Goodness! You are either really fast Jeff or time is just spinning out of control.
Keep up the fantastic work!
Posted on 03/07/2005 9:49:24 AM PST by Jeff Head
FYI...update to last year's article.
A bump to Jeff Head's continuing saga of China's ongoing build up.
Take heed.
Does anyone know if SEATO is a viable organization today? I'm sure it still exists, but had better be strengthened.
I pray we can avoid a looming conflict, but I fear we are already far down the road. We need, very soon IMHO, to begin treating the PRC just like Reagan did the Soviets. It will be harder at this point because the PRC has already amassed so much resource, technology and market...but it still can be done. In the end, that would be far cheaper than not doing so and allowing things to proceed according to their timetable towards their future attempts at hegonomy.
So once more will it be that 'Midway is East' and will the result be the same?
Goodness! You are either really fast Jeff or time is just spinning out of control.
Keep up the fantastic work!
Even if it existed,what would be it's use.Among it's members Pakistan is China's oldest arms buyer & ally,Thailand is increasing it's strategic relationship with the PRC while France & Britain plan to sell arms to it.SEATO was aimed at the USSR,not the PRC.
BTW,it got dissolved in 1977.
Type 93 nuclear fast attack Sub
Dont forget that buying up chinese goods directly funds this buildup
BTTT
Awfully nice of us to finance our next major opponent by buying their crappy exports. Not to mention the damage done to American companies, no way to compete against what is almost slave labor.
What another commentator offers:
The PRC and Taiwan
With the war on terror and ongoing problems in Iraq, it's been easy to lose sight of Communist China. But the People's Republic has been busy since the United States toppled Saddam Hussein nearly two years ago. Last year, the PRC boosted defense spending by about 11 percent. In recent months, it has been quietly ratcheting up an aggressive posture toward Taiwan. Few in the United States notice because our attention is diverted elsewhere, but that doesn't mean the problem isn't there. Nor does it reduce the likelihood of conflict in the Straits of Taiwan.
The most recent illustration of the new Chinese bellicosity was last week's announcement that they will "crush" Taiwan if the latter formally declares independence from the mainland. As The Washington Times reported, China's annual defense review "National Defense in 2004" warns that China "will never allow anyone to split Taiwan from China through whatever means." It says U.S. military assistance to Taiwan "send a wrong signal to the Taiwan authorities" and "does not serve a stable situation across the Taiwan Strait." And it also says that if Taiwan declares independence, "the Chinese people and armed forces will resolutely and thoroughly crush it at any cost."
Secretary of State Colin Powell downplayed the significance of those statements. "I think everybody realizes that this is not the time to escalate tensions in the straits, and we hope that will continue to be the case," he said.
But the Chinese capability to follow through has never been better. Its 11 percent defense spending boost helped buy more Russian attack aircraft like the Su-30 strike fighter, a better space program including intelligence satellites, Russian Sovremennyy destroyers and other systems. The Pentagon's annual report on the PRC released in May details these and more, and concludes that "China's aspirations and efforts to achieve great power status have accelerated in recent years, especially the past two, as China's leaders have evinced a greater sense of confidence in the international arena." Two months after that report's release, the Washington Times reported that China is proving to have capabilities American intelligence didn't even know about. In July, it launched a new class of attack submarines that intelligence officials called a "technical surprise." So, the PRC's drive in recent years to build its military seems to have paid considerable dividends.
What does China plan to do with its new military heft? Clearly in part it hopes to send a message to the United States as we conduct operations in the Middle East and wage the war on terror. The Pentagon suggests a defensive rationale for the buildup. "China's leaders appear to have concluded that the net effect of the U.S.-led campaign has been further encirclement of China, especially by placing U.S. military forces in Central Asia, strengthening U.S. defense relations with Pakistan, India and Japan, and returning the U.S. military to Southeast Asia," the DoD report concludes. But China may also be seeking to enhance its position on Taiwan while the United States looks toward the Middle East. We hope the PRC's hostile posture is just that — a posture — but the recent trends suggest the possibility of something altogether different.
Love your tag line. And I agree with it (sad to say).
Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States were the original signators.
Thank you, I shall...time sure does fly, but in this case, I am afraid that events are going to catch up to us if we are not very, very vigilant and wary.
SEATO has been defunct for a quarter of a century, basically because it couldn't deal with Vietnamese/Laos/Cambodia disasters.
'Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), alliance organized (1954) under the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty by representatives of Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States. Established under Western auspices after the French withdrawal from Indochina, SEATO was created to oppose further Communist gains in Southeast Asia. The treaty was supplemented by a Pacific Charter, affirming the rights of Asian and Pacific peoples to equality and self-determination and setting forth goals of economic, social, and cultural cooperation between the member countries. The civil and military organizations established under the treaty had their headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand. SEATO relied on the military forces of member nations and joint maneuvers were held annually. SEATO's principal role was to sanction the U.S. presence in Vietnam, although France and Pakistan withheld support. Unable to intervene in Laos or Vietnam due to its rule of unanimity, the future of the organization was in doubt by 1973, and SEATO was ultimately disbanded in 1977.'
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2005, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
The pointed statement to the United States by their great leader, as well as foreign minister, to 'stay out of the internal affairs of China, which includes the Taiwan issue', to be of great interest.
B-2 bombers headed to Guam (first time ever)
posted today.
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