How should the U.S respond to this? Or shouldn’t they lest it jeopardize big business’ ability to take advantage of slave labor and obtain and resell at a profit huge quantities of toxic, cheap plastic crap?
Stumble It!
China’s Nuclear Capability
May 1st, 2008 · 2 Comments
Stumble It!
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2 responses so far ↓
1 tehehehe // May 2, 2008 at 9:13 am
This is somewhat “typical” of a world power. China is definitely a world power. Their leaders feel the need to have naval power to extend their reach to compete with the US. This is not a positive development, but is one that could be “expected”.
There is no “solution”. The best that can be done is to have an on-going dialogue and negotiations to try and moderate any effort by China to use this capability for aggressive purposes. We can do that to some extent, but China is not likely to “surrender” this ability.
We were able to negotiate with the USSR (and subsequently with Russia) to develop a treaty to establish procedures to try and “descalate” or prevent inadvertant confrontations between our military forces and theirs during times of tension. It was called the “Dangerous Activities Treaty”. I am confident that the US has, or is pursuing a similar such treaty with China to try and prevent an inadvertant escalation and avoid any conflict.
China is demanding in their claims to Taiwan as Chinese territory. The US has expressed their support for “autonomy” for Taiwan without addressing the issue of territorial independence. Taiwan regularly plays with the idea of declaring “independence”. This is a possible “flash point”, and China is developing the capability to guarantee their ability to exercise dominance in the event that Taiwan tries to “break away”. Up till now, china did not have the ability to exert control over Taiwan, but they soon will have the naval capability to do so.
The US (and Taiwan) will have to decide how to respond. And this undoubtedly will mean that the US will indicate to China (probably in quiet discussions) that the US will not confront China with military force should they exercise soverienty over Taiwan, but that an overt act will no go unchallenged in other venues (economically). Meanwhile, the US will tell Taiwan not to provoke China by declaring independence.
This is all a “face-saving’ exercise. As long as everybody “plays nice”, nothing is likely to happen. Should someone get a “wild hair”, then tense times could result.
Over time, China’s economic interests will trump their political adherence to “communism”, and they will become less of a military threat. “Face-saving” will be less of a political need. China will be more “tolerant”. That will significantly reduce the threat of some military confrontation.
Culturally, and historically, China has viewed itself as “the center of the world”. The are absolutely unbending in their claims to sovereignty, but they have never been all that aggressive in trying to expand their territory, just their influence. They have not invaded other nations to expand their territory, but only to “save face” or act “defensively”. They have also acted to protect allies. In many respects, they have acted much like the US and been quite responsible as a world actor, but they are “sensitive”. They dont like criticism. Behind the scenes, quiet negotiation works much better than confrontation. (it is a quite different culture than in the Mid-East or Africa).
Make no mistake, China can be dangerous. But they can be dealt with. The biggest danger is some action by Taiwan or by North korea. Then next problem is some accidental confrontation that rapidly escalates. Condi Rice, and the Sec States of past (and probably future) Administrations know this. And They are undoubtedly working to minimize such dangers.
Keep the faith!
2 tehehehe // May 2, 2008 at 9:16 am
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