At a minimum, a single carrier strike group includes the aircraft carrier itself (usually with nine or 10 squadrons and a total of about 85 aircraft), a guided missile cruiser, two guided missile destroyers, an attack submarine and a combination ammunition, oiler and supply ship.
Normally, the United States uses only one or at the most two carrier strike groups to show the flag in a trouble spot. In a combat situation it might deploy three or four, as it did for both wars with Iraq. Seven in one place is unheard of.
Operation Summer Pulse '04 was almost surely dreamed up at the Pearl Harbor headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Command and its commander, Adm. Thomas B. Fargo, and endorsed by neocons in the Pentagon. It is doubtful that Congress was consulted. This only goes to show that our foreign policy is increasingly made by the Pentagon.
According to Chinese reports, Taiwanese ships will join the seven carriers being assembled in this modern rerun of 19th century gunboat diplomacy. The ostensible reason given by the Navy for this exercise is to demonstrate the ability to concentrate massive forces in an emergency, but the focus on China in a U.S. election year sounds like a last hurrah of the neocons.
Needless to say, the Chinese are not amused. They say that their naval and air forces, plus their land-based rockets, are capable of taking on one or two carrier strike groups but that combat with seven would overwhelm them. So even before a carrier reaches the Taiwan Strait, Beijing has announced it will embark on a crash project that will enable it to meet and defeat seven U.S. carrier strike groups within a decade. There's every chance the Chinese will succeed if they are not overtaken by war first.
China is easily the fastest-growing big economy in the world, with a growth rate of 9.1% last year. On June 28, the BBC reported that China had passed the U.S. as the world's biggest recipient of foreign direct investment. China attracted $53 billion worth of new factories in 2003, whereas the U.S. took in only $40 billion; India, $4 billion; and Russia, a measly $1 billion.
If left alone by U.S. militarists, China will almost surely, over time, become a democracy on the same pattern as that of South Korea and Taiwan (both of which had U.S.-sponsored military dictatorships until the late 1980s). But a strong mainland makes the anti-China lobby in the United States very nervous. It won't give up its decades-old animosity toward Beijing and jumps at any opportunity to stir up trouble — "defending Taiwan" is just a convenient cover story.
These ideologues appear to be trying to precipitate a confrontation with China while they still have the chance. Today, they happen to have rabidly anti-Chinese governments in Taipei and Tokyo as allies, but these governments don't have the popular support of their own citizens.
If American militarists are successful in sparking a war, the results are all too predictable: We will halt China's march away from communism and militarize its leadership, bankrupt ourselves, split Japan over whether to renew aggression against China and lose the war. We also will earn the lasting enmity of the most populous nation on Earth.
Chalmers Johnson's latest book is "The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic" (Metropolitan, 2004).
[comment: Chalmers Johnson is also a specialist on Asia and a former card-carrying anti-communist, and now critic of US foreign policy - NSay]
here's the link:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6497.htm
Note: http://www.informationc...
Stumble It!
This move is probably meant more to put pressure on North Korea than anything else.
Roy
If the Chinese get really pissed, what's to stop them from launching nukes to blow all the ships out of the water ? It wouldn't take that many missiles.
That would certainly mean we are headed for destruction.
Thank you America, one more time !!
You are so good to the world.
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"Arrogance in Politics is unacceptable"
Jim Callaghan
Minden, Ontario
705-286-1860
www.misterc.ca
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Dave Ruston
The U.S. can't hold Taiwan, let alone China. What are they going to do, permanently station themselves there to prevent China from attacking Taiwan? China tried to save money by shrinking their troop number and focusing on missiles to use against Taiwan instead.....how do you prevent a missile attack?!
If the U.S. is going all-out against China, Iran, etc., this could be the last hurrah for them. They've simply spent too much on their military, despite no legitimate enemies who are threats.
Let's hope the fireworks display is far away out in the South China Sea, or something.
It was first discovered by Europeans by the Portuguese in the 1500s who named it "Formosa" or "Beautiful Island". It had already been colonised by Chinese settlers from Guangdong province and mostly from Fujian province. It also had a sizeable Aboriginal Indo-polynesian descendent population.
It was ruled by the Spanish briefly in the early 1600s until the Dutch wrested control of it and ruled for around 25 years. Then the Chinese settlers with the help of Japanese-Chinese Ming loyalist warlord "Koxinga" got their independence from Holland.
After the Manchu Qing dynasty came to power Taiwan became an anti-Manchu Qing, pro Han-Ming dynasty loyalist stronghold and fought against China for over two decades. Taiwan was conquered by the Qing in 1683 and was marginally part of China until 1895 when Japan seized control.
As a result of their history Taiwanese people are fiercely proud of their independence and difference from the Chinese even though they have much in common culturally, ethnically and linguistically. Some favour reuniting with China but that still seems to be a minority.
Most Taiwanese rabidly hate the Chinese because of China's continued real and perceived provocations and aggressions against tiny Taiwan. The Guomindang Nationalist Party that fled China to Taiwan in 1949 clearly has a lot to do with Taiwanese ambivilence towards China. The Taiwanese generally support the US as their protectors against China but attitudes toward the US are changing, as they are around the world.
That being said, Taiwanese don't wat a war with China, they are scared of the goliath that is China. But they do want formal independence and recognition of their seperate status from China. They see themselves as a small independent nation of Taiwanese who just want to be left alone to do their business.
They want to do business with China; they currently invest heavily in China and will continue to do so. Ties with China are becoming closer because of the economic opening up of China and will continue to do so barring the event of a war across the Taiwan Strait.
Chinese refugees from 1949 also have family and friends with China although ties are weakening over time and the Guomindang has historically been the most anti-Communist China. But anti-Chinese sentiment is also falling as China is less and less "Communist" as the years progress.
As for China provoking a war, I don't think they would be so foolish. They want economic growth, not military confrontation. Taiwanese unification with China would likely happed sometime in the future due to some form of economic union first. As China becomes more "democratic" political common ground will follow and posibilities for political union will grow.
Both sides want economic prosperity, the only thing standing in the way is the US and Taiwanese desires for more democracy. China would not start a war with the US and would not shoot nukes to destroy the US fleet. If anyone is going to shoot nukes it is clearly the US as history has shown. Any confrontation China would eventually win as is evidenced by Vietnam and the current disaster in Iraq. China is as formidable a foe as Germany in WWII and the former Soviet Union (perhaps more so) due in large part to its massive population. There is no way it could lose to the US. If the US refused to admit defeat the only alternative would be nuclear war and WWIII.
BCer
About Taiwan. Taiwan is China, make no mistake about that. At least that is the Chinese view. Granted the history is a little less clear on that claim as has been stated previously. Still, on every map and with every person you talk to here in the PRC it is made clear that Taiwan is considered a part of China.
There are a lot of Taiwanese doing business here in Kunming, and in other provinces such as Fuzhou, Guangzhou, and Fujian. For example my flat that I share with my Australian and British friends are owned my Taiwanese. The Taiwanese here aren't too scared of China, they simply see a place where it is good to do business.
And as far as communism goes, there is no communism here in China. Chinese culture is very conservative and very traditional, and the country today is far more capitalist than it is communist. There are far too many people here being exploited by capitalists. The important thing to remember is that China is an authoritarian nation, not a communist nation. And fast becoming the largest capitalist nation in the world, much to our disapointment. We see all signs of culture and history in the country, first being wrecked by Mao and the Cultural revolution and today by western capitalism and greed. It's sad to say the least.
The Empire is demonstrating its ignorance and utter stupidty with this stunt, which will only cause more problems for everyone involved and lead to nothing.
The Chinese will never be provoked into a war unless attacked, that much is a guarntee. If Taiwan declared its out right independence then China would attack, and win easily regardless of the Empire's involvement. In fact, it is because of the Empire's involvement that things are the way they are between Taiwan and China. The Chinese for the most part detest the Americans (and unfortunately sometimes consider Canadians to be nothing more than Americans, much to my annoyance.
As for me, I am a Canadian, I'm not involved. It is an internal matter between two soverign nations in Asia. If the Empire becomes involved it may worsen things for those of us westerners here in China who are not American. I'll be honest with you, if I worry about Canada being attacked and invaded by another nation, that nation is America, definitely not China. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm not the only in the rest of the world who feels that way about their country.
About Taiwan. Taiwan is China, make no mistake about that. At least that is the Chinese view. Granted the history is a little less clear on that claim as has been stated previously. Still, on every map and with every person you talk to here in the PRC it is made clear that Taiwan is considered a part of China.
There are a lot of Taiwanese doing business here in Kunming, and in other provinces such as Fuzhou, Guangzhou, and Fujian. For example my flat that I share with my Australian and British friends are owned my Taiwanese. The Taiwanese here aren't too scared of China, they simply see a place where it is good to do business.
And as far as communism goes, there is no communism here in China. Chinese culture is very conservative and very traditional, and the country today is far more capitalist than it is communist. There are far too many people here being exploited by capitalists. The important thing to remember is that China is an authoritarian nation, not a communist nation. And fast becoming the largest capitalist nation in the world, much to our disapointment. We see all signs of culture and history in the country, first being wrecked by Mao and the Cultural revolution and today by western capitalism and greed. It's sad to say the least.
The Empire is demonstrating its ignorance and utter stupidty with this stunt, which will only cause more problems for everyone involved and lead to nothing.
The Chinese will never be provoked into a war unless attacked, that much is a guarntee. If Taiwan declared its out right independence then China would attack, and win easily regardless of the Empire's involvement. In fact, it is because of the Empire's involvement that things are the way they are between Taiwan and China. The Chinese for the most part detest the Americans (and unfortunately sometimes consider Canadians to be nothing more than Americans, much to my annoyance.
As for me, I am a Canadian, I'm not involved. It is an internal matter between two soverign nations in Asia. If the Empire becomes involved it may worsen things for those of us westerners here in China who are not American. I'll be honest with you, if I worry about Canada being attacked and invaded by another nation, that nation is America, definitely not China. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm not the only in the rest of the world who feels that way about their country.
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"George Bush has declared the war on terrorism to be the cause of his generation. The cause of Canadian sovereignty will be ours." - John Godfrey, MP for Don Va
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Dave Ruston
Yet, having that many at sea while conducting war elsewhere, and your homeland under potential attack, why put so many at sea?
Roy
Han Chinese is not an aggressive race due to its culture. The great wall is an example: Chinese is more defensive than offensive. Another example is the fact that China has been ruled by minority race (less than a few percent of the population) in more than half of the time in the history. The past twenty years are the only stable period in the last two hundred years for China. No one in the world wants to avoid a war that may ruin this peaceful development environment more than our Chinese. But Taiwan issue does hit us hard. It’s not simply a territory problem, but also for the reasons that China had suffered during the last two hundred years.
A threat to the world has been removed. And I am sure that the hundreds of thousands of innocents found in mass graves would agree if they were still alive. Maybe if Canada would have done what we have done sooner some lives could have been saved.
Mike