Replies to post #216642 on $Stock*Shop*Charts*News*Option$

[Stock Lobster]

I can't believe what we've allowed happen to our Navy. Unconscionable, imo.

It is essential, that Americans realize that there are strong voices within the Chinese Communist Party who actually welcome the prospect of a nuclear war with the United States - the sooner, the better, before we finalize our next generation of anti-ballistic missile defense systems. These hardline generals have long recommended using a confrontation over Taiwan as an excuse to escalate into a full blown war. That's why the recent hardline attitude by China towards the US, and their denying our ships access to Hong Kong and other ports has me on high alert. They wouldn't even allow a routine landing by an army jet to re-stock the US consulate in Hong Kong - claiming the US has displeased them by honoring the Dali Lama..and supposedly our supplying arms to Taiwan

Is it a coincidence that these grumblings come just as Bush is struggling with record low approval ratings, Congress continues to squabble over minutia, support from our former allies such as Japan and Germany is flagging, and our dollar is falling to an all time low with China itself musing about using the 'nuclear' option of diversting of US currency in order hasten an all out financial crisis in the United States?

In my memory we have never looked weaker and more vulnerable as a nation.

I reposted this 2005 article from the NYT, which began with these comments:

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=24960252

BEIJING, Friday, July 15 - China should use nuclear weapons against the United States if the American military intervenes in any conflict over Taiwan, a senior Chinese military official said Thursday.

"If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons," the official, Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu, said at an official briefing.

The comments collected in the Helium article also reflect this same alarming attitude:

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=24960321

The Chinese military also makes no secret of the fact that it would welcome a nuclear war with the United States - a war that China believes it could win.

According to an August 1999 policy document published by the People's Liberation Army Office of the Central Military Command, "unlike Iraq and Yugoslavia, China is not only a big country, but also possesses a nuclear arsenal that has long since been incorporated into state warfare system and play a real role in our national defense."

"In comparison with the U.S. nuclear arsenal, our disadvantage is mainly numeric, which in real wars the qualitative gap will be reflected only as different requirement of strategic theory," says the Chinese military document.

"In terms of deterrence, there is not any difference in practical value. So far we have built up the capability for the second and third nuclear strikes and are fairly confident in fighting a nuclear war. The PCC [communist Party Central Committee] has decided to pass though formal channels this message to the top leaders in the U.S."

And the overwhelming assessment by officials in the region, including Australia, Japan and South Korea, is that the US military could not defeat China. Although most Asian officials have kept their assessments private, Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara has gone public, warning that the United States would lose any war with China.

"In any case, if tension between the United States and China heightens, if each side pulls the trigger, though it may not be stretched to nuclear weapons, and the wider hostilities expand, I believe America cannot win as it has a civic society that must adhere to the value of respecting lives," Mr. Ishihara said in an address to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Ishihara said U.S. ground forces would be unable to stem a Chinese conventional attack. Indeed, he asserted that China would not hesitate to use nuclear weapons against Asian and American cities even at the risk of a massive U.S. retaliation.

The governor said the U.S. military could not counter a wave of millions of Chinese soldiers prepared to die in any onslaught against U.S. forces.

China could afford to lose as many as 200,000,000 men and would still have more forces in reserve than the US military has in total.

Finally, the "Military.com" article summarizes what we were talking about before: that the US obsession with the middle east has blinded us to the growing Chinese threat, and left us overextended. In discussing a report outlining the threat, the author writes:

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=24960183

...For example, the report states, “the United States welcomes the rise of a peaceful and prosperous China.” It encourages China to take on “a greater share of responsibility for the health and success of the global system.” Then the report notes that, “China’s leaders have yet to adequately explain the purposes or desired end states of their military expansion.” The question is asked: What is China’s motivation for this huge arms expansion?

The answer is plain. China is preparing to launch an attack to retake Taiwan. Moreover, China is building up its forces to protect the flow of oil and other natural resources from the Middle East and South America back to China. The overwhelming Chinese economic expansion requires these resources and the Chinese military will be in a position to secure their continual flow. All of this means that as we look ahead fifteen or twenty years, there is a significant chance that China will surpass the United States, not only economically, but militarily as well.

It is all very well for DOD to report on these facts on an annual basis to Congress. But the more important question is what is the United States doing to counter the Chinese increase in military power?

Unfortunately, significant portions of our own armed forces are tied down with what now appear to be long-term commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq. With depleted forces at home, what would the United States be able to do if China launched an attack on Taiwan next week, for example? How could we respond effectively in an Asian military confrontation?

[Stock Lobster]

I know I'm biased, but I'm shocked that an author such as Meredith is unaware of statements and attitudes expressed by those at the highest level of Chinese government.

Are these people really so short sighted, or has greed and the prospect of tapping the huge potential chinese consumer market blinded them to obvious issues of national security?

The fact that the Chinese government is encouraging capitalistic activties in order to raise hard cash to expand their military and increase their presence world wide, is not to be confused with a sincere quest for democracy.