China s New Militancy EAST ASIAREGIONSECURITYTOPIC January 31, 2013 By Gordon G.

Chang inShare Chinese leaders' repeated calls for the PLA to be ready to plan, fight, and win wars is an ominous sign. We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations pe acefully not because we are nave about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear, President Obama said in his second inau gural address. How exactly does the international community or instance. engage hostile states? Take China, f

Xi Jinping, named Communist Party general secretary in November, reflects a new militancy. On Tuesday, he delivered a hard-edged speech to the Politburo in whi ch he effectively ruled out compromise on territorial and security issues. His tough words were in keeping with the ever-more strident tones of his messages to the People s Liberation Army about being ready to plan, fight, and win wars. Chin ese leaders have traditionally addressed the army and urged improvement in gener al readiness, but, as veteran China watcher Willy Lam notes, Xi has put a specia l emphasis on it. Moreover, his calls on preparing for conflict go well beyond those of his two predecessors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. In the past, the military s war talk contrasted with soothing words from senior ci vilian leaders. Now, with Xi, the aggressive comments from flag officers are co nsistent with what he, as top leader, is saying. Worse, as the Financial Times notes, Xi s words of war are now being bundled with his rhetoric, which seems calcul ated to fan nationalism. In this environment, Chinese military officers can get away with advocating short , sharp wars and talking about the need to strike first. Their boldness suggests, as some privately say, that General Secretary Xi is associating with generals an d admirals who think war with the U.S. might be a good idea. China looks like it is taking one of its periodic wrong turns. Is it because Xi Jinping is a nationalist who wants to lead the country down a path of high prof ile force projection? Or is he succumbing to pressures from elements inside a r egime increasingly in disarray? Most analysts think the People s Army remains firmly under the control of Beijing s civilian leaders. Sources, for instance, are increasingly reporting that Genera l Secretary Xi is personally directing Beijing s provocative intrusions into Japan ese water and airspace. Moreover, Rand s Scott Harold perceptively notes that Bei jing s civilian leaders can turn off the tough talk from military hawks when it is important for the Party to present a peaceful front, such as when Hu Jintao vis ited the U.S. in 2011. All of a sudden, bam, these guys got turned off, Harold to ld Reuters, referring to the more talkative officers. Nonetheless, there are increasing signs of a military breaking free of civilian control. Last year, there were two sets of coup rumors that circulated around C hina, one in January and the other in March. The stories may not be true, but t hat s almost beside the point. These rumors went viral in China not only because they were sensational but also because, for many Chinese citizens, they were cre

dible. They were credible because top leaders had conditioned the Chinese peopl e over the last several years to believe the top brass had assumed a central rol e in Beijing politics. Hu Jintao, for instance, inadvertently gave credence to the rumors of the attemp ted military takeovers by repeatedly issuing public warnings, in the form of poi nted reminders, that the People s Liberation Army is subject to the absolute will of the Party. Xi Jinping has also issued the same warnings during his short ten ure as general secretary and as chairman of the Party s Central Military Commissio n. By now, there have been too many of these statements to think that the Party at this moment truly controls the gun. In fact, the generals and admirals have squabbling civilian leaders to thank for their growing influence. Beginning about a decade ago, flag officers were draw n into the power struggle between the outgoing Jiang Zemin, who was then trying to linger in the limelight, and Hu Jintao, his successor. Last year, we also wi tnessed top civilian leaders running to the military as they sought support in t heir various fights with each other. For instance, when Bo Xilai, then-Chongqing Party secretary, sent his armed secu rity officers to surround the American consulate in Chengdu last February, he we nt to Kunming to visit the headquarters of the 14th Group Army. His father, Bo Yibo, had established that unit, and analysts naturally speculated that the youn ger Bo was appealing to its current officers to support his now-failed bid for p romotion from the Party s Politburo to the Politburo s Standing Committee. Moreover, in early April, former leader Jiang is rumored to have sat down with m ilitary officers before meeting with Hu Jintao and other members of the Standing Committee before stripping Bo of his Party positions. When he later met with H u and the Standing Committee, Jiang did so at the headquarters of the Central Mi litary Commission in Beijing, a powerfully symbolic venue. And in an even more disturbing sign of the growing role of the military and the erosion of the standing of civilian leaders, leftists last year publicly called on the army to intervene in the nation s politics. From all outward appearances, the military is already playing an expanded role i n policy as well as politics. Senior officers look like they are acting indepen dently of civilian officials, but in any event, they are openly criticizing them and are making pronouncements on areas that were once the exclusive province of diplomats. The process of remilitarization of politics and policy has gone so far that the People s Liberation Army could soon become the most powerful faction in the Commun ist Party, if it is not already. The military has, from all accounts, retained its cohesiveness better than other Party factions, especially Xi s amorphous Princ eling group. Xi Jinping appears to have no power base to speak of. Jiang Zemin has apparentl y packed the Standing Committee, the apex of political power in China, and Hu Ji ntao has picked the Party s Central Military Commission. So where does that leave Xi? Normally, the general secretary s faction ends up the most powerful, but his faction if he has one is clearly not. Therefore, it makes sense for him to rely on the military to consolidate a shaky position. There is always constant bargaining when a new Chinese leader takes over, and th is is especially true now because the ongoing transition did not start well. In this troubled time, we should not be surprised that the most hardline elements in Beijing look like they are free to say and do what they want.

And perhaps that s why Chinese leaders talk war and employ bellicose tactics while they try to push China s borders outward, taking on Japan, India, and all the nat ions bordering the South China Sea. At the same time, the Chinese navy is seeki ng to close off that critical body of water, which Beijing political leaders cla im as an internal Chinese lake. State media has been hinting since the middle o f 2011 that it is China s territorial waters. Beijing s expansive territorial claims are perhaps the inevitable result of the Co mmunist Party s trajectory. As Pentagon consultant Edward Luttwak notes, Militant nationalism is the only possible substitute for ex-communists who seek to retain power. So it is natural that Xi Jinping is talking tough and that the military is assuming a frontal role in expanding territory and waters under China s control . In these circumstances, the international community is struggling to maintain go od relations with Beijing. There is always a renewal of hope when a new Chinese leader shows up on the scene, but do not expect the optimism to last long. If Xi is as good as his word and there will be no compromise on important issues, a s he indicated on Tuesday, then he leaves threatened nations little choice but t o oppose his country s expansive claims. President Obama may think he will be able to craft a nuanced policy of engagemen t with China, but he will instead end up desperately reacting to a regime on the march. Gordon G. Chang writes at Forbes.com. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of China. Follow him on Twitter @GordonGChang

Kim s Uncle January 31, 2013 at 8:32 am An aggressive China is the most likely outcome for China's future because China' s society and culture is so closed minded. Since Chinese Communist leaders are not very well read are not open minded and unable to learn the lessons Japan's m ilitaristic past, Sino Nazi Regime will follow the path of aggressive war in ord er to seize natural resources. What they don't understand is that Japanese mili tarists sought to secure natural resources from her neighbors through military m eans ended a miserable failure cause much suffering to the Japanese people. Jap anese today reject military dictatorship is because of the past suffering and hu miliation when the whole country is taken hostage by a clique of military office rs that plunged the Japanese nation into futile wars of aggression. Modern Japa n is peaceful and civilized and learn the lesson of aggressive war very well. T hat's why Japan is respected today and can secure natural resources through trad e and commerce and not through primitive military adventure. Commie Chinese are unable or unwilling to take the lesson of Japan's past. So all the ingredients are there for the Sino Nazi Regime to follow in the footsteps of Tojo's Japan. China is a crude dictatorship as was Imperial Japan. China has xenophobic bran d of nationalism as did Imperial Japan. China is building up its military and f eel self-confident enough to use it as did a rising Imperial Japan. If Sino Naz i Regime in China follows Imperial Japan footsteps then she took will be humilia ted at cost of suffering to her own people. REPLY Jean-Paul January 31, 2013 at 10:26 am @ Kims uncle and Gordon Chang Really well written article that helps to shed light on all of the things that I and many other posters have been saying all along, China really is going to sta rt WW3 and Japan will probably be its first major victim. As much as I commend C hang for writing such an honest article, it really scares me to the core of my b

eing. I honestly cannot believe that a country of 1+ billion people can let them selves be run by such a corrupt, disgusting war mongering regime, do Chinese cit izens have no sense of peace and responsibility? This regime is a total loose cannon, Kims uncle your comparisons to nazi germany and imperial japan are spot on, people are blinded by the "peaceful rise" propa ganda that they cannot see the evil in the chinese culture. Please for the sake of peace and prosperity this regime needs to be put down like a sick rabid dog, quickly and as efficiently as possible. USA for the love of god use your pre-emp tive strike option immediately!! The world is with you!!! REPLY ACT January 31, 2013 at 10:39 am @Jean Paul is the CPC really evil, though? i'd argue no; evil is all a matter of perspectiv e, best assigned by historians who will be alive well after we have faded from t his earth. With this in mind, would you mind toning your comments down somewhat? i know you're supposed to be the other side of the coin vis-a-vis John Chan, bu t still; i've noticed your comments getting increasingly xenophobic and bombasti c as time goes on, and that's not a good thing. REPLY John Chan January 31, 2013 at 11:31 am Gordon Chang is notoriously unreliable and a China hater; he has been calling fo r collapse of China in the last 30 years despite China s economy has been growing fr om nowhere to soon will surpass the USA as the world largest economy. His books and articles show he has troubling relationship with China; therefore nobody sho uld take his fallacious narrative with an ounce of seriousness. For example the author is fabricating that PLA is out of control, yet PLA is now here to be seen outside of China, meanwhile the USA military is all over the wor ld carrying out war crimes; the fact that the USA military has gone amok around the world proves either it is either out of control or the USA civilian administ ration is the accomplice of those war crimes. Yet the author cannot distinguish which military is out of control from such simple and obvious facts, it proves a gain the author s judgement is very questionable just like his erroneous judgement on collapse of China. It seems The Diplomat has called in reinforcement for Minxin Pei in the battle o f demonizing China, probably Peter Navarro and Greg Autry will be next in line s oon. REPLY Cyrus January 31, 2013 at 10:31 pm @JC Firstly you need to recognize that the United States is a hegemonic power and a hegemon in the world stage. It's Military has global reach and is there to keep order and maintain the status quo. Let's examine how the United States became a World Power it was in World War II when it embargoed its oil from Japan who attacked China and because of the Nanki ng Massacre. With Japanese Oil running out, Imperial Japan had no choice but to attack the United States and secure its resources from South East Asia. American Rise to pre-emminence as a hegemon who once was controlled by Europe was in the context of saving People. It seek to free the people conquered by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. After World War II it helped the war ravage countries to ris e up again and it further cemented its role as a world leader, especially taking the reins in establishing the United Nations to maintain peace in the Earth. Now lets go to China, which is seeking to be a hegemon and a World Power but it

is setting itself as a bully by bullying its weaker neighbors especially in Sout h East Asia and yet is hesistant against the Pacifist Japan who is at par or str onger in terms of Military Strength. How would the world respect a State who see k to rise at the expense of weak states, it is the in the same League of Nazi Ge rmany and Imperial Japan who set out first by conquering its weaker neighbors. John Chan February 1, 2013 at 12:55 am @Cyrus, As you admitted, USA is the world predatory imperialist hegemon; it has been mai ntaining its hegemony thru bombing and killing of hapless nations on the fabrica ted evidence e.g. mirage WMD, thuggish blackmail e.g. you are either with me or a gainst me, and gang pressed lesser nations into its thug group with military occu pation. On the other hand China shows the world how to establish an harmonious world; al l nations should be treated as equal and their sovereignty should be respected; demonizing others on the moral high ground for insidious purposes like what the USA is practising should be banned because it is hypocrisy; Liberty, equality an d justice should not be hijacked by anyone regardless its national strength.

John Chan January 31, 2013 at 11:44 am @Jean-Paul, France was a collaborator of Nazi Germany, and the behind kisser of the Nazi mas ter; are you saying that France is ready to provide the same services to China? REPLY Errol February 1, 2013 at 1:18 am Generalizations is a trap JC. France was a collaborator? Do your history record that it was Vichy France that collaborated with the Nazis and the Free French op posed them from overseas? That when D-Day finally happened, the Vichys were reje cted by the French people? But I guess that doesn't matter since it's inconvenie nt for your logic. Meh. John Chan February 1, 2013 at 5:31 am @Errol, Generalization is a trap, what a surprising news, I didn t realize you have such vir tue. This site is nothing but generalization and simplification when it comes to demonizing China. neretva February 2, 2013 at 6:52 am yes, France was collaborator. There is so many accounts of it that only ignorant can deny it. Anon February 1, 2013 at 4:14 am Actually, not only do you sound like a raving lunatic, you have also chosen to i gnore the fact that it is ONLY China preparing for the Air Sea Battle War that m any in the Pentagon of the Rumsfeld persuasion have been salivating over for a l ong time. What if China started preparing an "Air Sea Battle Plan" to take out targets dee p inside the US? How will the Americans respond? Americans will be outraged and will demand that their defense spending should go up and to start to treat China as the potential aggressor. Sane readers of the Diplomat should ponder the machinations of Andrew Marshall a nd the implications for all of us sane people of the world, including Chinese. O

f course this leaked report could also be another gambit to force China and the Asian region to spend all of their hard-earned wealth on weapons, preferably Mad e-in-US weapons that would go toward balancing the deficit and pay off some debt ! USSR 2, so to speak, spend till they're broke. I wonder why seemingly intelligent spooks would underestimate the Chinese abilit y to study and understand History, and to write their own Art of War? Such Neo-Con thinking has brought about the tragedies of Iraq and Afghanistan an d made the country broke, hostage to the MIC and plutocracy. Amazing that Americ ans have not discredited these destructive tendencies, but pursue them with a gr eater vengeance. The usual sock puppets pls refrain from any replies, only genuine readers and th inkers, please. http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-08-01/world/35492126_1_china-tensions-ch ina-threat-pentagon A former nuclear strategist, Marshall has spent the past 40 years running the Pe ntagon s Office of Net Assessment, searching for potential threats to American dom inance. In the process, he has built a network of allies in Congress, in the def ense industry, at think tanks and at the Pentagon that amounts to a permanent Wa shington bureaucracy. While Marshall s backers praise his office as a place where officials take the lon g view, ignoring passing Pentagon fads, critics see a dangerous tendency toward alarmism that is exaggerating the China threat to drive up defense spending. The old joke about the Office of Net Assessment is that it should be called the O ffice of Threat Inflation, said Barry Posen, director of the MIT Security Studies Program. They go well beyond exploring the worst cases. .?.?. They convince othe rs to act as if the worst cases are inevitable. Marshall dismisses criticism that his office focuses too much on China as a futu re enemy, saying it is the Pentagon s job to ponder worst-case scenarios. We tend to look at not very happy futures, he said in a recent interview. China tensions Even as it has embraced Air-Sea Battle, the Pentagon has struggled to explain it without inflaming already tense relations with China. The result has been an in formation vacuum that has sown confusion and controversy. and http://www.globalresearch.ca/obama-s-geopolitical-china-pivot-the-pentagon-targe ts-china/32474 http://larouchepac.com/node/23547 Back in January, Executive Intelligence Review published an article providing ev idence that the 91-year-old Andrew Marshall, the director of the Pentagon's Offi ce of Net Assessment since 1973, was the guiding force behind President Obama's so-called Asia Pivot, with the ultimate objective of a nuclear showdown with Chi na. This was, in part, based on the fact that the public discussion of Air Sea B attle, a component of the Asia shift, has been guided by the Center for Strategi c and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington, D.C. think tank founded and largely m ade up of retired officers who were indoctrinated in Marshall's office at some p oint during their military careers.

REPLY ACT February 1, 2013 at 9:21 am @anon it's not terribly bright or convincing for your argument to poison the well befo rehand. Besides, why do you think that the U.S is somehow unique for having a st rategy department that attempts to predict future military challenges? it's not as if most other major nations don't have one; what entity do you think guided t he PLA to develop systems to counter U.S armaments? It's clear, anon, that you'r e not looking for intelligent comment or criticism; you're looking for people wh o agree with you and your notion that the U.S' actions make it uniquely evil amo ngst all the empires that have existed. Anon February 1, 2013 at 1:47 pm @ACT Come on now, is the hypocrisy of condemning China for preparing DEFENSIVE plans to fight off aggressors in RESPONSE to the US developing Air Sea Battle OFFENSIV E plans to strike deep into China not apparent? The problem with Gordon Chang and various China bashers is that such INCONVENIEN T FACTS that contradict their assertions (that China is a threat and aggressor) are always left out. This leaves THINKING people of the world wondering WHY such lopsided and incomplete accounts are allowed to flourish on "News" (i.e. not Pr opaganda) sites. This is why they are dismissed as NOT genuine critics, but "bashers". The same with all the "Free Tibet, Mongolia, Uigyurs" trolls. I asked them to pr ovide a COMPARATIVE factual indicators of % population growth, % native vs settl ers' composition on native lands, language and culture retention, of "evil genoc idal" China vs the bastion of freedom, Japan, the US, Australia, etc. and they'r e unable to. They have little interest except in "bashing" and posting ad nauseum about 50cen ts armies. I am not interested in more low-IQ bashing, but would like to question genuine c itizens of the world what they think of such Neo-Con plans for more wars? How can anyone take Andrew Marshall lightly when his proposals for the Neo-Cons' Project for a New American Century were implemented to the EXACT detail with di sastrous results in Iraq and Afghanistan and to the tune of trillions in debt an d hundreds of thousands in lost lives? Even sane Americans, eg. WashingPost, are questioning the wisdom of following hi s instructions to "pivot" to China, with plans for Air Sea Battle, and then star t lighting fires around China as if ready to provoke another Gulf of Tonkin. It is only fair for citizens of the world, especially those on the receiving end of such Air Sea battle plans, ie. the Chinese, to question such hostile motives , and to prepare for the eventuality of the US once again pursuing its Neo-Con a genda, like it bombed and invaded Iraq for non-existent WMDs after playing up th e "Iraqi Threat".

If you're not merely an ACT, and if you do have direct and honest answers, post them. Otherwise, pray refrain from replying, with due respect to the other reade rs and posters. nirvana February 1, 2013 at 9:29 pm It is very difficult to have a debate when your opponent sets a prerequisite "I Q level". Do I have a sufficient education to disagree? Do I have enough self-es teem not to reply? What a dilemma! May be I could risk some random thoughts about the use of the term "DEFENSIVE". Since Sun Tzu, Machiavelli and more recently Mao, it is often quoted that "the b est defense is a preemptive offensive". For example, in 1979 Deng assembled 400, 000 men to launch an "active defense" against Vietnam. If the national security of China was not threatened, why sacrifice 60 thousands young men indeed (in 30 days)? G. W. Bush too had to make a preemptive strike against Saddam Hussein, be cause no US president can survive another 9/11 (even when France, Germany, Russi a and others told him not to worry about Iraq WMD). China also needs an aircraft carrier because without such a formidable tool to project force, it would not b e able to defend the fishermen shelters the PLAN has built on the submerged reef s more than 1000 miles from Hainan. And sure you need an anti-satellite weapons to defend against reconnaissance satellites. You need to build stealth attack je ts, precision guided long range cruise-missiles, I learned that in the art of war, "the threat is more important than the move". So while a leak on the Internet of the Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile is just a new concept, it fully justifies that the Pentagon pays a (91 year old) think tank t o design an "Air Sea Battle", which concept is also leaked to the Internet. And this "hurt the feeling" of the Chinese people in the streets, on Weibo. And of course I was told that as part of your "defense" is to swear that you wil l never use your weapons for offensive purposes, UNLESS your "core interests" ar e in danger, of course. And since they are core interests, you would be naive to explicitly tell what they are. As usual the best defensive move is opacity. Let your enemy guess. Forgive me guys for spamming this site with such "low IQ" rubbish ! Cyrus February 1, 2013 at 10:10 pm Yes the US is a Hegemon I do not think anyone here denies that very fact. What I am trying to point out is the United States became a Hegemon unlike the rest of the past Hegemons it helped it's neighbors and doesn't go out and conquer terri tories for itself (after WWII when it became a Hegemon). It doesn't bully smalle r states in fact it does the opposite by protecting the smaller South American S tates who just obtained their independence by telling Europeans that they cannot reclaim their past colonies in the New World. Now, what has China did? Expand from the Original Qin Empire to what it is now, bully its neighbors into submitting to its will that the West Philippine Sea is a Chinese Pond. REPLY ACT February 2, 2013 at 3:07 am @anon i think Nirvana put it correctly; is the AirSeaBattle plan offensive? yes. But i t is in and of itself a response to a wave of diplomatic, paramilitary and military aggression on the part of the PRC against the "allies" of the united states. So the question should be asked: why is the PRC upgrading its military capabilities to meet or surpass those of the United States when, of the fourteen nations tha t are its neighbors, only three are capable of mounting anything like a serious military challenge (India, Russia, Japan), and of those three, one is unable to

launch offensive wars, and has not for the past 68 years? At most, China needs t o guarantee its energy security, but those seas are already patrolled by the USN , whose mission it is to guarantee such security, both for itself, for its allie s, and for China as well. I spent some of my time perusing that article you linked last night, and while s ome of the author's points were legitimate, i have a hard time believing and it wo uld be immensely counter-productive that the U.S would from the very outset be pla nning the fragmentation of the PRC, both for economic reasons or otherwise; the instability such a maneuver would bring to say nothing of the economic chaos would b e a greater danger to the U.S or its allies than any other move the PRC could ma ke short of nuclear war. Furthermore, the article was also terribly biased, and you would have done well to find and article that supported such a strategy as w ell, rather then lambasting it, at least to provide a counterpoint. Another point of contention i should bring up is the nature of the diplomacy tha t has been conducted; it makes it very hard to bring up any mention of joint dev elopment when the PRC has effectively designated all of the SCS, and a good chun k of the ECS as its sovereign territory; i can think of no better way to be insu fferably arrogant as well as to discourage talks over maintaining the status quo for the purpose of economic development than to announce to friend and foe alik e that due to ancient history much of which is unverifiable you are now claiming all of an ocean save for the 12 mile national waters mandated by modern national la w, and that you are then proceeding to build military garrisons on many of the g eographical features within that sea. That's not defense; that's offense: defens e would be upgrading your capabilities within the territories you already legall y own, not the attempted seizure of international territory to which there are a lready multiple acknowledged claims. I, myself, will do more research into this when i have the time, but suffice it to say that i find it terribly disingenuous , anon, to insult the intelligence of everyone on this forum while using informa tion that amounts to conspiracy theories and hearsay with regard to the intentio ns of the United States, as well as your attempt to make it appear as though and t his you have still not addressed the position of the United States makes it unique ly evil. To which my response has, and will always be, do you honestly expect t hat any empire or china, when it attains that position for that matter will behave a ny differently; nations are above all self-serving interests. John Chan January 31, 2013 at 11:59 am @Kim, I didn t know Japanese has bent this low before the Korean, they even have to take up Korean s name is disguise. Anyhow Japan is an unapologetic Fascist Militarist war criminals, its war crimes has not been punished, the shielding of the godfa ther of Fascism is weakening, one day Japan will be made to face the judgement d ay and answer to the victims for the harms it had done to them. REPLY JohnX January 31, 2013 at 1:58 pm @John Chan. Typical Chinese Poster response. Go to Global Times, you will fit right in. If a person makes a post in support of a nation that China has a dispute with, C hinese posters accuse them of being a poster from that nation hiding under a fal se name. It just shows the ignorance of their posts as most don't need to hide anything a s where you come from is not as important as what you have to say. REPLY intellectual merc January 31, 2013 at 3:06 pm @kim s uncle, can they actually pull it off? I mean with their own brand of nation alism i mean it might just work don t it? I mean the army is a broadsword not a sc

alpel, but with enough rhetoric, i mean wwII wehrmacht was alright with jewish e xtermination due to years of anti-semitic propaganda by the nazi party.-except a select few. I mean, a population would generally eat it up. But no military jun ta has ever succeeded has it? What do you guys think? REPLY gnosis January 31, 2013 at 3:40 pm Erhm, little correction 1. Japan has not learned a thing, they still refuse to live up to WWII truth in history textbooks. That's reflected on the Japanese government; run by heirs of the deceased empire. Much to the pain of Japan's victims and the children of the victims. 2. Your analogy is horrible. You conflate the contemporary maritime territorial disputes with the wars of foreign nation invasion undertaken by the Japanese. Though I must argue in defense of Japan that most of those foreign nations they invaded were Western oppressed exploited colonies then. So what Japan did, real ly, is switch the ownership of the colonies from the West to themselves. Nonetheless, Japan has committed heinous atrocities and crimes in this Japanesestyle Lebensraum campaign for which they haven't showed remorse, unlike Germany. 3. Don't overlook U.S. going through primitive military adventures to secure res ources. Your whining is completely disproportionate because U.S. has already inv aded and bombed nations to do just that. It's unrealistic to expect from the C hinese a deal that is not 100% beneficial to China for disputed territory they a ctually have rights on. It's their right. It's the very opposite to little fasci st America invading foreign nations and murdering millions. REPLY Cyrus January 31, 2013 at 10:36 pm Correction: They have no right on the Territories in South East Asia because by UNCLOS it is in the EEZ of various South East Asian Nation. China has in no way any right in Scarborough Shoal as it is not an island even an islet but a shoal. Especially scarborough Shoal wherein it was handed back to the Philippines, the Empire of Spain gave all territories under its jurisdiction and the Scarborough Shoal then was called Bajo de Masinloc in Spanish because the Spanish Empire exe rted control and administration of the Atols as a fishing grounds of local fishe rmen in the 1500+. REPLY gnosis February 1, 2013 at 3:55 am You have to research better. China (PRC and ROC) has the rights to the nine-dash line. nirvana February 1, 2013 at 8:15 am @gnosis, >>"China has the right to 9-dash-line" And that's why we keep telling you that there is a problem. Only China has this concept of "sovereignty by dash-lining". Can I draw a line in the sky so that on e day, I can claim the Moon? Oops no, Mars or Venus because Armstrong put an Ame rican flag on the Moon in 1969. SC Lai February 1, 2013 at 12:20 pm Didn t some ones said Chinese claim based on history ground was absurd? nirvana February 2, 2013 at 12:03 am It is absurd to claim that Kubilai Khan's astronomer made measurements of the s un on 5 tiny rocks of some 800 miles from Hainan It is absurd to declare ownership of everything within an undefined line, with a

n undefined meaning. It is absurd to negotiate from a position of "indisputable" rights. If somethin g is indisputable, no discussion is allowed, full stop. . Yes, it is absurd. Otherwise it would be wiser to bring the dispute to the ICJ.

REPLY SC Lai February 2, 2013 at 11:19 am Do you know how far the Falkland is from Scotland?How come western people' toget her with the colonized minds always have different standard when it comes to Chi na?If the Americans can occupy 2/3 of the Pacific based on the same reasons,why Can't China have !/10 of it?Do you know that Huangyuan/Scarborogh was already c laimed by the Chinese in Yuan Dynasty,after the renown scientist Guo Soujing was despatched there to do a a survey,after which it was published in their offici al map as their Ban Tu(territory),until present time?.Be it ROC or PRC,the Chine se normally treat this island as their southern border (Nan Jiang) part of the N ansha (Southern Sand).The 9 dotted lines were not the creation of CCP nor PRC,it was drawn by ROC while it was still in power and ruling the whole China,pre-194 9. gnosis January 31, 2013 at 3:40 pm Erhm, little correction 1. Japan has not learned a thing, they still refuse to live up to WWII truth in history textbooks. That's reflected on the Japanese government; run by heirs of the deceased empire. Much to the pain of Japan's victims and the children of the victims. 2. Your analogy is horrible. You conflate the contemporary maritime territorial disputes with the wars of foreign nation invasion undertaken by the Japanese. Though I must argue in defense of Japan that most of those foreign nations they invaded were Western oppressed exploited colonies then. So what Japan did, real ly, is switch the ownership of the colonies from the West to themselves. Nonetheless, Japan has committed heinous atrocities and crimes in this Japanesestyle Lebensraum campaign for which they haven't showed remorse, unlike Germany. 3. Don't overlook U.S. going through primitive military adventures to secure res ources. Your whining is completely disproportionate because U.S. has already inv aded and bombed nations to do just that. It's unrealistic to expect from the C hinese a deal that is not 100% beneficial to China for disputed territory they a ctually have rights on. It's their right. It's the very opposite to little fasci st America invading foreign nations and murdering millions. REPLY ACT January 31, 2013 at 6:49 pm so many mistruths and little lies in your post, gnosis. tut-tut-tut. O how hath thou lied? let me count the ways: 1. Japan has apologised once every seven years, approximately, to the various na tions it wronged, and issued a blanket apology in 1995 http://en.wikipedia.org/w iki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan. wow, just look at all those statements of apology! 2. Japan actually has acknowledged its crimes in its school textbooks; the contr oversy has been when they tried to dumb it down: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ja panese_history_textbook_controversies#New_History_Textbook look through that ent ire list as well as the references. 3. Yet despite the military adventurism which, i might add, every empire in histor

y has done The United States has not in modern times encouraged the immigration of its citizens into ostensibly autonomous territories to prevent them from gainin g independence; it has not, since the 1960s at least, actively suppressed the cu ltures of the native inhabitants of its territories via a calculated policy of t he above mentioned as well as police raids, etc; the united states has not since the dawn of the 20th century falsified its own history in order to lay claim to minor islands that its predecessor governments never considered to be their ter ritory. Furthermore, the United States does not have an educational policy that deliberately re-writes its own history to promote hatred of a certain set of nat ions and a culture of nationalistic victimization. REPLY Kim s Uncle February 1, 2013 at 3:14 am @gnosis I can feel deep anger and emotion in you, why? Is it because of hurt pride? I sense you have some kind of deep seated prejudice towards Japan and Japanese. T he fact remains Japan is in everyway a modern, constitutional liberal democracy not a militaristic dictatorship unlike the PRC. I have said this before I don't hold modern Japanese and democratic Japan for the sins of their ancestors becau se modern, democratic Japan has been a peaceful and responsible neighbor that ha s not wage open, aggressive wars toward anyone (ok, maybe against Godzilla). So rry, could not help myself. he.. he.. Seriously, that is just plain and simple fact. Modern Japan is an example of a PEACEFUL RISE!!!!! I don't see the sa me situation in Neo-Maoist China. Let's argue on a factual basis: 1) no military adventure since WWII 2)huge financial reparations to afflicted countries, China one of the main recip ients not to mention ODA funds 3)endless apologies by various governments of Japan 4)revisionist history? no I don't think so. Only a few textbooks are at issue. Other posters have proved balanced historical accounts in balanced history boo ks are used in Japan. Like I said, if I were China I would learn from Japan and Germany's history of m ilitary adventure and the ultimate price those dictatorships paid very, very wel l. No need to follow in their footsteps. I don't understand the blindness Chin ese have in not learning how counter-productive it is to have a dictatorship. I t is far easier to make war in a one party dictatorship because there is no acco untability, no counter opinion, no checks and balances, no opposition, no voice of reason to counter the primitive impulses for war and jingoistic nationalism, no constitutional procedure for war, etc. The fact that you refuse to acknowledge these safeguards of an open society and plural society shows your closed mindedness and willful denial of facts. Modern Japan became rich through trade and commerce not by waging wars to acquir e land, resources and dominating her neighbors. It is an example of "peaceful, harmonious rise" is it not? The territorial disputes Chinese are engage in tod ay are based on securing natural resources. It is blatant. Like I said learn from Germany and Japan. There is no need to follow the plans of the CCP. There is no Nazi Party in Germany today to cause havoc among her neighbors. There ar e no Japanese militarists in power today to cause Asian nations to fear. Why do Asian countries fear neo-Maoist China? They fear it because of the political s ystem which breeds blindness, arrogance, obtuseness, and hubris. A system that does not foster any kind of introspection, self-reflection and goodwill. China has been humiliated enough so if Communist China tries to redress her past humil iation by inflicting it on others because of "hurt feelings", then I'm afraid sh e pay the price as did Japan and Germany. Why don't you ask Japanese today and German today if being a dictatorship was worth the price and waging aggressive wars were beneficial to their society and image? I don't know why but China's thinking is always 2 centuries behind. People keep telling them not to do certain things but they hear but do not listen!!

REPLY gnosis February 1, 2013 at 4:47 am @ACT Yet, Abe and his cabinet are the risen policymakers of the Imperial Japan incarn ated in new bodies. Japan never really come to terms with WWII crimes where they did human experimentation on the population of the invaded nations. And Tibet enjoys a much better life now than before the theocracy, that's a give n if you are not bigoted. Also, U.S. in modern times has steam rolled over Hawai ians to annex Hawaii. @Kim's Uncle You are a troll with racial issues concerning Southeast/East Asians. I know you will have a heart attack after China reclaims the 9-dash line. But Gordon Chang has daddy issues. ACT February 1, 2013 at 9:36 am @Gnosis Hawaii was in the 1870's. Tibet is still going on today. Furthermore, you cannot say that the tibetan theocracy would never have tried to raise the standard of living for its citizens, because the assumption that tibetans are doing better u nder the rule of the CPC assumes that Chinese culture is somehow inherently supe rior. Futhermore, when signs such as these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Police_notice,_Tibet,_1993.jpg are needed near internet cafes, and when Han citizens of the greater PRC visit o nly Han owned shops and restaurants depriving ethnic Tibetans of much needed funds o ne could imagine that something is wrong. Cyrus February 1, 2013 at 10:21 pm Okay, lets follow the theory of historical discovery. Then it means Taiwan up to Madagascar must belong to the Malay because of our Polyponesion Ancestry being the first ocean going race. We discovered all this first by the Ethnic Populatio n found on this countries that have the root in Polyponesion Language. Now what does China have to say? Should we of Polyponesian decent also carve out multiply lines saying this are our territories due to historical discovery? REPLY James February 2, 2013 at 2:09 pm Reply to Cyrus about Polyponesians. First of all, if you are Malay, that means y ou are a priveleged "first class" citizen of Malaysia or bumiputra, and not a "s econd-class" member like the 50% of other non-Malay Malaysian citizens. You spel led "Polynesian" wrong which shows how much you know about the inhabitants of So uth Pacific countries and their languages and cultures which I suspect you would find inferior. I know one Polynesian language and have tried to learn Malay, so know that a speaker of Malay does not understand Polynesian languages automatic ally, and vice versa despite the two languages being placed in the same language family by linguists "Malayo-Polynesian". What this has to do with the rise of m ilitarism in China I do not know. nirvana February 1, 2013 at 1:38 am In my opinion this is a bad article on a well-known, intriguing question: why ar e there recently so many hawkish outspoken military commentators on China's stat e TV, media and high visibility events? The article by journalist David Lague is better documented (Google, "David Lague general Ren Haiquan"). I think there are several possible explanations: 1) The PLAN and PLAAF have become more confident that they have a POLITICAL role . They want to put the civilian authority under pressure. 2) The CCP does not wish a war but it needs to "save face" because of the (to mu ch publicized) US "pivot" and an increasing legitimacy crisis.

3) The CCP is using the uniform pundits on TV shows to prepare its public opinio n for war (therefore the striking analogy with Hitler and Imperial Japan propaga nda machines).. The first explanation is the same reason that led General Mc Arthur to lead his adventurous "hot pursuit" beyond the 38 North parallel in Korea. The second is w hat I called the "Mandate of the Heaven Syndrome". The third, and most worrying, means that the CCP would have decided that it has exploited all it could with t he present "pacific coexistence" post Cold War environment. The truth may be a certain mix of all three. REPLY ACT January 31, 2013 at 9:56 am @Kim's Uncle incoming fire from the 50-center platoon! TAKE COVER! @all but i digress. I agree with the author's point that if the generals are being al lowed to say what they are, it is because it is close to, or directly tied into the objectives of the civilian government of the PRC this was something i noted ov er in the article on America's pivot. And it's not just the generals; the media has been flooded with "war, war, war", which suggests to me that the CPC (And Xi Jin ping) may be planning something that they expect will result in a clash. The nat ure of the training is also concerning; amphibious assault is being emphasized b y PLAN units. I sincerely hope for all of us that all this hot air and nothing m ore; otherwise, the world may be having a Neville Chamberlain moment, and judgin g by the course of military modernization that has paralleled rhetoric coming fr om the PRC, the situation is not promising. As Vulgor Schneke pointed out, howev er, no one here has moral authority and if anything the PRC is replicating the behav ior of the US circa the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. REPLY American Patriot January 31, 2013 at 10:46 am @ ACT Well written post friend, however there is one point where I must STRONGLY disag ree with you. When you say: "As Vulgor Schneke pointed out, however, no one here has moral authority and if anything the PRC is replicating the behavior of the US c irca the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries." Of course the US has moral authority, especially when it comes to a power like C hina which is a total free rider and usurer of the current international system that the US has built for the world. I mean sure vietnam, iraq etc ..were all wron g doings by the US, I fully admit that. HOWEVER, at least the US has also contri buted greatly to progress and overall development. The US fully rebuilt western europe and japan, which are now prospering thanks in large part to US financial aid. It built South Korea into a first world economy, it helped fund and develop the now rich gulf arab states like the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia. It provides ai d to countless nations, even now eastern europe is being rebuilt under the NATO umbrella with Poland especially benefitting, Canada has also been a huge benefic iary of US industry and investment. It has also been historically proven that there are, on average, less wars than there was before the US became a superpower and this is in large part thanks to the US military being so strong, that no other nation would dare to become too o verly aggressive or expansionist. Compare this to China, how many nations has China managed to pull from total des truction and poverty into first world status? How many billions in aid has China given to the developing world vs the US? How much progress in engineering, medi cine, and science has been made in China vs the US? I mean really when talking a

bout morals there is no comparison!!! REPLY John Chan February 1, 2013 at 1:36 am @American Patriot, 1. Self-proclaimed moral authority is the symptom of totalitarian, because it no longer can tolerate criticism anymore, so you admit US is a totalitarian openly . 2. Fabricating excuses to justify and gloss over the wrong doings what the US h as been carrying out all over the world is an abuse of Straw-man fallacy to the extreme. 3. Take credit of other nations hard work and achievement is a sign of moral bank ruptcy. USA is in the business of imperialism, not in the business of charity, y our claim on USA s benevolence over the world cannot be reconciled by the harm it brought to the world in 2008 world financial meltdown which is still ongoing and a lot while to go too. 4. The world needs peace and prosperity, not lesser misery than the worst, your justification for the USA causing lesser misery to the humanity is a sign of psy chopath and no sense of humanity. REPLY Cyrus February 1, 2013 at 10:24 pm "1. Self-proclaimed moral authority is the symptom of totalitarian, because it n o longer can tolerate criticism anymore, so you admit US is a totalitarian openl y. 2. Fabricating excuses to justify and gloss over the wrong doings what the US h as been carrying out all over the world is an abuse of Straw-man fallacy to the extreme." Talk about shooting oneself in the foot, now is it not the PRC here who cannot t ake a constructive criticism and denies any argument not coinciding with it's re visionist history? Blabering about this and that without factual basis and refus es civilize debate because they know they can't win? The PRC who refuses ITLOS b ecause it cannot stand being asked to defend itself in an international arbitrat ion regarding its much taunted 9 dash claims? Observer January 31, 2013 at 10:13 am From the article " he effectively ruled out compromise on territorial and security issues " So when china and chinese will take back the vast land that Russia took in 1858 by slaughtered chinese like sheeps? Still yellowing cowardice as before .oppps, co mpromising, right? LOL. Where are all the big bold talk of "teach them a lesson" or "smash around" or "u ndisputed territories"? Full of shame and humiliation. Forever and always. REPLY ACT January 31, 2013 at 10:47 am @observer war is not necessarily necessary; from what i've heard, there have been a lot of Chinese immigrating into the region that Russia took in 1858 (the area around V ostok), and it's apparently a major concern for local Russian Federation officia ls. Although, at least one or two posters on here have been on record in the pas t as saying that the PRCs modernization of land forces is geared at Russia, not the U.S. Who knows what will happen? so long as we are not in the "halls of powe r" we can do little but stand back and watch. REPLY

John Chan January 31, 2013 at 12:28 pm @Observer, Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan all have to respect China s territory, if they don t they will be taught a lesson regardless what has happened between China and anybody else, be it USA or Russia. REPLY intellectual merc January 31, 2013 at 2:12 pm @john chan what lessons does us lesser nations need to learn mr. Chan? So far al l we re learning is that china is well on its way to commit the same atrocities an d crimes that the west and japan committed in the past which you gladly list dow n for everyone in almost all the discussions. If you look at the historical maps , your 9 dash line can already be compared to wwII japan and nazi germany s occupi ed borders. The west doesn t exactly have a clean record the way see it, china s mor e than glad to follow its example and sully its own record. REPLY John Chan February 1, 2013 at 12:20 am @Intellectual mere, The lessons the lesser nations must learn is that they cannot take advantages of China by selling themselves to the predatory imperialist hegemon of the world a s its barking dogs; China will defend itself regardless the cost, quieting those barking dogs down is a necessary step to tell the hegemon to be reasonable. China s integrity must be respected by the hegemon, the lesser nations and whoever ; disputes must be resolved thru peaceful negotiations; self-righteous claims ar e nothing but disguised aggression. Cam January 31, 2013 at 11:44 pm What do we all expect from the famous "sick man of Asia"?, erratic violent and d estructive behaviors for sure. China needs to learn the consequences that German y and Japan faced when they were hell bent on imperial path of robbing other lan ds. REPLY ACT January 31, 2013 at 10:17 am looking over the FT article, i get an increasingly clear sense that the PRC is v ery much in the stage of "rich country, strong army" that Japan adopted in the l ate 19th century and early 20th century, a process which allowed it to fight Rus sia then a respected western power to a stalemate in 1905. if we look at the major c omponents of that plan, according to wikipedia (1) An active role for the state in the development of the economy; (2) import substitution for industries that would compete with imports (3) adoption of Western technology to increase production of sophisticated produ cts; (4) export development (5) avoidance of relying on foreign loans. then one has the realization that the PRC is following along EXACTLY the same pa th. So, will Japan be to China what Russia was to Japan? REPLY ACT January 31, 2013 at 10:51 am adding to my comment: i think it should also be worthy of note that in the months before the both the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 and the 1905 Sino-Japanese war, Japanese generals and politicians of note were very much just as fiery in their rhetoric as certain me

mbers of the CPC and PLA are now .. REPLY ACT January 31, 2013 at 10:53 am ahem. that should read "russo-japanese war of 1905, not "Sino-Japanese war of 19 05" REPLY applesauce January 31, 2013 at 11:08 am this entire article consists of rumors this, rumors that. and to top it off its written by Gordon G. Chang a consistent anti-PRC writer and doom predictor, how this guy is even allowed to be published in this website is beyond my understan ding, his points arent even good and hes been consistently wrong. Xi tells the military to be ready, so what?, unlike what mr. Changclaims, Hu did this during his term as well just look up "hu tell military" on google. the PLA didnt invade anyone in Hu's time as cmc boss did they? the rest of the article consists of him mentioning some hawks. as though there is no hawks in the Us or Europe or any other country then there is this line " Militant nationalism is the only possible substitute for ex-communists who seek to retain power. " funny cause i thought these chinese pol iticians are still communists, and if they're not, they seem to be doing well ho lding on to power through economic growth for a few decades now and if you'll note there hasnt been a real war for the PRC since vietnam. hardly a sign of Militan t nationalism in addition, military spending even with cia(high) estimates are h alf the US as percentage of GDP and even lower in absolute numbers and in fact i s broadly in line with overall GDP growth, again hardly a sign of the party turn ing to militant nationalism. his only evidence is some dry speeches that party l eader in china gives all the time and some examples from soviet union and other past communist countries, which if you know anything, is vastly different from c hina at this point. REPLY klee January 31, 2013 at 11:36 am Mr Gordon Chang predicted China would collapsed by 2006; again in 2011, he said it definitely would collapsed by the end of 2012. Again, has China collapsed yet ?? He again said China's growth is actually zero. What credential Mr. Chang has. You can tell how good his comments and understand ing of China are. Commentators can say and predict all things they want, but if you get wrong over and over again. Their analyses are worth nothing. REPLY JohnX January 31, 2013 at 2:13 pm @Klee. I don't really care who G. Chang is as he may be right 50% of the time. But I do read posts, Chinese, American, Filipino, Taiwanese, Singaporean etc.Now if you take each of these and you put them into the mix, then it all adds up. China had and has its opportunity to promote a peaceful region and everything sa ys its failing. Doing Business, yes it is. Making friends with those with guns, no it isn't. For me, its Mischief Reef and some day I might even explain that to you. But the truth is China failed. Can it rebuild itself as a friend to the region? Yes. Ca n it do so while being nationalistic? No. We remember Japan, and China is a bigger, uglier version of Japan and we wont ac cept a repeat of history. REPLY

intellectual merc January 31, 2013 at 2:57 pm @ klee Imperial Japan Soviet Union Nazi Germany Roman Empire? All those who didn t play nice with others patience mr. Klee, China s time will come.

REPLY Kim s Uncle January 31, 2013 at 1:01 pm @applesauce, you only have to hear the rhetoric emanating from CCP mouthpiece an d read the post from Chinese forum. Chinese childish jingoistic nationalism is o h so real. CCP no longer talks about communism because its doctrine was pile of dung! What other accomplishment has the PRC accomplish except economic growth at the low level of industrialization? Other Asian countries accomplished that dec ades ago and without bloodshed! What other issue CCP has to divert issues like p ollution, corruption, graft, ethnic riots, inequality, workers rights, etc.?? Ha n nationalism! What better way to unite people and tell them that people need no t question CCP rule is to play the crude nationalist card!!! REPLY David January 31, 2013 at 1:10 pm Whenever I read an article by Gordon C. Chang I always prepare myself for a para noid fear-mongering anti-chinese diatribe, and this article is no exception. To be clear though, no country can rule the entire world. The Chinese leadership, w ho have studied the faults of the Soviet Union and the Japanese Empire know that any such maneuver would lead to a ridiculous level of defense spending and stif f resistance. The reason behind their increased military spending,which is inlin e with their GDP growth rate, is to modernize and expand their aging fleet so th at they are less dependent on the United State's protection of their vital sea s hipping lanes. This is all being done in accordance to their level of economic d evelopment, so that increasing military budgets does not become unaffordable and threaten economic growth (unlike the US). But leave it to Gordon Chang to take something that is perfectly reasonable, and in fact necessary for the Chinese, a nd turn it into a fear mongering article filled cherry-picked anecdotal evidence to "prove" his point that the PLA is out of control. While it is obvious that G ordon Chang hates the CCP, China's military modernization is good for China in g eneral, and whatever government takes over form the CCP, if their is ever a poli tical transition, they will inherit a stronger military backed by an independent military industry that is capable of safeguarding their national and internatio nal strategic interests. China is well on its way towards becoming the most glob alized nation in the world, building a large navy is absolutely in China's best interest based on this reason alone. Failure to do so would be a very stupid mis take on behalf of China's leaders. REPLY intellectual merc January 31, 2013 at 2:54 pm @ david -You do know mr. David that nazi germany and imperial japan stated the s ame. Asia for asians, the true leader of europe redefining their borders a little bi t here and there to promote their strategic interests abroad. The love stops at the money no? No one outside of china can imagine living in a world where the CCP c an be considered as a world leader. REPLY Vulgor Schnecke January 31, 2013 at 7:59 pm @intellectual merc ever heard of "America for Americans"?. thats the mocking motto of latin america ns regarding the monroe doctrine.

REPLY ACT February 1, 2013 at 3:27 am @Vulgor you actually make a good point; the United States has total hegemony over all of the Americas, and tends to remove to put it politely South American governments tha t it does not like at will. This is by no means, however, an excuse for the PRC to do the same with its own backyard, nor is it in any way their right. John Chan February 1, 2013 at 5:49 am @ACT, Don t be absurd, which government in Asia or in the world for that matter has PRC removed or interfered? Linking PRC s actions of protecting its territory to the US A s hegemonic behaviour surly is a new way for the predatory imperialist to justif y its meddling of other nation s internal affairs self-righteously. ACT February 1, 2013 at 9:42 am @john chan i was referring to the future, as well as to present actions on the part of the PRC not in terms of assassination, etc, but in terms of interference and hegemony. the PRC has failed to live up to its policy of non-interference on multiple occ asions; don't fool yourself into thinking that this has not been the case. John Chan February 1, 2013 at 12:40 pm @ACT, You need to separate conjecture from reality; condemning with conjecture is insi dious, but condemning with reality is frank and upright. Future is conjecture; h istorical records are facts and reality. You need to read the comment posted by aristeon below to realize how absurd your as well as all the anti-China bloggers arguments are. AmericanPragmatist February 1, 2013 at 3:07 pm @ACT Slight correction: America hasn't invaded or covertly toppled any Latin American governments since, I believe, 1983, when we invaded Grenada. And, mind you, thi s was in the context of the Cold War. Yes, we do have hegemony in the Western He misphere, but if we were really acting the part of the aggressor nowadays, we wo uld have toppled the Castro brothers after the Soviet Union fell, assassinated H ugo Chavez, and refused to relinquish the Panama Canal in 1999. Giving up the Ca nal was a huge mistake, in my opinion, considering we directly allowed for Panam anian independence from Colombia and built the Canal, but I'm totally against ta king Chavez out and, as a young American, actually want to normalize relations w ith Cuba, unlike my parents and grandparents. As for the rest of the region, we have excellent relations with Canada, Mexico, and most Central and South America n nations, and I believe that we should ally with Brazil and contribute to its o wn rise as a Great Power in the near future. intellectual merc February 1, 2013 at 3:50 pm @vulgor schenecke hey! Ever heared of latin americans claiming up US borders? Ne ither have I. Vulgor Schnecke February 1, 2013 at 10:21 pm @ ACT I think you are right, but that wasnt my point, but maybe i should have phrased it differently. @ACT and American Pragmatist American Pragmatist: You're kind of saying what I meant. What the US did in Lati n America is basically Economic or Monetary Imperialism, and many countries didn

t like it. However, as you can see, many countries arent too shabby. Brazil as a member of the BRICS countries is growing steadily, and considering the circumst ances under which they started, that's quite an accomplishment. There are projec tions that within the next 40 years, the BRICS countries will be responsible for more than 50% (or 70%? dont remember correctly) of the total economic growth wo rldwide. Not that bad. Whether the US had a negative or positive influence on th ese developments, I dont know, Im not not familiar enough with Latin America. Wh at I want to say is that all these "analogies" to Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan are ill-advised. Its simple to make these comparisons, however most of the time they fall apart especially when you consider history and socioeconomic circumst ances at that time. Even the fact that it was 70 years ago makes a big differenc e. We live in a globalized world where global interdependences are more importan t than ever. That was not the case 70 years ago. Nobody was hating on the US for not wanting to give back the Panama Canal to Pan ama when clearly the canal is on Panama's continental territory. With China we a re talking about small little islands in the Pacific. Not saying what China's do ing is right, IMO if China cant prove the Senkakus belong to them, these island have to stay with Japan simply because they are part of Japan's territory right now. However I think the outcries and the projected consequences mentioned by so me people here are absolutely exaggerated. @ John Chan You are out of your mind Cyrus February 1, 2013 at 10:35 pm @ACT you do have a point but we must not forget what China did to Tibet and Viet nam when it tried to attack Vietnam to effect change but was unable to do so sin ce the Vietnamese Leadership just hid. When it attacked and conquered Tibet and toppled it's Government. ACT February 2, 2013 at 3:17 am @John Chan when a nation announces international territory as its sovereign territory in sp ite of the disputes there, and when a nation has a past history of behaving in e xactly the same manner that the U.S does now (forcing other nations to trade wit h it or face military aggression, etc), then it its all to easy to predict how i t will behave when it re-attains that status. Drive by January 31, 2013 at 1:42 pm Which country's government doesn't want its army to be ready for war? Maybe a ba nana republic. There is absolutely nothing wrong for China's government to reque st the PLA being ready for war. This is what a responsible government that wants to maintain its sovereignty must do. REPLY Kangmin Zheng January 31, 2013 at 3:46 pm I said this before "China is the Nazi of this 21st g but I wasn't. Now is the time the U.S. and its na. I am looking for the day China initiates the war. ays. Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia will be

century". I hope I was wron allies ready for war with Chi China will collapse within d free at last.

REPLY John Chan February 1, 2013 at 6:01 am If a war starts, Japan will collapse with days, Ryukyu Kingdom, Ainu, Burakumin, etc. will be free at last. REPLY Cyrus February 1, 2013 at 10:36 pm @JC Would love to see if that happens, sadly I do believe China would be the one at a disadvantage.

REPLY Vulgor Schnecke February 1, 2013 at 10:23 pm @ Kangming Zheng I wonder how much you actually know about Nazi Germany .. REPLY Kangmin Zheng February 2, 2013 at 1:31 am @Vulgor Schnecke Nazi Germany was very racism same as China today. Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive demands, threatening war if they were not met same as China today. German nationalism was one of the key points of Nazism. Chinese nationalism is pretty much the same. CCP brainwash Chinese people for so long. Look at Chi nese posters on this forum (John Chan, applesauce, Bankotsu, Liang1a and etc). Sound like a good start? REPLY AmericanPragmatist February 2, 2013 at 8:10 am I agree with Khangmin. The parallels between Nazi Germany and modern China are a stounding. One point you left out: China is also committing genocide in Tibet, E ast Turkestan, and Inner Mongolia. Leonard R. January 31, 2013 at 4:35 pm PLA generals or even Lieutenant Colonels, shooting off their mouths to the world -wide media is nothing new. But Beijing is backing down already on the Senkakus. The real war is coming in the currency markets later this year if Abe keeps his word. China will face a lose-lose situation in that worst-case scenario. Dump i t's Yen and Dollars or else slowly devalue and face trade wars with the US & the rest of the developed world. Once the economic **** hits the fan, no telling what will happen. War on the Phi lippine archipelago or maybe the Senkakus .or maybe even inside China. What happen s with Abe and the Yen is the most important thing to watch in the world IMO. Th e CPC is really a prisoner now to events outside its control. And it couldn't ha ppen to a more deserving group of people. REPLY Reason January 31, 2013 at 5:17 pm Unlike most, I actually interpret Xi's comments in an entirely different way. Sure China's generals are becoming increasingly bellicose Sure China's military is increasing abrasive if you happen to live next to it But I believe Xi's comments about 'actual war fighting' are more focused at the actual training the PLA does, which on the whole is poor and of a low quality wi th little of it being to do with anything that could help them in an actual war with a competent army. like Japan or the US. Yeah, we've all seen the constant stream of photos coming off People's Daily.. a t Chimerica News we assess this military training all the time and the majority o f it is just laughable children's play. Most of the PLA, including the PLAN will be left high and dry in an actual real combat environment . and Xi knows this. Anyone who has spent any time in China knows that the most PLA recruits do nothi ng, have little access to professional soldiers and meet every morning and eveni ng to shout and do Kung-Fu exercises. Cus their superior don't know what else to do with them. I think that with the current Asia Pacific environment as it is, Xi actually sat down with his generals and asked them honestly "Guys, how good are we and can we win wars?" And some of his generals have come back and said, "We need better t raining. Stuff that is more realistic. The kind of stuff that western armies do

as standard." And she said "Make it so" And this is why Xi came out and called for better training . not because they want to kick off with Japan or Vietnam, but because deep down, they know the majorit y of the PLA is of a very poor quality and has no real training in how to conduc t a real war REPLY Errol February 1, 2013 at 3:10 am Uh oh The best way to get solid training is to earn experience in combat. Importi ng textbooks and instruction manuals from overseas is not the same. Nothing beat s having been thru the baptism of fire. I hope I'm wrong but I'm beginning to wo rry that PLA generals will soon rectify that lack of experience. REPLY Bankotsu January 31, 2013 at 5:20 pm Typical anti-China drivel propaganda from Gordon Chang. Once I saw the name of t he author of this article, I stopped reading. No use reading through useless ant i-China trash. REPLY Leonard R. January 31, 2013 at 8:04 pm @Bankotsu: "Bankotsu January 31, 2013 at 5:20 pm Typical anti-China drivel propaganda from Gordon Chang. You didn't read the article? Yet you're commenting on it? You may not receive yo ur 50 cents today. REPLY Reason January 31, 2013 at 5:23 pm By way of example I offer you . Didier Drogba One of the best strikers on the planet Scored the winning goal in the Champions league Went to China and achieved what??? Exactly nothing! Proving that you can have the best quality of anything you choose and pay heaps of money for it . footballers, weapons, planes, whatever . But if the environment that it is in is cr*p then that quality item struggles to be anything but cr*p This is also the curse of the PLA REPLY a_canadian_observer February 1, 2013 at 2:12 am In short: "garbage in, garbage out". REPLY Dark Continent February 1, 2013 at 2:19 am @ Reason Perhaps you could tell us how qualitative the Japanese military training are, wh at military edge they possess versus the Chinese one, please exclude the US Army . REPLY

Reason February 1, 2013 at 9:04 am It's a moot point. If China gets into a shooting war with Japan, the US will support it. So, imagining a scenario where the PLA only needs to deal with the JSDF on a one -on-one basis is just a wet dream of General Lou Yuan and the likes. REPLY Tim Wagner January 31, 2013 at 6:58 pm We Poms has a great saying, If you Want Peace, prepare for war! The Chinese are just doing that, so what is the big fuss? As usual, I find that paid trolls are all over the place .switch off the lights and go to beds. REPLY Anon February 1, 2013 at 3:10 am Yes, indeed the sock puppets and paid trolls are all out in force in effect shut ting down the Diplomat's comments section, I wonder to what end? What's the poin t of incessant hate-filled tirades? We get it YOU HATE CHINA & WISH IT'D BREAK INTO LITTLE PIECES.

Tax payers' money down the drain. There's no decent debate possible for the genu ine readers. Waste of time, waste of media contents. Even Russia Today offers a livelier and wider-spectrum range of views. There, the reverse is obvious, the p aid trolls just get shooed off, and Americans, Indians, Chinese, Europeans, Sout h Americans all get their views out. Sad that the nation that invoked the First Amendment is working harrd to ensure ONLY its views prevail. Switches light, goes to bed. REPLY ACT February 1, 2013 at 10:07 am Yes, indeed the sock puppets and paid trolls are all out in force in effect shut ting down the Diplomat's comments section, I wonder to what end? What's the poin t of incessant hate-filled tirades? We get it YOU HATE CHINA & WISH IT'D BREAK INTO LITTLE PIECES.

wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, AND WRONG AGAIN, ANON, and as usual. we do not hate china, nor do we wish to subject it to the same treatment that it received some 160 years ago. You're reading too much between the lines, and you r bias against western nations one of which you most likely live in is showing throu gh clearly. Contrary to all the slurs on here, i suspect that none of the people who have posted here have ever been paid for what they have posted; they are ju st that firm in their beleifs; i firmly believe that the PRC intends to emulate the U.S' mistakes and seek revenge on those who wronged it, as illustrated in it s national mission, if for no other reason than empire envy and foolish notions of natural and preordained positions in the world, just as you seem to believe t hat the U.S is the cruelest, most corrupt, most morally bankrupt empire in the w orld, whose sole aim is the destruction or enslavement-in-all-but-name of any an d all nations who would seek to move outside the order it has constructed; that it does not matter what administration is in place, and that other nations are i ncapable of matching, or having matched this cruelty.

REPLY Reason February 1, 2013 at 10:33 pm @ ACT exactly. No one HATES China. This is just a weapon by the CPC to repackage any criticism, no matter what on, into a vicious attack on the core.

@ JC and the likes, Note, people here don't defend the West, no matter how much you attack it that's your privilege. No one cares. The West is big enough and ugl y enough to look after itself. Unlike the CPC, which has to be protected from the truth as it lives in an unrea lity bubble. John Chan February 1, 2013 at 11:48 pm @Reason, You call all those comments bolstering the West superiority with racist tone on this site not defending the West? Have you heard of offense is the best defence? A ll those China bashing comments on this site are nothing but offensive. If The West is big enough to look after itself and no need to seek out imaginary e nemy to destroy constantly, then another big chunk of employment in the West and its lackeys will disappear, because all of them are working in the business of manufacturing consensus to destroy potential competitors in order to maintain th e supremacy of the West. CPC is armature comparing to the West s manufactured consensus, that s why CPC is in such disadvantage position. People can see CPC s propaganda, but people cannot se e the West s manufactured consensus, because they live in it, 24-7 like every bit of air you breathe; media networks, pro-sports, and Hollywood are just few of th e apparatus the West used to engulf its people in an manufactured reality bubble . a_canadian_observer February 2, 2013 at 2:15 am Revenge is chinese nature. Just watch any chinese kungfu movie and you'll see w hat I mean. Valbonne February 1, 2013 at 6:04 pm I absolutely agreed with you. The Diplomat always like to pay Trolls all over th e place to write these stupid articles. REPLY Peter Lamboon February 1, 2013 at 10:49 pm Many writers are paid employees of the CIA. They are instructed to write and demonize a targeted nation or nations. So thiis article is an excellent example of journalism warfare why they write wi th a twisted tonque and twisted facts. And then again, there are paid CIA trolls in the likes of Nirvana, ACT, Kim Uncl e, Stephen ..they are have the same mind set, cos they are instructed by their em ployer on how and what to write. Ever wonder why they are all so similar? REPLY ACT February 2, 2013 at 3:28 am @Peter Lamboon . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . ,.- . . . . . . . . . . ~., . . . . . . . .. . . . . .,.- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -., . . . . .. . . . . . ..,/. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :, . . . . . . . .. .,?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\, . . . . . . . . . /. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,} . . . . . . . . ./. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,:`^`.} . . . . . . . ./. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,: . . . ./ . . . . . . .?. . . __. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :`. . . ./ . . . . . . . /__.(. . . ~-,_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,:`. . . .. ./ . . . . . . /(_. . ~,_. . . .. ~,_. . . . . . . . . .,:`. . . . _/ . . . .. .{.._$;_. . . =,_. . . . -,_. . . ,.-~-,}, .~ ; /. .. .} . . .. . .((. . .*~_. . . . =-._. . . ;,,./`. . / . . . ./. .. ../

. . . .. . .\`~,. . .. ~.,. . . . . . . . . ..`. . .}. . . . . . ../ . . . . . .(. ..`=-,,. . . .`. . . . . . . . . . . ..(. . . ;_,,. . . . . ../.`~,. . ..`-.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..\. . /\ . . . . . . \`~.*-,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..|,./ ..\,__ ,,_. . . . . }.>-._\. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .|. . . . . . ..`=~-, . .. `=~-,_\_. . . `\,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\ . . . . . . . . . .`=~-,,.\,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . `:,, . . . . . . . . . . . . . `\. . . . . . .._ _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .`=-,. . . . . . . . . .,%`> == . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _\. . . . . ._,-%. . . ..` . i checked my bank account five minutes ago. nowhere in there did i see a payment from the CIA or any affiliate organizations. Gordon Chang might be paid by the CIA to write pieces in this manner, but even if this is the case, i have no doub t that various ministries of the PRC also pay writers to do the same in china, o r in other sites around the world. oh wait they already do OH HI, PEOPLE'S DAILY! charles January 31, 2013 at 10:00 pm the current chinese regime is doomed by its own internal contradictions, but wit h a better government that isn't afraid of its own people, china can live in the prosperity and international respect its citizens deserve. but this beijing cli que is pathetic and funny they can't see how sad they look, clinging to their st upid marxist-leninist symbols while thrashing around trying to find enemies with which to distract the populace. the chinese people deserve better. at least the democratic regime in taiwan isn't afraid to let the people vote!! REPLY TV Monitor February 1, 2013 at 12:31 am This is actually a good thing. China is 100% guaranteed to be defeated by Japan alone if two went to war over the islands today and for a foreseeable future. A humiliating defeat will put these communist leaders back to the place where they rightfully belong to. REPLY John Chan February 1, 2013 at 2:01 am @TV Monitor, Japan is not known for shy from aggression, its forte is creating incident then expanding the incident into full scale war; it also is an expert on sneak attack under the mask of peace negotiation like the Pearl Harbour incident. If Japan h as any shred of confidence, it would attack China long time ago just like it did before 1945. Your huffing and puffing prove Japanese is scare to death and a pa per lackey of the USA. Anyhow Japan is only a pawn in the face off between the USA and China. USA will not let Japan wonder off too far from its leash, using China s hand to wreak Japan is the best way to make Japan a USA submissive lackey for the next century. REPLY Dark Continent February 1, 2013 at 2:32 am US Army defeated the Japanese from air using WMD, the war with China will not be a land war but another airwave war by missiles and this time a lot of them. REPLY Reason February 1, 2013 at 9:18 am Interesting the reaction to Gordon Chang here. CPC supporters just openly reject to read him because he has had the audacity to say bad things about the CPC?? (More likely he's on a No-read directive list) Interestingly as a HATER of the CPC I spend all my time reading the drivel that t he CPC media constantly pumps out on multiple platforms. I see it as my duty to

read all their rubbish, to get a sense of what they're saying from day to day. So, the comments to this piece just shows how much the CPC argument is based on maintaining ignorance as the commentators openly boast their utter stupidity and ignorance like it's a medal. "Oh, Gordon Chang, as soon as I saw his name I stopped reading." Like that is a mark of intelligence? Guys, as defenders of the CPC narrative the likes of Gordon Chan or Greg Autry sh ould be your day to day reading, just like the likes of General Lou Yuan and Col onel Ming Fu are mine. REPLY John Chan February 1, 2013 at 12:19 pm @Reason, You are using No True Scotsman faulty generation to smear the Chinese bloggers o n this site, you should listen to Errol that Generalization is a trap, you should not do what your comrade does not approve. On the other hand the anti-China cliq ue starts right off the gate by bashing China instead of commenting on the artic le.

Reason February 1, 2013 at 10:28 pm @JC the truth of it is in the posts. You don't need to come up with some odd trope that no one has ever heard of to r eason it away CCP s Mistresses February 1, 2013 at 1:28 am CCP has been riddled with too many problems to take any more crises and conseque ntly,Xi Jinping is sitting on this rotten system, his first job is to keep the C CP alive.Therefore, the effects of anything he says or does will be greatly redu ced when being implemented." CCP's ultimate purpose behind many of its practices is to maintain its dictators hip.The CCP has tied up the Chinese people with its interests regarding the Diao yu Islands issue.The CCP attempt to stir up Chinese nationalism and sentiments. "the Diaoyu Island incident did not happen today. In fact, it has existed for de cades.But, why has it turned into something so serious. Mainly it is because the CCP is about to collapse." On 29th January, Xi Jinping inspected the armed police force, reported "Xinhua N ews Agency." Xi Jinping asked the armed police to be ready for combat in a momen t's notice. The armed police should understand the complexity of the current sit uation and be ready not only to fight but also to win the war. "This shows that the CCP is facing a crisis and needs the armed forces to suppre ss people's pursuit of democracy and freedom. To win a war against whom? Do they want to win a war against the unarmed Chinese people?" When Xi Jinping visited the armed police force, he asked the troops be absolutel y loyal, absolutely pure, and absolutely reliable. Observers think that Xi Jinpi ng revealed his worries over Mainland China's civil strife. At the same time, it also reflects the severity of the infighting within the CCP. There are more 1.8 millions CCP members had quit the CCP and fled oversea. May b e it's time for the CCP bloggers and their families to packup their bags and hea ding to democratic countries as well.

REPLY duke chan February 1, 2013 at 12:47 pm I could not agree more! REPLY EuroArmy February 1, 2013 at 3:22 am China is so powerful that it send a full armada of fishing ships to ply some the atre for international audience. Pathetic, I don t even bother anymore to read any news about Chinese incursion at Sedaku islands. They are lucky then have to deal with the Japan and not Russia who have the habi t a making few 50mm calibre holes into any Chinese ships that get into their ter ritorial waters. REPLY PacRim Jim February 1, 2013 at 5:45 am Recall with whom you are dealing. China's one-child policy has created a nation of spoiled children who are accust omed to getting their way and are thus incapable of comprise. Arrogance and belligerence at the top almost certainly will entail mass death at the bottom. REPLY Kim s Uncle February 1, 2013 at 7:37 am Another thing that is scary about the one child policy is the fact Chinese cultu re has a tendency to favor boys so the demographics of the population of China h ave produced an army of single males with no possible prospect for marriage beca use there are no GIRLS!! What will this mass of virgin Chinese males do with ti me on their hands? They will become belligerent, aggressive, and impulsive. I think we have all the ingredients of war and conflict in our hands. REPLY One child army February 1, 2013 at 7:43 am Again, those commie bosses in ZhongNanHai don t care about millions of lives of Ch inese boys from the only child families (while their children live a luxury life in the West) when they beat the war drum so loud. They are calling the war like Chinese emperors did in the last thousands of years, just to satisfy their expa nsionist dream of conquering small surrounding countries. I call the wumao in th is blog to think of who they are and stop being slaves. Oh, maybe I am wrong; th ese wumao could be children of those little emperors in Beijing. REPLY aristeon February 1, 2013 at 8:24 am It seems interesting to me how deep the mistrust of the West towards China is. N ewspapers and magazines constantly speculate about how China will start a war so oner or later, so that the public is now convinced that China poses a threat to world peace. As Kishore Mahbubani put it in one of his books, the West believes to be the onl y responsible stakeholder of global power, and non-Western country can ever act in world affairs as wisely as the West thinks it has been doing for decades. Taiwanese activist Peng Ming-min, who during the Guomindang one-party-rule on Ta iwan was persecuted and arrested and miraculously escaped to Sweden, remarks in his book "A Taste of Freedom" that "as has often been pointed out, the Chinese C ommunist leaders, despite their often belligerent utterances, are in fact cautio us and pragmatic in their actions." He wrote this in the early 1970's, and it se ems to me that he knew the Chinese leadership much better than many Westerners w ho keep on saying China will start a war. Of course, nobody can foresee what will happen in the future. Nobody knows if Ch

ina will become an aggressive power. However, we must give China credit for havi ng been a peaceful country for the last few decades. We must look at the facts a nd not base our judgment on speculations. Western countries have been involved i n major conflicts while China was dealing with its own internal problems. Wester n troops are deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Serbia, Mali and in other areas of t he world. Most especially the US military presence has a global reach, which is a legacy of the Cold War and American anti-Soviet policy. Given the actual record, why are people so suspicious of China? What proves do t hey have to assert that this country is planning to go to war? What facts do the y have in order to say that the West is more peaceful than China? Of all Western countries, the USA should be particularly cautious in depicting China as a thre at, for it was America, and not China, which fought one of the most arbitrary wa rs in recent times. Here we see the double standard of the West. Our wars can, in one way or the oth er, always be excused, if not glorified, while even simple words, when uttered b y leaders of non-Western countries, make us predict a new world war. Aris Teon @my-new-life-in-asia.blogspot REPLY ACT February 1, 2013 at 10:39 am @if anything, we are suspicious of China because it has been decidedly un-peacef ul within the last few decades; in 1974, 1979 and during the 1980's China seized minor islands by force from Vietnam or invaded Vietnam itself; in 1994, The PRC seized Mischief Reef from the Philippines and built military structures on it i n 1999; Sansha has been in a process of ongoing militarization since at least 20 01. All of this has, mind you, taken place in internationally disputed territory . Oh, and then there's the fact that the PLA threatened to nuke San-Francisco du ring the 1996 Taiwan-Strait crisis. This, plus the alleged national mission of " righting historical wrongs" with all its intended ambiguity and the repeated bel licose threats from the CPC and PLA leadership do not help matters, and give the impression that the nation's leadership is a tad bit unhinged. Tell me, would y ou trust a trading-partner who despite profiting from trading with you and your fr iends repeatedly threatened to stab you, your wife and your friends when you didn' t listen to him or offered criticism? REPLY RollingWave February 1, 2013 at 7:04 pm ahhh yes, except that there was no outcry when China actually did kill Vietnames e for those islands, because you know it was the Cold war and relationship was be tter between China and the US then US and Vietnam. You fail to note that Vietnam has also undertaken by far the greatest expansion of Presence in the Southern Island chains, it currently holds the most islands and most of that came in the last 2 decade, despite the fact that he Republic of China, have long held the largest island in the chain (well over 5 deacdes of a ctual military presence) Meanwhile, it is hard to objectively say that Japan isnt' baiting China over the Sengaku / Diaoyu Islands. aside from the whole fiasco of buying islands, now Ab e says he's considering putting installation / men on there, a move that any one with a brain knows will end up in bombing / fighting.. China is not innocent of anything of course, but your either naive or evil if yo u think the other players in the regions are.

REPLY Anon February 1, 2013 at 10:20 pm This is hilarious, how about some CONCERN for NATO that just LAST YEAR has bombe d, invaded and toppled Heads of SOVEREIGN States from Libya to Syria? Which armies are based in 900 over military installations all over the world, wi th god knows how many more black sites of torture and inhumane experiments?

We used to think the USSR is to be feared, but in fact, Andrew Marshall and his ilk firmly in control of the Pentagon and Washington, are the true inheritors of Nazism and Fascism, of a New World Order of absolute diktat, broaching no disse nt. This is truly Orwellian. REPLY ACT February 2, 2013 at 3:40 am @anon there you go again, acting as if we are all so naively unaware of what goes on i n the world; we already know about this, and we already criticize it. But this a rticle is not about vietnam's expansion, which is limited to its own EEZ, but th e expansion of China, which extends WELL beyond its own EEZ. U.S arms arming the Syrian rebels,Al Qaeda, both confuses and disgusts me, but it is not relevant t o this discussion. Stay on topic, please. Oh, and what could possibly make you t hink, judging by its behavior when it is not a super power, that China will be a ny less orwellian? @rolling wave. So what? if I were Japan i would also be baiting China into making a stupid move , consider that what China is doing there is nothing short of falsification of h istory to legitimize territorial aggression; the move by Japan in september was nothing but a formalization of the status quo. Also, last i checked, Vietnam was n't building military installations on islands outside of its EEZ. denk February 2, 2013 at 3:13 am * the nation's leadership is a tad bit unhinged.* [sic] +it isn t happening now because the crazies have taken over in Beijing. It s happeni ng because the decision-makers in Beijing think that the crazies have taken over in Washington, and are trying to draw most of Asia into an anti-Chinese allianc e. There is a good deal of evidence to suggest that they are right+ http://walrusmagazine.com/articles/2005.10-international-affairs-coming-war-with -china REPLY Anon February 1, 2013 at 1:54 pm @Aris Teon Do check out my reply to Kim's Uncle near the top China is preparing to answer t he OFFENSIVE plans by Pentagon strategists, eg. Andrew Marshall, for the "Pivot" via Air Sea Battle targeting China. REPLY nirvana February 1, 2013 at 4:41 pm There was the same debate in Europe in 1936, not about China though. REPLY Anon February 1, 2013 at 10:15 pm @nirvana Yes, the same Neo-Fascist ideology with firm commitment to Unipolar Hegemony, se nding its troops all over the planet to wage illegal wars of aggression based on false flags and lies wonder now how you seem to be a staunch foot-soldier of such a dictatorial system? don't you have any moral compunctions left for endless se nseless wars and invasions for the past two decades? Which countries invaded you rs, nirvana, that they should deserve to be bombed, dismembered and broken, thei r civilians and soldiers annihilated? REPLY

nirvana February 2, 2013 at 12:59 am @Anon, I have big concerns when I hear such argument as Chinese Communist leaders, despi te their often belligerent utterances, are in fact cautious and pragmatic in the ir actions." One could then equally say that the Soviets were peaceful as histo ry shows they did not push on the red button when their empire crumbled. What is the cause and what is the effect? The dog just barks because it never bites, or because it fears a big stick? A peaceful nation is not a weak one. It is one that does not systematically use its military superiority. It is one that allows its citizens to demonstrate agai nst (and stop) its illegal wars. The US military etiquette is a concern for all peace-loving people. But, after WW2, the Americans are perhaps the most peaceful people by record, as per my definitions above. I hope they can improve their co ntrol over their military, and maintain its superiority. If my country is bombed, I would first check whether the leaders of my country a re terrorizing my compatriots. If my country is illegally invaded, I would have worldwide friends to condemn the invaders. If nobody comes to help, I would join the resistance and prepare to die for the freedom of the next generation. Anon, you need to see the difference between patriotic and nationalistic. nirvana February 2, 2013 at 1:17 am Typo "After WW2, ". I meant after the Cold War. Although, it should be noted that after WW2 the US could very well bombed any co untry trying to challenge its monopoly of the atomic bomb. Just try to imagine w hat would happened if it was Stalin who got the A-bomb first . ACT February 2, 2013 at 3:54 am @anon never drink your own koolaid; tell me, what was China doing in its back yard bet ween 200AD-1500AD. Oh that's right sending soldiers all over the region to promote i ts rule and hegemony and to force others to acknowledge its superiority and forc e trade. Dear anon, please explain to me how the U.S is warranting of any differ ent treatment or why it should behave differently from any other hegemony that has e xisted throughout history. In fact, in this regard, the U.S has been remarkably subdued; it has not colonized those it defeated in war since the end of the 19th century; it has not enslaved anyone, and it has guaranteed the common defense o f its allies. Furthermore, of all the recent interventions on the part of the U. S, two Mali and Libya were by request, and the Libya intervention was, if i remember correctly, authorized by the U.N Resolution 1973. Have China's moves been autho rized by the U.N? no, and they are actually in violation of UNCLOS, which China signed in 1996. denk February 2, 2013 at 12:45 pm ACT r u kidding ? during most of its history, china has been the victim of aggressions. even if it was particularly *aggressive* during 200AD-1500AD As claimed, that wa s the era of warring states, to make war was the norm. !! but this is the 21 century ! supposedly the era of civilisation , international law n human rights n all that jazz ! mind u, the author has included both the fabricated pretexts n the real reasons behind the aggressions . is this ur idea of *world cop*, the guarantor of *peace*, *protector* of the we ak ?

REPLY Liang1a February 1, 2013 at 10:10 am The only way to keep China safe is by demonstrating to the world that it is able and willing to defend its sovereign territories. REPLY nirvana February 2, 2013 at 1:07 am This applies to any country. Only China has a unique definition of "sovereign te rritories". REPLY Potoy February 1, 2013 at 11:12 am For all those who wants to comment and JOHN CHAN is always there read this . http: //www.rfa.org/english/news/china/online-12092011145353.html REPLY John Chan February 1, 2013 at 11:02 pm @Potoy, Shame on you, citing an CIA propaganda outlet as evidence to support your allega tion, it is an application of Straw-man fallacy, circular argument fallacy, ad h ominem fallacy altogether in a short space of one sentence, you surly demonstrat e the deep deceitfulness of the black information network of the West. REPLY Lady Sang-Hwa February 2, 2013 at 1:40 am Now John Chan tell me how much you received for each post you make? I think it c ould be more than 50 cents depending on how good the wumao is, right? this wumao job interests me. Can you please tell me how to apply for that? REPLY Valbonne February 1, 2013 at 4:35 pm With respect to Gordon G. Chang, and I believe he has a Chinese sounding name. I have listen to Gordon G. Chang interview a couple of years ago, and it could h ave be in one of the main news like BBC News on China, I have never seen such a so-called 'China Expert' so "anti-Chinese" and so unbalance in his assessment of China. After that, I never bother to take him seriously as a so-called 'China E xpert'. REPLY RollingWave February 1, 2013 at 4:54 pm I'm still waiting for the China collapse you said would have occured by now Mr. Chang REPLY NoguenRi (1950) February 1, 2013 at 5:29 pm The U.S. military is surrepticiously moving closer and closer to China's ports a nd major cities yet Obama and Panetta are vehemently denying that there is anyth ing untoward about it BUT China is wise enough to know what Uncle Sam is really up to. Moreover, the presence of a CIA mole right inside the Ministry of Public Security and who was not caught until recently betrays the very real or raw inte nt of Uncle Sam. Therefore Beijing has to be realistic now and try to prepare fo r the coming inevitability. For China, it is a case of being forewarned is to be forearmed. Therer's simply no cause for any artificial or manufactured furore h ere. REPLY ACT February 2, 2013 at 3:57 am news link to that CIA mole story, please? REPLY

intellectual merc February 1, 2013 at 7:28 pm @john chan the lesson . ahh, so does that mean mr. Chan that we the lesser nations sho uld only sell ourselves to china? The problem is, china never bothered to make a n offer, it just decided on its own to draw a line trampling our products with its ships and structures. There is no honor among thieves mr. chan, so its kind of hard to respect the sovereignty of china. REPLY Michael Guy February 1, 2013 at 7:32 pm Give credit to the wisdom and patriotism of the Chinese Communist Party leaders. They enticed western businessmen with the lure of a billion customers so that t hese capitalists would 'lobby" ( i.e bribe) their politicians to agree to free t rade treaties with China. China then developed a strategy of supplying the west ern world with cheaper goods, and thus obtained a favorable imbalance of trade. With their free trade profits, the Chinese Communist leaders were able to build a military that will soon conquer all of Asia, but they are also able able to m anipulate western leaders like the US President and Senate, by loaning back some of these free trade profits, back to socialist politicians at terms, conditions and with pledges of physical assets ( like Taiwan) as collateral. The Chinese will soon have an empire that will exceed the Chin or Kublai Kahn. I believe th ey will entice America, already heavily indebted, to attack Iran and then use a blockade to isolate the US forces in Iran the way the British did to Napoleon's troops in Egypt or the way De Grasse did to Cornwallis at Yorktown. China will then of course refuse to lend any more hope and change money, let civil unrest ensue in America and finally cancel debt under terms of total hegemony in Asia. Just as in the 1930 it was America who built Tojo and Hirohito's war machine, now in the 21st century it was America who funded, financed and built the Chines e army, thanks to free trade. And thanks to the EPA, which now works for China, this time the factories are in China. REPLY denk February 1, 2013 at 8:58 pm china's new *militancy* ? [sic] *The funniest response has been alarm about China's "military buildup." I would say that if China did not engage in a military buildup after watching the United States go bomb and missile crazy during the past 20 years that it would be derelict in its duty.* http://www.againstbombing.com/soyouwant.htm REPLY vic February 2, 2013 at 12:25 am Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. China's military must be able to handle the most likely aggressor, the US military, otherwise China's future is clouded. This is the bottom line of the CCP. However, it does not mean that China will go out of the way to pick a fight. Japan's Senkaku (or China's Diao Yu) is an issue which is a leftover of Japan's aggression in the past and which must be somehow settled if Sino-Japanese relationship is to be normalized. As f or the SCS, if there are massive oil or gas deposits, it is up to Philippines or Vietnam to decide the price of not coming to terms with China. If the US wants to get into a fight for the heck of it, then China must prepare itself. REPLY Cam February 2, 2013 at 4:16 am Wow, What a language of a gangster aka a used-to-be-sick-man-learn-to-be mafioso . I found it hilarious. No one scares you for sure. Now, the Philippines took th e day light robber to the international court but the robber refused to go. What is the matter? Ashamed of the "Chinese characteristics in front of the world? REPLY

American Patriot February 2, 2013 at 6:03 am @ Chinese posters What you all need to get into your head is that the USA is the leader of the fre e world where democracy, capitalism and a high quality of life reign supreme. Th e average american consumers roughly 15 times the average Chinese does, it is no t even a real comparison to be made between the two countries at all. We have a near monopoly on supercomputing tech, top-ranked universities, 25% of the worlds largest companies are US based, multiple times larger than China, top nobel lau reate count, largest most advanced military by far, on its way to becoming a tot al energy superpower, surpassing russia and saudi arabia, I can easily go on but I'm sure you guys get the point by now. Why is this article even bothering with mentioning the Chinese military? Is this some sort of joke article? China is a total chump compared to the USA, a small time thug wannabe gangster. It would be like comparing al capone to your local p ot dealer, China's economy may be large and getting larger year by year but that 's only one aspect of what makes a nation powerful and influential. It's a one t rick pony, all it has up its sleeve is the GDP card whereas the USA has the GDP card, the military card, the political/diplomatic card, the technology card, and now the energy superpower card; its actually adding cards to its stockpile wher eas China can seemingly only rely on GDP. The USA in my opinion is the true reincarnation of the Legendary Roman Empire an d will be looked back on 1000 years from now as one of histories greatest empire s of all time. The USA is a mere 230ish years old and is already the most influe ntial nation history has known adding more technological feats than any other na tion in history. In China's so called 5000 years what has it really accomplished ? It is an anti-social nation that isolates itself off from others and doesn't s Britain only 15 hare anything, it got utterly humiliated by a tiny island nation 0 years ago because it was so weak and anti-social, then it got totally steam-ro lled by another tiny island nation japan a mere 80 years ago and lets not forget its centuries of being colonized by another tiny population the mongols. In short, history is dominated by ad their ideas and culture across hina are meant to be exploited by ng arrogant or racist, it is just strong, confident nations that go out and spre the globe. Anti-social isolated nations like C the strong, confident nations. This is not bei a fact of nature; survival of the fittest.

REPLY Kim s Uncle February 2, 2013 at 5:38 am Modern Germany and Japan are two examples of real peaceful rise in our times!!! They created a miracle in their respective country! Both are democratic with dem ocratic institutions and an independent press with an independent court system! Both are examples of conducting foreign policy through goodwill. No neighboring countries fear these countries! Modern china is a Frankenstein s monster with the beating Communist heart ! Her rise is anything but peaceful or harmonious! It is nothing more than imperialism from the 19th Century. Replace the word Nazi part y and it will still spell out CCP! REPLY neutral February 2, 2013 at 6:59 am This article starts off in the first paragraph about China being a "hostile stat e", that sure is some objective and diplomatic writing right there REPLY neutral February 2, 2013 at 7:13 am This site should be renamed to "The Nationalist", all I see here are nationalist s from mostly American and China trading nationlist punches, hardly the most dip lomatic behaviour in anyones book.

REPLY coockie February 2, 2013 at 7:23 am That could be a nice strategy attack a country (USA) where Xi daughter is studyi ng //sarcasm REPLY Liang1a February 2, 2013 at 8:38 am China's old policy: China should avoid war at all cost. China should develop the economy at the expense of defending sovereignty. China's new policy: China should fight wars to defend sovereignty. China can only develop its economy after its sovereignty has been defended. REPLY Reason February 2, 2013 at 9:32 am I have to say.. i don't believe JC is wumao. The Diplomat is way above wumao vision and clearance Wumao are hired on a mass basis to write in Chinese on Chinese stories, mostly l ocal Sites like the diplomat and Foreign Policy are strictly out of bounds for Wumao commentators. I would guess that JC is a product of the CPC system and has prospered much from it and is genuinely defending it as he truly believes it to be the antidote to the evils of the West. This is why I love him, cus there's passion in his posts. If not this and JC and the likes do have special clearance to comment on Diploma t then they're salaried and certainly not counting posts like the wumao army, wh ich we all know exists. REPLY Lnrds February 2, 2013 at 1:02 pm China will do anything to take over Asia and I fear it is definitely going the p ath of Imperial Japan. China CCP, CCP bloggers and its sympathizers just don't s ee it and are filled with so much bitterness. Must be the all the pollution and lack of oxygen to the brain.???? Reading all the CCP lovers posts just makes me want to cry and cringe. Same thin g repeated all over again and again. Never gets old, never gets tired .