it's funny 'cause it's true
Quote:
3. Rick Santorum hopes for war with China
Gaffe: "You know, Mitt, I don't want to go to a trade war, I want to beat China. I want to go to war with China and make America the most attractive place in the world to do business."
2012 GOP race: 6 biggest foreign policy gaffes - The Week - Nov 3, 2011.
it's funny 'cause it's true
China stumbling into power?
After reviewing other threads on China in South Asia and the South China Sea dispute I came across this on the Lowry Institute's emailing; the commentary started on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, so posted in a seperate thread.
At the end is a stunning insight, what does SWC think? The author is an IISS analyst and has been in China studying the language for three years now, so may have passed the 'Ken White' how do you understand them test!
Quote:
China is the world's foremost rising power and her influence will be felt wherever she pops up. As we sat down to a sumptuous meal around a large garlanded table after our discussion, our new Chinese friends gave us no sense of having really thought through the implications of what their newfound accidental influence means.
The impression was rather that China is stumbling onto power it does not want, and with which it doesn't know what to do.
Link:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...-its-role.aspx
China tells navy to prepare for combat
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China tells navy to prepare for combat
Chinese President Hu Jintao has urged the country's navy to prepare for military combat and advance naval modernisation as part of efforts to safeguard world peace.
The navy should "accelerate its transformation and modernisation in a sturdy way, and make extended preparations for military combat in order to make greater contributions to safeguard national security and world peace", Hu said in a speech on Tuesday that comes amid US and regional concerns over China's naval ambitions.................
China, which publicly announced around 50 separate naval exercises in the seas off its coast over the past two years, usually after the event, says its military is only focused on defending the country's territory.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news...207-1ohm4.html
The various exercises carried out by navies around the South China Sea, the clashes therein earlier, the proactive 'cocking a snoot' at China by Vietnam and the explorations by foreign oil consortium in the SCS, seems to have irked China.
All these activities seem to have angered China to openly state and expose the real intent of rapid naval modernisation, till now cloaked with pacifist idiomatic flourishes.
For long, the Chinese Govt controlled media has been speculating of the US intent to 'encircle' China.
The 'Peaceful Rise of China' seems to have been adequate a soother to disarm other countries wherein China has been able to become a superpower in the making, near capable of challenging the position of the US as the sole superpower.
The timing, not the content makes me ponder
What I found of note was the timing, not the content.
One, the statement came into the public domain on the 7th December 2011, the anniversary of Pearl Harbour; a day likely to have a naval focus in the USA (although perhaps not the main target). I expect the actual speech was yesterday, but have not searched for the original reporting.
Second, as the BBC report:
Quote:
Senior US and Chinese officials are currently holding talks on military issues. The one-day meeting takes place every year, with the stated aim of ensuring there are no misunderstandings between the two nations.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-16063607