What is China up to?

[Munin]

Apparently, the internet is Chinas biggest weapon today: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRGHGb5axK4&feature=related]YouTube - China Cyber Attack on America[/ame]

 

[Munin]

Some other "recent" news about China:
China is the 3rd biggest economy in the world since January 2009.

article:
China passes Germany in economic rankings - CNN.com
video:
China passes Germany in economic rankings - CNN.com

 

[Munin]

An interesting report about the Chinese military, if you re interested:

http://www.comw.org/cmp/fulltext/060811cordesman.pdf

It almost seems like Russia is handing over the torch to China, creating (in the future) a more powerful nation then the former Soviet Union by doing so. And this will all have been financed with Western money, ahh the irony ...

 

[Munin]

Again a military budget increase, this time in the midst of an economic crisis:

... China boosts defense spending by nearly 15 percent in 2009 ...

Oh yeah, don't worry : it is a smaller increase then the previous years . Which other nation is increasing its defense budget in the midst of an economic crisis? The US has a "one time" spending in the stimulus bill, but I wouldn't call that a permanent budget increase.

ABC News: China Sees Smaller Defense Boost Amid Economy Woes

An interesting review about China s military status (future and present).

A Chinese Military Superpower?
by John J. Tkacik, Jr.
WebMemo #1389
On March 4, China's National People's Congress announced that it would increase the country's military budget 17.8 percent in 2007 to a total of $45 billion.[1] Despite the fact that this was the biggest single annual increase in China's military spending,[2] the Chinese government reassured the world that this spending hike was normal and need not worry anyone. "China is committed to taking a path of peaceful development and it pursues a defensive military posture," a spokesman said.[3] But the evidence suggests instead that China's intent is to challenge the United States as a military superpower.

A closer look at China's military spending raises profound questions about China's geopolitical direction. In terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), China's effective military spending is far greater than $45 billion, or even the U.S. Department of Defense's $105 billion estimate.[4] In fact, it is in the $450 billion range, putting it in the same league as the United States and far ahead of any other country, including Russia.[5] This figure reflects the reality that a billion dollars can buy a lot more "bang" in China than in the United States.

Within a decade, perhaps much sooner, China will be America's only global competitor for military and strategic influence. Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell told the Senate on February 27 that the Chinese are "building their military, in my view, to reach some state of parity with the United States," adding that "they're a threat today, they would become an increasing threat over time."[6] Nor is this a revelation to Washington policy-makers. McConnell's predecessor John Negroponte testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee in February 2006 that "China is a rapidly rising power with steadily expanding global reach that may become a peer competitor to the United States at some point."[7] In June 2005, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice observed that the U.S. must help integrate China into the international, rules-based economy before it becomes a "military superpower."[8] Rice, with a doctorate in Soviet studies and years of experience in the White House during the last days of the Cold War, would not use the term "superpower" lightly.

It remains to be seen whether China's now massive stake in the global economy will result in Beijing becoming a responsible stakeholder in global affairs, but Beijing seems poised for true global status as a "military superpower." The latest figures from the econometricians at the Central Intelligence Agency—whose data come from the World Bank—peg China's 2006 GDP, adjusted for purchasing power parity, at $10 trillion, with a nominal exchange-rate value of $2.5 trillion.[9]

Despite the Chinese Communist Party leadership's espousal of China's "peaceful rise," the unprecedented peacetime expansion of China's military capabilities betrays a clear intent to challenge the United States in the Western Pacific and establish itself as the region's predominant military power. With China's massive GDP and military spending at an estimated 4.5 percent of GDP, the resources that Beijing now devotes to its armed forces surely make it a top global power.[10] The exact methodology that U.S. intelligence agencies use to arrive at this estimate is classified, but it reportedly takes into account the fact that China's budget figures do not include foreign arms purchases, subsidies to military industries, any of China's space program (which is under the command of the Central Military Commission), or the costs of the 660,000 strong "People's Armed Police."[11] It appears that some defense spending sectors that are not counted in the defense budget have increased much faster than the budget itself.[12]

At a time when The Heritage Foundation is encouraging sustained U.S. defense spending of 4 percent of GDP in an initiative called "Four Percent for Freedom,"[13] China's military budget could be called "Four-and-a-Half Percent Against Freedom" due to its involvement in countries like Burma, Sudan, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Uzbekistan, and Iran, not to mention its actions against freedom in Taiwan and, of course, in China itself.

...

A Chinese Military Superpower?

 

[Munin]

The latest incident (March 10, 2009 ) , just keeping you guys up to date

Published: March 10, 2009

WASHINGTON — The confrontation between a United States naval vessel and five Chinese ships is the “most serious” military dispute between the countries since a midair collision in 2001 forced an American surveillance plane to land on Hainan island, the director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, said Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

...

Mr. Blair said at the Senate hearing that the Chinese “seem to be more militarily aggressive" in general.

According to a Pentagon statement and Pentagon officials, the confrontation started when the Chinese vessels surrounded and harassed the Impeccable, about 75 miles off Hainan island, south of the Chinese mainland. At least one came within 25 feet of the American boat, and Chinese sailors used hooks to try to snag cables the Navy boat was using to tow sonar equipment designed for antisubmarine warfare.

According to the American account, as the Chinese vessels approached the American ship, Chinese sailors waved flags and ordered it to leave. The Impeccable, which did not carry large-caliber weapons and was operated by civilian contractors for the Military Sealift Command, told the Chinese vessels that it had the right of safe passage in international waters. But two of the Chinese ships blocked the Impeccable after it requested safe transit, while Chinese sailors dropped pieces of wood in its path and wielded hooks.

During the confrontation, the Impeccable’s crew sprayed some of the Chinese sailors with a fire hose, causing some of the sailors to strip to their underwear. The Chinese ships consisted of a naval intelligence vessel, two smaller trawlers, a fisheries patrol boat and an official oceanographic ship, Pentagon officials said.
In Hawaii, at the headquarters for the United States Pacific Command, Capt. Jeffrey A. Breslau, a spokesman, said Tuesday: “It’s not clear what the Chinese intentions were. There have been a few incidents over the past week and a half. But who orchestrated this latest one, and why, we don’t know.”

Captain Breslau said that while the Chinese maneuvers had been dangerous, a hot line linking Adm. Timothy J. Keating, the leader of the Pacific Command, with his counterpart in Beijing had not been used.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/world/asia/11military.html


other source: http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/10/asia/10navy-cndnyt.php

here is the youtube version:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DudXN0BuKOw&feature=related[/ame]

 

[rcajun90]

China has one aircraft carrier...

They don't need a huge Navy to attack.
US FACES SURPRISE ATTACK WITH CANAL GIVEAWAY: ANALYST

 

[Munin]

Another interesting effort of China:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CdjgiNFrXE]YouTube - cnn - china shopping spree - buying up everything[/ame]

China Goes on a Smart Shopping Spree - TIME

 

[Munin]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- China's military is developing longer-range ballistic and anti-ship missiles that are "shifting the balance of power in the region" and could help Beijing secure resources or settle territorial disputes, a report released by the Pentagon said Wednesday.

China also continues to build up short-range missiles and increase its "coercive capabilities" against Taiwan. The report suggests such moves constitute an effort to pressure Taiwan into settling the cross-strait dispute in favor of China, though tensions between the two countries have receded over the past year.

The report, called the "Military Power of the People's Republic of China," is the Pentagon's annual briefing to Congress on the status of the communist country's military might.

While China continues to proclaim that its military buildup is for defense purposes to protect its interests, the report says the country's lack of transparency is worrisome and could lead to an unintended conflict.

"The limited transparency in China's military and security affairs poses risks to stability by creating uncertainty and increasing the potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation," according to the report. "Much uncertainty surrounds China's future course, particularly regarding how its expanding military power might be used."

The lack of transparency causes Washington "to speculate to some degree on what their intentions are," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters at a Wednesday briefing.

According to Adm. Timothy Keating, the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, some of that uncertainty is due to the cessation of talks between the Chinese and U.S. militaries.

In March of 2008, the United States and China installed a hot line between the two countries' militaries. But there have been no military-to-military talks since November 2008, when Washington announced it was selling weapons to Taiwan.

"We are looking for the resumption of that dialogue so we can engage in discussion with our colleagues in the People's Republic of China and their Army, Navy and Air Force so we can have a sense of their way ahead," Keating told the House Armed Services committee on Tuesday. "We don't have a clear idea of their broad strategic way ahead."

...

Pentagon report: China's military expanding its capabilities - CNN.com


Maybe it has something to do with this: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/wo...1military.html

I think it should be viewed as China trying to shift naval power in the pacific to its advantage

 

[Mr. President]

China is playing a game of risk what it doesn't realize is the same way Germany was fighting on too many fronts will be the same way China is fighting on too many fronts and the air attacks from all sides will take its toll on china very quickly.

 

[editec]

China is taking its place as the foremost nation on earth.

It is becoming the replacement superpower for the USA.

That isn't obvious?

 

[Munin]

China is taking its place as the foremost nation on earth.

It is becoming the replacement superpower for the USA.

That isn't obvious?

Doesn't that worry you?

Or is it just me being paranoid?

 

[Mr. President]

The US would go to war before it bowed to any other nation as a super power.

 

[editec]

China is taking its place as the foremost nation on earth.

It is becoming the replacement superpower for the USA.

That isn't obvious?

Doesn't that worry you?

Or is it just me being paranoid?

Why do you think I've been obsessively screaming about what a mistake FREE TRADE is every since I started writing here?

 

[editec]

The US would go to war before it bowed to any other nation as a super power.

It won't be bowled over.

America became a superpower because it was the most productive society on earth...not because of its military, but because we could AFFORD our military

Well our masters sold the nation out so they could personally get richer.

And the plan that the NEO-CONS had of bankrupting America to get rid of social welfare isn't really working out, is it?

A bankrupt nation cannot AFFORD to be a superpower.

And our masters SET OUT to bankrupt this nation.

BOTH PARTIES did this, so this is not a slam at one side or the other.

BOTH PARTIES are really ONE PARTY and neither you nor I are invited.

 

[Mr. President]

Indeed and I agree with you wholeheartedly on that. But the American people who keep voting for "change" in party but not in idealogy. So it will take someone who is willing to be radical enough to help America and not America's parties.

 

[Munin]

China is taking its place as the foremost nation on earth.

It is becoming the replacement superpower for the USA.

That isn't obvious?

Doesn't that worry you?

Or is it just me being paranoid?

Why do you think I've been obsessively screaming about what a mistake FREE TRADE is every since I started writing here?

I think it is more "complicated", as I stated in the another topic ( http://www.usmessageboard.com/economy/72285-lets-go-to-war-with-china-economic-2.html ). In fact, you said it quite well in the post above.

Too late.

The time to have dealt with this problem was twenty year ago.

But since so many Americans believe that we could screw the working classes for the benefit of the superwealthy (and we got paid off with cheap goods) if we tried to boycott Chinese goods now they're be damned little we could find which IS MADE IN AMERICA.

TRY to find an American made pair of sneakers..

TRY to find an energy effiencet twisty bulb made in America

Go ahead, try.

Free trade destroyed this nation's economy, folks.

THAT is why we have become a nation of debtors.

wel I agree, but not completely. Countries like China, full of "economic slaves" into a "free" trade agreement with the US are destroying the US market.

In a normal situation (like for example in a free trade relation between US and Western European countries), chinese workers would become richer and gain more benefits and their currency should also be able to rise: Making them less competitive, this would enable american workers to compete.

But this hasn't happened, China didn't completely follow the rules of the "free trade" doctorine. China only picked what was in their interest, china basically did what it wanted: keeping the chinese currency low, keeping worker salaries low (by the continious flow of workers from the poorer parts of the country), keeping the $ high by buying US debt, state owned comanies buying up foreign companies, ...

So, it was not free trade that caused this but the stupidity of the american politicians like Bush and the inteligence of the Chinese politicians.

 

[Munin]

Again some recent news about Chinese agression, this time it is mostly because of the vulnerability of the US electricity grid:

Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated By Spies - WSJ.com
US electricity grid hit by cyber attacks: report

 

[Munin]

CNN: Will New Chinese Air Defense Zone Cause U.S. And China To Go To War?

 

[Munin]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-CDMSOGaRY]The South China Sea: Troubled Waters - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Katzndogz]

I thought this was going to be about the new all Chinese city to be built in upstate New York.