Lots of China News lately. Just remember - they are not our enemy unless we make them our enemy.
Beijing Accelerates Its Military Spending
The increase prompted the U.S. to renew calls for more transparency about the intent of China’s arms buildup.Beijing Accelerates Its Military Spending
A review of recent news from Asia Times:
A Healthier - Better Armed - China
"In an apparent effort to placate the public and implement President Hu Jintao's plan to build a "harmonious society" and put "people first", Premier Wen Jiabao said he will sharply increase government spending on education and medical care to help the needy and to strengthen efforts to bring down housing prices. At the same time, the Chinese government also plans to increase its national-defense budget by 17.8% this year to step up the modernization of the country's military. "
But war could happen if Taiwan declares independence:
China Slams Taiwan's Independence Talk
"Seeking independence is not a dangerous step backward," he said. However, Chen has stopped short of formally declaring independence, a move that would cross the United States, which fears involvement in any potential cross-strait clash."
"Don't listen to local leaders," Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told Taiwan reporters in Beijing, a reference to China's view that Taiwan is a mere province. "Whoever wants to split away will become a criminal in history."
3 comments:
If Taiwan declares independence we will have no choice but to defend our ally. The Taiwanese would get the blunt of the force and would have to do most of the fighting... it is their own independence.
The economic impact that would plague China if it invades Taiwan would become too problematic for the Chinese development which has it soaring up right now. I don't know the domestic politics of China; whether the people there despise the Taiwanese or not. What I do know is that they will be the ones eventually suffering.
I think the Taiwanese leadership understands the situation and probably won't declare independence out of the blue.
I don't see China as a threat to the US for a few reasons. I don't carry any typ of annimosity towards the Chinese people - probably a view other Americans share as well. I don't necessairly like their leadership but it has changed favorably over the last 14 years or so.
Time will tell.
China's increase in military spending is not a threat to the United States. Despite its reputation of having the world's largest army (maybe b/c it has the world's largest population?), the technological aspect of Chinese warfare can hardly be compared to that of the United States. China is merely trying to catch up with the rest of the world, not to mention that it may need an increase in military spending should conflict break out with North Korea (which would not surprise me in the least).
As for the comment about spending money on defense rather than helping the poor, I think that takes it a little far. Although a valid point, one has to put it in context with both China's interests and the patterns of other global powers. Example, the United States government's federal budget send almost 56% of its dollars to the Pentagon for spending on defense. China spends far less of a percentage, but at the same time, shouldn't be expected not to be increasing its military budget, seeing as how it is natural for countries to do so as their economies expand.
We are failing to look at the ever growing population of Chinese engineers and their abilities to reverse engineer pretty much any piece of technology. The U.S. missile that "accidentally" went into the Chinese embassy was reverse engineered because it didn't detonate. Tell me that wasn't pre-organized. American missiles and nuclear weapons have so many fail safes to be sure that something like that doesn't happen. There are so many security checks just to get a missile charged and ready to be fired. After that there are additional authorizations that need to verified. Tangent but something that was bothering me.
-Gadget
Post a Comment