they would face huge difficulty in abandoning their posts worldwide to focus on China.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
That's not true. The US, also has a media apparatus controlled by the state
Agree ...
Good catch!
Yeah, we hear that a lot. But if our media was controlled by the state, you’d be begging for the days of MSNBC.
Anyone who hasn’t really comprehended Sun Tzu and Confucius does not have a prayer of understanding anything about the Chinese military.
BKMK
” Unlike the US, China has a media apparatus controlled by the state, so its military reports lack the transparency established by a free press.”
The author fundamentally misunderstands the operation of the press in the US. It is an arm of the DemocRAT party which exclusively acts to protect it and destroy it’s enemies, which are freedom loving patriotic Americans. Transparent press my @zz.
When a major premise in your argument is flawed like this, there can't be much hope for the validity of the article, no matter what the author is trying to show.
All I need to know about the chinese military I learned from chinese products like hoverboards and motorcycles.
The real difference is that everyone in China KNOWS that the media is controlled by the state.
A lot can be learned from this photo. The uniforms and clothing of all are very similar, in fact duplicates of NATO and western uniforms. There is a very strong effort to appear to be cutting edge modern.
The presence of gloves is somewhat anachronistic, recalling scenes from Tora, Tora, Tora. When contrasted with the pics we see of the north Korean officers that wear the gaudy bemedaled uniforms that reflect the old China military, there is a striking difference.
It is common for journalists to heavily strike the themes of cyber war. Un mentioned and actually unknown are the day to day incursions into Chinese computer nets by our forces. Such activity is a closely guarded secret.
Thanks Free Trade for building up out enemies industrial base. Free trade; When you want to make money selling out your country. It is the way to go!
Looks like he dropped his right hand glove to shake hands.
Our media is often in collusion with the state. It’s different, but also destructive.
The MSM in this country are now nothing less than naked communist propaganda machines. Spewing disinformation, division and outright lies to keep folks off balance and divided...all at the behest of the ferrules.
Presstitutes and Polidiots are ..... doom on em all.
The RATagandists at ABCNNBCBS ARE controlled by the statist DNC/communists (which was recently revealed from hacked e-mails between The Washrag and network news editors)
As are the educRATs, the bureaucRATs, the courts, Hollywierd, and higher "education".
But then again, you probably know that.
The Japanese Navy could defeat the Chinese Navy more than 600 miles off shore.
And we publish our doctrine on-line for all to see. . . .BUT. . . we don’t slavishly follow it and that is our strength.
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