October 26, 2009
China Will "Never Seek Hegemony"
Ahead of a top-level military-to-military summit this week in Washington, DC, Vice Chairman of Beijing's Central Military Commission Xu Caihou said the Chinese military "will never seek hegemony" and emphasized the age-old line of China's rulers that China seeks only to repel attacks with a military on defense only not offense. Xu made the remarks at a Center For Strategic and International Studies confab in Washington. Xu is on a 10 day tour and will meet with his counterpart Defense Secretary Robert Gates and visit several USA military installations....
Labels: foreign relations, military, military-industrial complex, pentagon
October 14, 2009
Russia, USA Engage Chinese Military
Russian PM Putin's visit to Beijing is being hailed as a renewed thaw in Russia-China relations with commitments for close cooperation on trade, energy, and high technology. Beijing and Moscow will set up a hot line similar to the one each nation already shares with Washington. And Russia and China will advise each other of ballistic missile launches. Meanwhile, the Pentagon will host the People's Liberation Army's number 2 man, Xu Caihou, for the week ending Halloween....
Labels: foreign relations, military, pentagon, russia
September 03, 2009
USA CHINA War Games
The head of the US Pacific Command (USPACOM), Admiral Timothy Keating, said in Australia that he would like to engage China in joint war games with the US Navy and the Australian military. According to Reuters both nations have agreed to invite the Chinese Ministry of National Defense to naval and possibly land exercises.....
Labels: australia, defense, navy, pentagon
April 07, 2009
How China Frames the Pentagon's Debate
A Pentagon disinformation campaign is in full swing thanks to Congress at long last hearing the desires of most Americans to not spend $1 trillion each year on every conceivable weapons system for every possible war scenario. In order to ensure the military-industrial complex continue to eat 3/4 of the American pie the Pentagon needs a reliable bogeyman. That's where Iran usually comes in. But the likelyhood that Obama may highlight his Presidency with a "Nixon in China" moment with Teheran means Iran won't do. Enter China.
The latest news that a private Chinese citizen and trading firm is indicted for allegedly helping Iranian businesses get special metals and supplies for missiles is one in a series of news events that include the "Impeccable Incident" of Chinese fishermen mooning the US Navy. Will the drum beats continue all summer? Unless Lockheed Martin, et al, get what they want I suspect we'll hear a lot more about the looming Chinese 'threat'...
Labels: cold war 2, pentagon
March 11, 2009
Charles Freeman Rejection as Much About China as Israel
Charles (Chas) Freeman withdrew his candidacy to head President Obama's National Intelligence Council after intense objections from Congress including entire Democratic Party members of relevant committees. The line is that Freeman was not sufficiently subservient to the Israel lobby. But just as important is his connections with China through his son. Critics questioned his "ties" to China but being on an advisory board of a huge mulitnational company such as CNOOC is hardly a tie. Also at issue were comments made about Tiananmen Square --is American political discourse really this petty?
More significantly, Freeman's son Charles W. Freeman III was assistant US Trade Representative for China trade under President Bush and as such shepherded China into the WTO under the US China Trade Relations Act signed by President Clinton just prior to the 2000 election. Freeman handled a politically charged envirnoment for years with pragmatism and realism and helped W enlarge and improve USA-China relations, perhaps the only positive legacy of President Bush.
There was no way anti-China trade Democrats, chief among them tariff king Charles Schumer (D - NY), could tolerate such world views.
The move to reject Freeman is a direct win for the Pentagon and all its allies who are beating the war drums at Beijing.
So much for "change" in Washington...
Labels: congress, foreign relations, pentagon
March 09, 2009
Spy Ship Incident
Here we go again.
Joe Biden warned of an early international crisis for President Obama. Just a few months into his first term as President George Bush had the "spy plane incident" with China ultimately leading to a full apology from the White House.
This weekend the US Navy whined that while conducting "routine" (read: intelligence) operations south of Hainan Island (where the spy plane was allowed emergency landing) its ships were "shadowed and aggressively maneuvered in dangerously close proximity" by Chinese flagged vessels (only 1 of the ships apparently Chinese Navy). But who is the agressor here? If Chinese Navy ships began conducting "routine" operations 25 miles off San Diego how would the US Navy react?
The Pentagon needs a bogeyman. The so-called War on Terror is losing relevance to most Americans. Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts is pushing for a 25% reduction in military spending. As the US federal government debt balloons to countless trillions some in America are questioning the need to spend at least $1 trillion annually on its war machine.
In 2001 I pointed out the need to get to know China instead of looking for a fight. Sadly, I reiterate that call again today.
Joe Biden warned of an early international crisis for President Obama. Just a few months into his first term as President George Bush had the "spy plane incident" with China ultimately leading to a full apology from the White House.
This weekend the US Navy whined that while conducting "routine" (read: intelligence) operations south of Hainan Island (where the spy plane was allowed emergency landing) its ships were "shadowed and aggressively maneuvered in dangerously close proximity" by Chinese flagged vessels (only 1 of the ships apparently Chinese Navy). But who is the agressor here? If Chinese Navy ships began conducting "routine" operations 25 miles off San Diego how would the US Navy react?
The Pentagon needs a bogeyman. The so-called War on Terror is losing relevance to most Americans. Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts is pushing for a 25% reduction in military spending. As the US federal government debt balloons to countless trillions some in America are questioning the need to spend at least $1 trillion annually on its war machine.
In 2001 I pointed out the need to get to know China instead of looking for a fight. Sadly, I reiterate that call again today.
Labels: cold war 2, navy, pentagon, spies, spy, spying
December 23, 2008
China Supership Redux
This post is bumped up since the NY Times is now blathering that " If China does decide to build the carrier, it will no doubt increase tensions with the United States, Taiwan and Japan, among other governments," etc.first posted Nov. 17, 2008
At present the only aircraft carriers in China are old Soviet ships docked in ShenZhen and Tianjin as tourist attractions. But news that a loose-lipped Chinese defense official told foreign reporters that China may build an aircraft carrier of its own someday has some sources buzzing.
Not since the rumours of a mysterious Chinese "supership" in 2001 has there been so much hot air about the looming threat of China's navy. Of course the idea that a single Chinese aircraft carrier perhaps appearing sometime in the next decade could compromise the USA's 11 aircraft carrier battle groups is absurd.
But consider this: the USA military-industrial complex is very concerned about its prospects under President Obama. A China threat scare could help ensure that the new Democratic Party controlled Congress doesn't try to touch the $1 trillion spent each and every year by Washington on defense spending.
Labels: military, military-industrial complex, pentagon
October 03, 2008
Wolfowitz Pushes Arms on Taiwan
Seven years after the Bush administration offered a massive arms deal to Taiwan and a year after Taiwan's politicians agreed to buy a much smaller package, the US State Department will move forward with $6 billion in weapons in order to avoid the entire package being scuttled by a future Obama administration.
The latest moves appear to be orchestrated by the Bush administration's former Pentagon heavyweight Paul Wolfowitz now Chairman of the US-Taiwan Business Council and the State Department's International Security Advisory Board and will most benefit Lockheed-Martin and a few other defense contractors.
Labels: arms sales, pentagon, taiwan, wolfowitz
April 03, 2008
"Classic Espionage" (Updated April 3, 2008)
UPDATE: Chi Mak was sentenced to over 24 years in prison even though the documents Mak took and passed to unnamed Chinese operatives were unclassified. "Mak's attorney, Ronald O. Kaye, said his client was a scapegoat for other U.S. intelligence failures and a 'symbol of the government's cold war against the Chinese.'"
UPDATE (April 1, 2008): Pentagon weapons analyst Gregg William Bergersen plead guilty to one count of criminal information conspiracy yesterday in US District Court. Last week Chinese born Chi Mak, a retired 65 year old engineer, plead guilty in California. No other details are available. These are unusually swift trials and convictions. Beijing's Foreign Ministry denies any knowledge of these conspiracies. The FBI, Navy, and Air Force investigators behind these espionage cases have not shown any evidence that any information was actually procured or received by the Chinese government.
Previous posts:
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Liu Jianchao had this to say in a press briefing on Thursay (Feb. 14):
"Q: Not long ago, the US alleged that they had arrested four Chinese spies. Do you have any response? What is China's position on the espionage issue?First post (February 11, 2008):
A: We have taken note of the report. The so-called accusation against China on the issue of espionage is utterly groundless and out of ulterior motives. We urge the US to abandon its Cold War mentality and put end to the groundless accusations and do more to contribute to mutual trust and friendship between our two peoples."
What do the following have in common? The FBI, Boeing, the Pentagon, upcoming elections in Taiwan and the United States, the Space Shuttle, and the US Air Force's unhappiness with its share of the near $1 trillion USA defense budget?
They are "all the elements of a classic espionage operation" Kenneth L. Wainstein, USA Assistant Attorney General for National Security gushed in a release first reported by the chief purveyor of anonymous Pentagon secrets Bill Gertz in his Washington Times column and picked up by the Associated Press today.
There are actually two separate stories in the "operation" according to today's Justice Department announcement of espionage arrests. First the New Orleans - Pentagon connection centered on the efforts of Tai Shen Kuo to buy information on Taiwan arms sales from a Pentagon analyst. Mr. Tai is described in an AP report as a "furniture salesman" but someone with the same name is listed on the Internet as the CEO of Houma, Louisiana, based G T L International, a business services consultancy. There are a lot of GTL companies found on the Internet ranging from shadowy conglomerates of "The Global Group" based in Mumbai, India, to carriers in France.
The other witch hunt is against a Chinese native 72 year old retired Rockwell International (now part of Boeing) employee. Shades of Wen Ho Lee?
The first spy ring, if true, is entirely the result of US Government actions. Beijing would not need to counter American technology transfers to Taiwan if Washington would abide by the 1982 joint communique on ending arms sales to Taiwan.
It will be interesting to see the impact of this latest Chinese spy scandal on the elections in Taiwan on March 22 and the campaigns of USA presidential contenders Obama, Clinton, and McCain. I believe it is the first sign of a China bait and bash that will come to dominate the "news" cycle for the rest of the year with peaks next month, August, and October.
Labels: boeing, china, defense, espionage, military-industrial complex, pentagon, spy, taiwan
March 25, 2008
Minuteman Missiles on Taiwan?
The Pentagon today acknowledged that devices for intercontinental ballistic "Minuteman" missiles were shipped by the Air Force to Taiwan. The devices are "component[s] for the fuse in the nosecone for a nuclear system" according to Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne. Wynne said the shipment was supposed to be helicopter batteries and is being investigated.
According to the joint Sino-USA communique of 1982:
"... the United States Government states that it does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan, that its arms sales to Taiwan will not exceed, either in qualitative or in quantitative terms, the level of those supplied in recent years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China, and that it intends to reduce gradually its sales of arms to Taiwan, leading over a period of time to a final resolution."
It is time for the United States to live up to its agreements and honor the 1982 communique. The people of Taiwan spoke last weekend in a popular election and chose to move away from confrontation with Beijing. Unless it changes its actions and begins to honor its actual policy, the USA will act as provacateur and risk a nuclear standoff.
Labels: arms sales, china policy, minuteman, nuclear missles, pentagon, taiwan
March 04, 2008
Pentagon Trades GWOT for China
The Pentagon made its annual report to the US Congress on China's military this week with the usual bluster about expenditures and technology upgrades. Impressionable Americans in key political districts (those that host military-industrial complex businesses and their politicians, lobbyists, and boosters) will fret over scary headlines about the Chinese bogeyman. But the sane among us (Sinomania! readers, of course) know that Chinese arms spending is but a tiny fraction of the now $1 trillion US defense budget and that no Chinese ballistic missile is yet capable of reaching the continental USA despite lies to the contrary.
That the Pentagon needs to inflate the Chinese bogeyman says more about the state of (and public sentiment toward) the Global War On Terror than it does about any threat from China.
Labels: china, GWOT, military, missiles, pentagon, spending
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