Saturday, August 30, 2014

The Layne to War With China

I say put the blinker on and change lanes:

"US must acknowledge China’s ambition" by Christopher Layne |    August 26, 2014

The US-China relationship is in a transition. China clearly is on the rise. It has surpassed the United States as the world’s leading manufacturing state, the leading trading state, and the leading exporter. Indeed, according to one World Bank measure, China already has overtaken the United States as the world’s largest economy. That nation’s growing wealth is financing a big buildup of its military capabilities and fueling its geopolitical ambitions.

When power transitions occur, great powers eventually face what students of great-power dynamics relations call “the Carr Moment.” In “The Twenty Years’ Crisis,” his classic study of international relations, British scholar Edward Hallett Carr focused on a crucial issue in great-power politics: When the balance of power is shifting, how can a declining nation’s desire to preserve the status quo be reconciled with an ascending rival’s desire to revise the world order to reflect its rising power?

I can't take this spin anymore!

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Over the next few decades, powerful forces will push the United States and China toward confrontation....

Yeah, and we know who they are, know how they will do it, and NO THANKS!! 'kay?!!

As long as the United States and China remain committed to their current ambitions and strategies, the potential for future conflict is high.

Especially fanning the flames like that!

Avoiding conflict will depend much more on the United States than on China.

The one sentence I agree with.

But today the spirit of Sir Eyre Crowe pervades the American foreign-policy community. The United States professes benevolence toward China, but refuses to make any significant concessions to China’s ambitions.

Washington will likely have the “last clear chance” to avoid the looming Sino-American conflict by undertaking a policy of strategic adjustment in East Asia....

Didn't Obummer do a pivot?

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I'm getting sick of all the world war talk emanating from my ma$$ media, you know that?

"China warns US to curb spy flights" Associated Press   August 29, 2014

BEIJING — China said Thursday it will continue responding to US military surveillance flights off its coast, rejecting American accusations that one of Beijing’s fighter jets acted recklessly in intercepting a US Navy plane last week.

Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said China’s military would closely monitor US flights and reiterated calls for the United States to scale back or end such missions.

‘‘According to different situations we will adopt different measures to make sure we safeguard our air and sea security of the country,’’ Yang said at a monthly news briefing.

China has long complained about US flights that just skim the edge of China’s territorial airspace. However, Yang said such flights this year have become more frequent, cover more area, and come even closer to the Chinese coast.

US sea and air surveillance missions occur most frequently during Chinese military exercises or weapons tests, raising the risk of accidents and misunderstandings, Yang said.

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Related:

"WRESTLING FOR DIPLOMACY -- Japanese pro-wrestler-turned-politician Kanji "Antonio" Inoki (center) cheered as did other wrestlers in Pyongyang before a sports event featuring other foreigners, including ex-NFL lineman Bob "The Beast" Sapp. Inoki said he hopes the event opens a door for sports diplomacy with North Korea (Boston Globe August 29 2014)."

Remember all the flak Rodman took?

See: North Korea Planning Nuclear Attack Against United States 

Why would they do that?

"China, Vietnam say they’ll negotiate sea disputes"  Associated Press   August 28, 2014

BEIJING — China and Vietnam said Wednesday they are committed to negotiating maritime disputes to avoid a recurrence of tensions that spiked when China deployed an oil rig in waters claimed by Hanoi.

Oh, no, MORE PEACE BREAKING OUT in ASIA!

The statement followed talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vietnamese special envoy Le Hong Anh to resolve a crisis in relations dating from the rig’s deployment in May.

China’s move triggered fury in Hanoi, but Beijing rejected Vietnamese complaints and pulled the rig out on its own terms in July.

The friendship between China and Vietnam was created and nourished by older generations of leaders, state broadcaster CCTV quoted Xi as saying. ‘‘While clashes are inevitable between neighbors, what’s crucial is how they are handled and what kind of attitude is taken,’’ he said.

The Russians and Chinese are so much more statesmanlike than EUSraeli a$$holes.

China’s Xinhua News Agency said the sides would work toward a mutually acceptable and durable solution.

They also agreed to research joint development in the disputed area of the South China Sea, not take actions to complicate or broaden the dispute, and to ‘‘maintain the stability of the overall China-Vietnam relationship and of the South China Sea,’’ Xinhua said.

They were doing that with Japan, too, until the US stepped in and told Japan those islands are yours!

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Well, if you can't get an overt war going their is always subversion and destabilization campaigns:

"‘Less perfect’ style of democracy envisioned for Hong Kong voters" New York Times   August 29, 2014

HONG KONG — On the eve of a decision by Beijing on rules for elections in Hong Kong, a top Chinese scholar presented a series of justifications on Thursday for why the territory’s more than 7 million people should temper demands for Western-style democracy, insisting that a “less perfect” version of democracy is better than none at all.

Hong Kong is set to pick its top official, the chief executive, by a popular vote starting in 2017.

China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress, is expected to give guidance in the coming days on how it should implement the elections.

Beijing has taken the position that candidates must be vetted by a nominating committee, which democracy activists and proestablishment figures alike say will screen out anyone seen as unacceptable by Beijing.

Speaking in Hong Kong on Thursday, Wang Zhenmin, dean of the law school at Tsinghua University in Beijing, who advises the central government on Hong Kong issues, said “no democracy in the world” was perfect.

“The overwhelming majority of the people in Hong Kong and the central authorities would like to see universal suffrage in 2017,” he said. “We should not let the people down. More is less, less is more. Less perfect universal suffrage is better than no universal suffrage. Leave some room for future growth.”

Wang, who visited Hong Kong under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make its case for the new rules, also assured Hong Kong residents that contrary to published reports, the territory’s independent courts would be respected and flourish in coming years, as China itself moved toward a more rules-based system.

He said reports that judges would be subject to a political requirement of “loving the country” were the result of mistranslations of a Chinese white paper.

But the meat of his presentation focused on the election rules in the former British colony.

One person familiar with the deliberations in Beijing, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the discussions, said the Congress would almost certainly insist that candidates be vetted by a nominating committee that would restrict the public from putting forth candidates.

Democrats in the Hong Kong legislature have vowed to block any measure that does not allow for free and fair elections, and a broad coalition of citizens, including religious leaders, students, and even some members of the city’s financial community, have vowed to stage large protests that may disrupt business in Asia’s top financial center if the government’s plan limits who can be on the ballot.

You know, the "good" Occupy whatever.

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