by Jeff Brown
Crosslinked with: http://chinarising.puntopress.com/2018/08/09/button-up-yer-bungholes-boys-n-girls-cuz-baba-beijing-is-bringing-on-the-badass-china-rising-radio-sinoland-1808xx/
https://youtu.be/bCBB62-gjpQ
https://soundcloud.com/44-days/button-up-yer-bungholes-boys-n-girls-baba-beijings-bringing-the-badass-china-rising-radio-sinoland
Pictured above: Badass Baba Beijing making America’s bald eagle feel the pain. The United States does not have bamboo forests. China has thousands of square kilometers of them. What’s an American eagle doing there? Uncle Sam, you’re out of range and outclassed in this neck of the woods. Time to dust off your feathers and get the heck out. Go home and take care of your own suffering people.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s March 1, 2018 State of the Nation speech was historic (http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/56957), during which he showed off his country’s latest missile and nuclear weapon technology. The West has nothing that comes close to what Russia stocks in its arsenal. Even a NATO member, Turkey, is buying Russia’s S-400 ground-to-air anti-missile system, over America’s version. Hell, everybody on Planet Earth and their dead uncle wants to buy the S-400! It’s so bad that the West has to buy their rocket engines from Russia, to launch their satellites (https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/space/why-does-u-s-use-russian-rockets-launch-its-satellites-n588526).
After Syria’s humiliating smackdown of NATO, Israel, their proxy terrorist ISIS and White Helmet armies, with the critical help of Russia and Iran, it is clear which country is the world’s real military superpower, and it is not spelled U-S-A.
But Mr. Putin didn’t need to tell you that. Anybody with a basic knowledge of military hardware knows that Russia has Planet Earth’s preeminent inventory and technology bragging rights, bar none. This is because Russia’s military industrial complex (MIC) is a healthy mix of state owned and private companies. Their corporate officers and employees are committed to protecting their country’s borders and keeping their citizens safe. In other words, they are patriots and nationalists first and making a profit comes second. There may be some corruption, but when you look at Russia’s annual military budget versus what they are producing, it cannot be more than some background noise (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures).
Not so in Eurangloland. The West’s MIC exists first and foremost to loot trillions of dollars and euros onto weapon manufacturing corporations’ bottom lines, as well as pallets of dirty money into the back pockets of the tens of thousands of parasites who are sucking the public treasuries dry: senators, representatives, parliamentarians, government workers, lobbyists, consultants, shit shoveling media whores who write, blog and broadcast what they are told to publish, and the endless revolving door for military officers, who become instant millionaires when quitting their public service, to join in the private gang bang of their hapless citizens. The West definitely has socialism and it’s sure not for the masses.
Everybody in the West knows that their MIC is more corrupt than open sewers and ocean-sized septic tanks, bilking them out of trillions of their hard-earned taxes, yet they prefer to protest for and against transsexuals, guns and abortion. You gotta hand it to Eurangloland’s owners, they really know how to play their citizens with 24/7 Big Lie propaganda, identity politics, and the endless dribble of false flag mass shootings, bombings and Muslim-dark-skinned attacks, all the while robbing them blind and slowly impoverishing their nations into developing world status.
What is less talked about in the West’s presstitute media is China’s military technology capabilities. I’m not suggesting that China’s weapons are superior to Russia’s, but I am saying the United States would lose to the Chinese nation in a hot war. Like Russia, China’s MIC is first patriotic and nationalist. Not only that, but China has the visionary guidance of the Communist Party of China (CPC), with its long-term planning and strategies. Every member of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is a communist and I can assure that probably 99% of the MIC’s corporate officers and boards of directors are fire breathing CPC members too. China’s MIC is almost all state-owned, although Baba Beijing is letting more and more private firms get into the game, especially ones that have developed unique or cutting-edge technology.
Like Russia, China produces a dizzying array of weaponry for a fraction of NATO’s budget, suggesting that corruption is likely minimal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures). Not to mention that President Xi Jinping, a PLA officer himself, has cleaned house in the military, completely modernizing its structure along the lines of NATO (rapid reaction forces; smaller, more mobile units), while imprisoning, removing, demoting, disciplining and fining thousands of officers who got too fat and happy before Xi became supreme military commander in 2013.
In order to secure its geopolitical interests along it coast and in the South China Sea, with the US invading its waters and keeping important naval assets in Japan and Korea, Baba Beijing is building a blue water navy at blinding speed. How fast, you might ask? China has built 15 navy warships in just seven months, the kind of output not seen since the United States after Pearl Harbor (https://glblgeopolitics.wordpress.com/2018/07/19/chinese-naval-expansion-hits-high-gear-chinas-navy-acquires-15-warships-in-7-months/).
This includes state of the art aircraft carriers (https://www.popsci.com/amp/china-nuclear-submarine-aircraft-carrier-leak and https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/03/chinas-nuclear-aircraft-carrier-technology-will-catchup-to-the-us-around-2025.html and http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/china-building-nuclear-aircraft-carriers-could-the-navys-25701 and https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/02/china-will-launch-nuclear-powered-aircraft-carrier-by-2025.html and http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1111696.shtml).
To supplement its blue water navy, China is developing a fleet of artificial intelligence (AI) submarines (https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2156361/china-developing-unmanned-ai-submarines-launch-new-era-sea-power).
The PLA is at the cutting edge of using naval rail guns, something NATO admits they are behind on, and China may be ahead of the Russians for this important technology. (https://sputniknews.com/military/201802021061312636-china-flexes-electromagnetic-railgun-warship/ and http://en.people.cn/n3/2018/0316/c90000-9437799.html and http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/06/chinas-future-railgun-navy-2025-predicted-by-us-intelligence.html). Railguns use powerful electromagnetic energy to launch missiles at high speeds.
China upped the ante, announcing it has just tested an electromagnetic rocket, something that is still on the drawing boards in the West (http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1113596.shtml).
China already has a vast arsenal of advanced missiles (http://chinarising.puntopress.com/2015/09/04/from-may-9th-in-moscow-to-september-3rd-in-beijing-the-anti-west-order-comes-full-circle-moscow-beijing-express-on-the-saker-44-days-radio-sinoland/) and it is clear that like Russia, Baba Beijing is ahead of the West in hypersonic missiles (https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/11/hypersonic-wind-tunnel-test-model-of-chinas-hypersonic-vehicle-revealed.html and https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/02/china-moving-to-full-scale-hypersonic-missile-production-and-us-will-spend-about-10-billion-per-year-on-missile-defense.html and www.globaltimes.cn/content/1113980.shtml and http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2142011/start-your-engines-china-getting-ready-mass-produce-hypersonic).
Not just hypersonic weaponry, but the PLA has a whole array of tactical and long range missiles for every occasion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Liberation_Army_Rocket_Force and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_UAV_employed_missiles and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongfeng_(missile) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DF-41 and http://missilethreat.com/missile-class/dong-feng-21d-df-21dcss-5-mod-4/).
This includes the DF21-D, dubbed the aircraft carrier killer. With the DF21-D’s 1,500km range, Uncle Sam has to keep its blue water navy 1,600km from China’s coast, thus making the 900km-range jet fighters on board totally useless. Some superpower…
China is giving NATO fits with its aviation programs, including the H-20 long range stealth bomber (https://www.popsci.com/explaining-chinas-big-bomber-plans and https://china-defense.blogspot.hk/2018/04/here-it-is-first-artists-impression-of.html and http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1101430.shtml), as well as its stealth fighter jets (http://en.people.cn/n3/2018/0321/c90000-9440007.html).
In sum, Russia is king of the global military mountain, but China is more than anything that NATO could imagine throwing at it. While NATO tries to take down Russia and China in the geopolitical sphere, these two fraternal countries are cooperating closely on the military front, conducting exercises together, as far away as the Mediterranean and Black Seas (https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/watch-out-china-russia-are-working-together-sea-15767). With everybody clamoring to get their hands on the much coveted S-400, China was early-on the first country to get the system in place (https://www.businessinsider.com/china-has-russian-s-400-air-defense-system-2018-5/).
Among Eurangloland’s elites, there are some voices of reason, questioning the delusional dream that the United States would send China to a quick and decisive defeat, if they got into a hot war. This article shows just some of the PLA’s underestimated arsenal (http://www.kiwireport.com/chinese-superweapons-changing-regional-balance/). America’s generals know that China would wipe out its Pacific fleet in a matter of days, if war broke out (https://www.newsweek.com/russia-china-would-destroy-us-command-aircraft-day-1-war-air-force-warns-937013). Rand, a private CIA-Department of State-Department of Defense geopolitical analysis group just came out with a report entitled, War with China (https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1140.html). It admits that PLA’s improving military might is on such a scale as to make going to war with China unthinkable (https://www.rand.org/blog/2016/08/qa-an-unthinkable-war-between-the-us-and-china.html).
So, go ahead and say it: the United States is not humanity’s sole superpower, neither economically, nor militarily. There now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?
The obvious is obviously obvious … but the propaganda machine that started with the first settlers still believes it is exceptional and #1. Clearly it may rank as high as #3, but I doubt it. I suspect there are any number of countries that could, on their own, put paid our delusions.
In fact, we threw a lot of stuff into the fray of WWII and after everybody else had been virtually destroyed, we then assumed we were #1. Such hubris …
and for many years I assumed it was true. Silly me, and I have degrees in history. Imagine what the poor schmuck who can barely read things … may believe … and who assumes that Wal-Mart actually saves money so they can spend more.
And our plutocratic oligarchs don’t care so long as they make money … such patriotism!
yeah, yeah, chest beating is OK. China, But how about bringing on the bad-a– by dropping US Treasuries in a bit of solidarity with Russia.
https://www.rt.com/news/435529-moscow-retiliate-us-sanctions/
A rapidly collapsing USA would be a very dangerous rabid dog, indeed. China need not bring the USA down, because the USA will do that itself.
China will be tested very soon in Taiwan. The US Marine guards issue is going to be a chokebone. It looks small, almost inconsequential, but it is the spearhead for US moving onto Taiwan as a platform, an enormous base that will alter China’s rise and strangle her.
Not only does it tear up the One China policy agreement, it establishes Taiwan as a protectorate of the entire Indo-Pacific QUAD.
China will have to use triads and terrorist tactics to make the US pay with lives of their “invaders”.
The entire territorial claim to Taiwan will be lost if China does not take violent action to drive out any form of military presence (even contractors).
Hesitation will be enormously costly. Ultimately, if China wanted to get Taiwan back, they would have to fight a war against a US-Japan-Australia-India formation.
The newly named and expanded PACCOM, INDOPACCOM, is aimed at (1) China, (2) Russia. It has little to do with North Korean threats. It is meant to build in East Asia-Pacific and SE Asia a cordon to contain and crush China, and also, to control access to the Pacific and Antarctica, and then, to control Russia’s Far East and Arctic routes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Indo-Pacific_Command
This matchup of the Hegemon against China is for all the marbles in Eurasia and Global leadership.
The moves the US is making are perfectly calculated against Beijing’s weakness. The Chinese are dependent on a very long timeline of development.
The US has struck now to prevent the full development and to drain the wealth of China.
The PLA has not fought a war since 1979. It may be large, well-equipped and trained well, but it is unready for the violence it will receive in real warfare.
What it must use is its special forces (aided by the experienced Russian units, even some FSB units) to deal with the challenge of Taiwan. Their targets have to be US assets in any form.
The US will go forth and further, very fast to grab Taiwan and then base its missiles, missile defenses, aircraft and naval forces on the island.
President Xi has his “Ukraine”. He must deal with Taiwan like Putin did with Crimea.
He must take it. Bring it home.
Well, as was said by one official, paraphrasing, ‘we can shut down Taiwan anytime we want, because the greater mass of Taiwan’s trade is with China’. In other words, the economic ties of Taiwan are much stronger to China than US. This is the problem for the US in the region. China is the production power in the world now. China has already won. It is now strengthening that with the overland routes, and untouchable sea routes, such as the northern route/Russian arctic route.
Don’t kid yourself. Xi will deal with Taiwan as Russia dealt with Novorussia, not Crimea. There is no dearth of cynicism amongst Sino elites and they know war with the US will not help their cause.
It’s still oligarchs and plutocrats versus peons the whole world over. Cold Wars are always won by elites, at the expense of the masses — and so it will be with leading techno fascist state China.
Eric Arthur Blair told you already. The future is a tripartite boot stomping on your face forever.
How is it that China has grown ‘..at the expense of the masses’, when China has brought more people out of poverty and to a decent lifestyle, and more, than any other country in history, with the world’s best infrastructure, excellent education, and the new universal health insurance scheme? Feel free to be inventive.
@where-wolf
China brought up 400 mio people in the middleclass, brought electricity to every single house in China. China has free and one of the worlds best education and schools. China is doing a much better job in Africa and Latin than West ever did.
Its better to appreciate the improvements, than crying from the armchair everything should be more perfect.
Well, OK: seems to this amateur on the topic that the analysis given here is a plausible one. But it is a “downer” (depressing)”. And, of course, in struggles against evil, morale is important. Plus as the saying goes: “Where the people have no vision, the nation perishes.” [Proverbs 2918] Good thing for my mood that I had just read Helga Zepp LaRouche’s positive analysis of a “vision” being put into place. = https://larouchepac.com/20180809/worse-fake-news-forced-conformity-media?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20180809-2-daily&utm_content=20180809-2-daily+CID_1bc246554baf60a8c03fde5b4186b6c1&utm_source=CampaignMonitorEmail&utm_term=Worse%20than%20Fake%20News%20The%20Forced%20Conformity%20of%20the%20Media
Hello Larchmonter445,
You state that its time for China to take Taiwan back. I might be wrong here since living in Europe (smile) but as far as I know a big majority of of the Taiwanese people do not want to be part of China. Stating that China should take it back (I assume with force) is what would make China look very, very bad. Rightly so I will add. One cannot compair that with Crimea. There the people wanted it big time. Spain now looks, rightly as well, very bad since the people from Catalonia wanted to seperate from Spain. They should have that right. That the self proclaimed ”humanitarian EU” refused to condemn Spain for what they did to them looks horrible on them. One thing they didnt do is extradite the leader to Spain so that is something.
Really, using military action to annex an independent country that once belonged to another country is behaving like a hegemon. Or would you suggest that it is a right thing to do for my country (Holland) to annex Belgium with force since it once belonged to Holland for centruries? I can go on. Things change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.
How the Dutch acted to prevent the centuries old ”ownership” of the Dutch East Indies to become independent is ofcourse a disgrace. But at least they gotten their independence after atrocities have been committed. The return of Hong Kong to China was a disgrace. The people should have been allowed to decide. But no, a 99 year old contract with the UK had more legal standing then the will of the people of Hong Kong. To me that means that slavery still exists. To me your proposal (annex Taiwan) means you approve of slavery enforced by the barrel of the gun.
Please correct me if I misread your comment.
Regards,
Hugo
” The people [of Hong Kong] should have been allowed to decide”
Hugo, you are aware that under British rule, Hong Kong governors were appointed by Britain, and not elected by Hong Kong citizens? Actually, with the handover of Hong Kong to China, Hong Kong citizens now enjoy greater autonomy under China than they ever had under Britain…
Regarding Taiwan, why are they hosting US marines and letting US navy use their ports? Do they not know how threatening and unhelpful this is with regards to their relationship with the mainland? The Taiwanese attitude seems quite self-defeating to me. If China has to use military action to defend themselves from US aggression launched from Taiwan, then the Taiwanese will only have themselves to blame for everything that happens to them.
Hello Serbian Girl,
I fully know that Hong Kong people now have more to say then under English rule. To me it is like less bad does not make it good. In my mind the people of Hong Kong should have had a say. Ofcourse also under UK rule.
Considering Taiwan, if I alone (smile) was that country, I would do the same. Let me state it a bit differently. If you were the leader(s) of Yugoslavia and knew that the West wanted to annex you and Russia was powerfull. Would you not invite the Russians, armed to the teeth, to prevent the utter disgrace that happend to your former country? Or do you think its fair what happened to your former country? I surely do not. Seems to me Taiwan choosen to do prevent and I cannot blame them.
Regards,
Hugo
Taiwan, if the Nationalist had won the Civil War, 1949, would have been ONE CHINA with the Mainland. The nationalist army conquered Formosa, took it as Taiwan and has no case for independence as a separate China. Only US hegemony allows that. In fact, it would be Japanese if they hadn’t lost WWII.
All I’m saying is China should use whatever action it requires to drive the US efforts off the island.
The QUAD and INDOPACCOM are constructs to contain, strangle and destroy China.
So, should Beijing accept that fate?
I don’t call for war. I call for actions that cost the US whatever they invest in Taiwan. Men and material.
China can wait another hundred years for things to change or evolve, but cannot wait one day if the US intends to make Taiwan a base. And that is what is going on.
If they leave SK, they will want to be on Taiwan. And they will have to leave SK to get a NK denuclearization. After that, Okinawa will throw them out.
Wake up to that reality.
If China is afraid, they will be destroyed. That’s just geopolitical reality.
They want to be #1 some day. The US will never just allow that to happen.
Hello again Larchmonter445,
Thank you for your clarification. I fully agree that China has every right to counter the US destabalising (to say the least) effords in the region. I think I have an decent but not great idea of the geopolitical games that are being played btw. I think China will be in a way stronger position if they change their tune to say, hey, we dont inisist on you becoming part of China again. If you want to, you be more then welcome. If you dont, fine as well as long as you dont become an US base. If you do that, our hand will be forced. That is more like the Russian position that I fully respect. See the Crimea for example. I hope that makes my position more clear.
Regards,
Hugo
H
“Spain now looks, rightly as well, very bad since the people from Catalonia wanted to seperate from Spain.”
Less than half the people. There was a vote and the pro separation side didn’t muster 50%. But the spanish regime does look bad due to their fascist reaction. But then, since when haven’t those buggers acted poorly.
“but as far as I know a big majority of of the Taiwanese people do not want to be part of China.”
Given your illusions about Catalonia, why would someone take your claims about Taiwan seriously?
Hello vot tak,
Seems to me we are living in paralell universes. The very pro hegemon wikipedia has to say this about the referendum. The overwhelming majority of Catalonian people voted for independence. Here you can read all about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_independence_referendum,_2017
Are you sure that you are not having illusions?
Regards,
Hugo
Your proposal is that China simply sits back and lets the West vivisect it. Thanatopolis DC is already financing compradores working to detach Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Hong Kong, even ‘Manchuria’ from China. No state in history would allow such aggression to proceed, in a replay of the 19th century Western assault on China. I expect that the Netherlands, a pipsqueak Imperial boot-licker in NATO, and running the fraudulent MH17 witch-hunt, won’t be too keen to join in any Imperial action against China.
Hello Mulga Mumblebrain,
I am surely not saying that China should sit back and let the century of humiliation continue into the next century of humiliation. You also should not conclude that I am fine with the actions of the EU/Netherlands. Actually, I hate the war crimes my country now is committing in Syria. Fortunately our army is a joke and cannot do real damage. Thats why I am happy they bought into the F35 (Joint Strike Fighter), means they cannot do much damage for a long time to come. Exellent! Ofcourse I know about the fraud of MH17 but do not know what actually happend.
What does amazes/puzzles me though is that the people that replied to my post condemn what the West did and does. Rightly so by the way but think its fine to do by China in this example. Annexing a country is just that. I only want to see that the people of a town, province, country can choose their own path and be souvereign if that is their will. That is why I think Russia her policies are a beacon that inspire me. Do they want the lands back that once belonged to the USSR? No. Belarus wants to go back to Russia (and yes, I know their political system is bad but that is another story) so Russia is holding talks with them. That is how it should be and sadly isnt in most of the world.
Regards,
Hugo
“I only want to see that the people of a town, province, country can choose their own path and be souvereign if that is their will. ”
I am sure you will change your tune when the Maroccans
born in Rotterdam (50% by now) decide to “choose their own path”.
Hugo, national self-determination is a fine idea, in theory, and then again it is not. In the case of China, as it was in Yugoslavia and the USSR, it is being used as a weapon to destroy prospective victims of the Empire. In the Soviet Union there was a referendum that rejected vivisection, but the Evil, drunkard, cirrhotic, Quisling, Yeltsin, ignored it on orders from his Masters in Thanatopolis DC, and the hereditary fascist scum who had been festering in exile in the Anglosphere for decades after their defeat by the Red Army, returned to install fascist, pro-Western, puppet regimes in Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, the Baltics, then Ukraine.
‘Self-determination’ when manipulated by the Real Evil Empire is just another regime change tactic to install pro-US stooges in power, often amidst internecine warfare. In Crimea, in contrast, Russia acted according to the Responsibility to Protect Doctrine, applied honestly for once, and confirmed by popular vote. The West made a few desultory efforts to promote revanchist Tatar fascism, including the sordid farce of the rigged Eurovision vote for the tuneless, soulless, Ukrainian Tatar dirge, but they failed monumentally.
In any case, humanity now requires not ethnic or sectarian self-determination, but united global action by ALL humanity to save ourselves from either the ecological Holocaust, or economic sado-monetarism leading to Western elite genocide (probably by bio-warfare I would say) or thermo-nuclear war caused by US Imperial collapse. National, ethnic or sectarian self-determination seems to me to just be another ‘Divide and Rule’ tactic, like the odious Identity Politics farce. Let’s keep our individual costumes, music, food etc, and share them with others, but, for God’s sake, freely exchange everything else beneficial like the brothers and sisters that we are.
Hello Mulga Mumblebrain,
Lovely rant I have to say and I feel your pain as well. As Ghandi once well said, be the change you want to see. Sadly most of humanity prefers to live beyong their means again Russia is a noble exemption. China is not. So it is hard to be the change you want to see since it seems futile.
In my mind the best way to way to chip away the power of the empire is money. If they cannot steal your productive effords to feed the war beast, we will win. Europe signaled to the world it was done with the $ when the Euro was introduced. Including central bank statements and the likes. Guess what country kept the $ going. Right, China! Europe gotten hurt big time by the actions of mostly China. Stating they would love to defang the dollar before the inception of the Euro but stabbed them in the back big time.
To clarify, now there are two ways to issue currency, from US treasuries or gold. A country that issues its currency off from US treasuries its a vassal or worse. If from gold it has monetary sovereinity. For now under attack from the US $. If the Euro fails, the main actor to replace the dollar will fail and the blame is fully on China. So please, stop portraying China as a victim.
China choose to keep this system going for its own advantages. She is now getting blow back from that. Tough shit, deal with it China. The US military and destabalising actions you funded yourself and keep funding to this day. Add to that they want to annex a country, I feel exactly 0 smpathy.towards the Chinese. The mess we are in now, they enabled since they paid America for it after all.
So what can we do about it? Dont get into debt and do no save money in currency. Easy as that. I know I stated some complex concepts on finance. If you like I be happy to elaborate more.
Regards,
Hugo
The US has struck now to prevent the full development and to drain the wealth of China.
Guess which country will have the larger real economy — as opposed to the fake financial economy — and therefore will be able to sustain a larger military for a longer time.
The PLA has not fought a war since 1979. It may be large, well-equipped and trained well, but it is unready for the violence it will receive in real warfare.
Talk is cheap.
Now for some real evidence. The Korean war began in 1950, right after China had just finished a devasting civil war. China was short of just about everything, especially military equipment, yet the war ended in stalemate. The U.S. may be stronger now than in 1950, but China is vastly stronger than it was then. If the U.S. were ever stupid enough to start a war with China, the U.S. would lose.
In Purchasing Power Parity terms the Chinese economy surpassed the USA as long ago as 2012, and makes and trades things, not just fraudulent ‘financial products’. Plus China has built, and is still extending, the greatest infrastructure system of energy production and transmission, particularly solar and wind, high-speed rail, urban metros, freeways, electric vehicles ie trams, buses and cars, cultural institutions and buildings and other life-enhancing structures the world has ever seen. In the USA, in contrast, infrastructure is crumbling, schools are garbage, healthcare unaffordable, the cities awash from human faeces from armies of the homeless, an opioid epidemic is contributing to FALLING life expectancy, and one great growth industry is private prisons.
Thing is, Crimea wanted almost unanimously to be part of Russia (at least if their other option was part of the Kiev fascist anti-ethnic-Russian regime). So a takeover could be done with no casualties after an overwhelming legitimating referendum.
There is no such unanimity in Taiwan, as far as I know. Things would get messy.
@Purple Library Guy
There is no such unanimity in Taiwan, as far as I know. Things would get messy.
There is, however, a common interest among nearly all the Taiwanese: an economic interest. As long as Taiwan claims to be an independent country, the mainland will compete quite fiercely with the island. Who do you think will win the competition, the 20 million islanders or the 1400 million mainlanders? Taiwan’s economy is heavily reliant on its engineering prowess, but the mainland will soon have more engineers than Taiwan has people, if that isn’t already true. If Taiwan insists on competing with the mainland, the small island will undoubtedly lose.
Crimea was part of one country and chose to join another. Taiwan has autonomy and an ambiguous legal status with China. Of course they are worried about losing that autonomy. If China gives them what they gave HK, it would definitely ally Taiwan’s fears.
Only the US and their media like to portray this as some sort of blood feud…
Taiwan is an Anglo construction of divide and conquer; Taiwan versus China, Pakistan versus India, blue versus red, Ukraine versus Russia.
Taiwan could vote about being a new State in USA, member of NATO, etc……………………………………..LOL.
While I hear all kinds of silly noises out of the current Taiwan political elites, I haven’t heard of serious plans to build US bases and/or station troops on the island.
It makes all kinds of sense for the Empire, but obviously the Taiwanese are painting a giant target on the island. If they’ve allowed themselves to be duped/bribed/arm-twisted into this, they are myopic on a scale I didn’t know existed.
As I have a personal stake in this development, I’d be grateful if you could point to any readings on the topic that you found particularly insightful.
Excellent comprehensive report, covering a lot of ground in a short space. Also, great image of the peaceful, bamboo munching Panda calmly sitting on, and rendering helpless, the obnoxious Bald Eagle.
the author entirely neglects the most important component of modern military power: nuclear weapons. and here China is hopelessly behind Russia and the US, with no chance of even a real retaliatory strike, so its only option is to try and be reactive-preemptive in a scenario of full-out war.
this makes China extremely dependent on Russian protection in a global conflict with the US/NATO.
That is why the Russia/China alliance. Neither can allow the other to fall to the US, that will never happen and each complements the other.
That US elites are stepping up pressure on both at the same time shows their dementia. Kissinger’s attempt to direct Trump’s foreign policy to butter up with Russia has been disallowed and blown up by the demented.
Checkmate. The US and its Anglosphere and EU vassals have met their match in the Russia/China alliance. As stated in the Larchmonter445 comment the US will attempt to use Taiwan against China but this will only strengthen the resolve of China to ally with Russia and jointly consolidate and push the US out of Central Asia.
“the author entirely neglects the most important component of modern military power: nuclear weapons. and here China is hopelessly behind Russia and the US, with no chance of even a real retaliatory strike, so its only option is to try and be reactive-preemptive in a scenario of full-out war.”
that there makes no sense. why ever is China behind anybody in nuclear weaponry. their costs are low, tons of manpower and brains..why would China have no focused on eliminating any nuclear gap?
I am sure they have a nasty surprises await the foolish. I dont see that China would tolerate any such military gap. it would not be the intelligent and prudent thing to do. even Kim Jong Un knew that.
whatever happened to those vast underground cities China was building fearful of combined Soviet/American attack back in the 19-seventies?
did China ever stop building such cities? and if not what is down there..what have they done down there and keep out of sight?
Maybe China doesn’t focus on it because nuclear weapons don’t actually exist?It could just be state propaganda, which would explain why countries have/are developing militaries with hundreds of thousands of troops and billions of dollars in military equipment, that’d just get wiped out by a single nuclear strike, if they existed.
The Chinese are simply not omnicidally insane. Their 250 nukes are sufficient to destroy the USA and cause a nuclear winter that will wipe out humanity. Any more is simply wasted money and effort.
This is a lot of bluster. It omits the most important thing: China’s social system and that of the United States are the same. They are monopoly capitalist countries.
It is simply absurd to imagine that some sort of religious or philosophical values can lend capital the capacity to place human need higher than its own self-expansion. It would not be capitalism if it could do that. It is a commonplace delusion, however. Come on, international relations is not like rooting for your favorite sports team.
U.S. military technology is far from the best. The first design requirement for any U.S. weapons system is that it cost as much as possible. But Russia’s announcement of new weapons and their actual deployment are two different things. The latter will take some years yet. The same for China.
The US is gravely overstretched militarily, both in its bloated budget and its geographic spread. Another conflict, such as a war with Iran, will only weaken it further amd hasten its demise.
Back to basics: ‘everything zionism touches it destroys’. It appears to have been the ultimate ‘ism’, the final so called ‘religion’, From the smallest musical dance tunes to the whole of the 20th century & beyond, smashed, in need of repair&revision. Take an in-depth look, nations peoples economics regions systems(capitalism anyone?), been there done that. So be careful what you wish for human folks when dividing each other & what’s left of this much diminished planet apart.
Taiwan is and always has been part of China ( same people, same culture, same language) except when it was invaded and occupied by Japan.
Like the Korean people the Chinese (on the mainland and on Taiwan) suffered greatly at the hands of the brutal Japanese.
China’s claim on Taiwan is irrefutable.
“That Taiwan does not belong to China because it was returned after WW2 to KMT is self-serving and tenuous. As KMT (Kuomintang) was the de facto government of (the whole of ) China (before 1949 the year when the people’s Republic of China came into being).
The 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki following China’s defeat in the 1894 Sino-Japan War was signed between China and Japan whereby the former ceded Taiwan to the latter. If Taiwan were not China’s, would Japan take all the trouble to formalize its victory imposing a humiliating treaty on China to cede Taiwan?
There is no doubt that Taiwan belongs to the Chinese on either side of the Strait.
This was bolstered by the Cairo Conference (22-26 November 1943), a gathering of three great allies: the US, China and England to declare their purpose in the war against Japan:
“It is their purpose that Japan shall be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the First World War in 1914, and that all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, ( the then name for Taiwan) and the Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China.”
So the Taidu (self appointed Taiwan ruling clique) can claim Taiwan collects its own taxes, has an army and a government; but this does not alter the fact that Taiwan is a renegade province and has no legal right to collect taxes, have army or even exist as a separate entity except as linked by the umbilical cord to Mother China.
Most importantly you cannot deny the existence of tongwen tongzhong (same culture same race).
Another fallacy is that the government of Taiwan is democratically elected by the Chinese in Taiwan and is the de jure authority of the (whole of the) mainland.
It is preposterous that some twenty-three million Chinese can represent China, whose 1.3 billion Chinese had no choice in choosing the president of Taiwan province.
The gall of it all when the Taidu cite as proof of Taiwan’s independence no taxes paid to China and it has a form of government not under control of the mainland. We have to define the term from the outset that the government of Taiwan is the untidy end of the Chinese Civil War and that the rulers of the island are thus renegades occupying China’s territory.
It sounds like the Taidu do not know what “illegal” means. By that term, whatever the Taidu and cohorts claim as theirs is null and void.
And since when would robbers pay rent in a house they stole?
Not paying rent does not mean the robbers own the house. ”
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-09/28/content_378337.htm
China is patient and peaceful knowing Taiwan will eventually be reunited properly with the rest of China. If they wished however they could shut Taiwan down over a weekend simply by stopping all trade to the island. US marines there would make zero difference..
And the ever belligerent USA can flap it’s arms and cook up fantasies about “quads” and other unholy alliances to impede Eurasian economic development led by China but the neighbouring countries all see the great benefits in prosperity that peace and shared development bring to the area and whilst the psychopaths in Washington stare impotently at the South China Sea the Eurasian Economic Zone aided by the AIIB. continues to grow and prosper.
This whole part of the world is another area from which the Americans are being slowly pushed out, the golden rule being. “Keep the Americans out and things get sorted out peacefully. ”
Great article Geoff. China needs a big voice to promote it because here in the west they would rather eat their own s*** than say anything decent about this amazing country and it’s very best friend next door.
Below is an introduction to the scale and immensity of the BRI with a video about the AIIB, what it is for and how it came into being –
https://eng.yidaiyilu.gov.cn/index.htm
(Is the west investing in anything at all nowadays to improve it’s peoples’ lives?)
Tomsk..that BRI portal is very interesting. I did not know it existed. very informative. Tenks
Hello Tomsk,
You claim that since Taiwan was once part of Chine and thus the righfull owner of them people. I assume you imply that the Roman empire should be restored since they once held most of Europe and the whole mediteranian? Or would you prefer to restore the Mongul empire or whatever other empire that once existed and not have the people living there have anything to say about what they actually want?
China her claim on Taiwan is just as surreal as the US is claiming the empire it had only three decades ago. Really, the concept that a human, town, province, or even country is owned because of historical bragging rights I cannot agree with.
Regards,
Hugo
I see your point. However, in your consideration of the right to self-determination you must include the fact that the pan-blue political faction in Taiwan is pro-China and pro-reunification. It’s not as simple as saying the Taiwanese want independence because it’s not the whole truth.
Surely the Taiwanese get to decide whether to join the Han Empire or not, just like Tibet?
There are two problems with the super duper American military empire. The ‘most advanced in the world and greatest can ever be’ according to the politicians.
1) It can NOT be used. Used for a week and it does little damage, while the asymmetrical retaliation will damage far more. Use for a month and the cost will bankrupt the country. How many more trillions the Fed can print? Answer: zero. It has already destroyed its printing press.
2) The solders are NO use. Sure there are lots of generals talking big and mighty. Grand plans of shock & awe. But the fighting force below them is spent, lousy trained, unmotivated, poor morale, and plain old sick of being lied to fighting for ‘democracy’ while losing every war since WW2. Many are still bitter about Vietnam – 15 years of hard war, 60,000 KIA, 1 million wounded – all for nothing. Vietnam under Communist rule since winning the war has been the most peaceful country. And then 16 freaking years in Afghanistan, Iraq. Chickened out over North Korea. Defeated in Syria.
And now the power-that-be in Washington want to fight China? China, even Russia !! Certainty the most maximally stupid gang of politicians in the world.
China is preparing for ‘something’.
Beijing’s top-notch military hardware is showcased in a bombastic recruitment ad which went viral on Chinese social media.
The ad titled ‘I Am a Chinese Soldier’ began circulating in China last week. It starts with touching scenes of servicemen departing from their families.
“Peace behind me, war in front of me,” the narrator is heard saying, describing the sacrifices the soldiers make leaving their loved ones behind.
https://www.rt.com/news/435600-china-military-recruitment-video/
China must keep vigilant against us regime’s fifth column around the country which have lately been
intensifying anti-China propaganda everywhere.
Needless to say, those against China taking firm measures against us regime are nothing more than traitors.
There is no logic in being lenient towards irrational us regime imposing tariffs and sanctions at whim.
Wars and crisis expose one’t true loyalty indeed.
Western Media always underestimate China’s Nuclear arsenal because it benefits them . China has not provided updates to its nuclear arsenal since 1980. That 250 or so number has been mentioned thousands of times for the last 30 years as if China stopped making nukes in the last 30 years. Really? This is a country that builds nuclear reactors very easily around the world even now for England. China is not an insecure country, if it were to release its true numbers do you think US would not huff and puff for arms agreement especially decades ago. No China will keep silent as always bc its benefits them, but with certain US and Russia nnow its capability.
Just think of the number of MIRVS on one warhead per silo on their SLBM or Nuc Sub to start of, then calculate their mobile units of DF launchers, then their underground launchers, reserves etc. Geez dont fall for that misinformation. Do not underestimate China’s nuclear capability it is on ACTIVE par with the US and Russia. For great nations it is not hard to develop Nucs at this point especially for rich countries like China, but with that said 250 nucs for secondary counter strike is plenty sufficient.
It’s called strategic ambiguity. The Chinese seem to have applied it to their gold holdings as well. These have remained unchanged despite years of being both the largest producer, and by far the largest importer of the precious metal.
When/If either get “updated”, everyone will be shocked. “We had no idea…”