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Foreign Policy ^ | 2/9/2011 | Tom Mahnken

Posted on 02/09/2011 4:45:43 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld

The past two months have witnessed a series of revelations regarding China's growing military power. In December 2010, Admiral Robert Willard, Commander of U.S. Pacific Command, declared that the aircraft carrier-killing DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile had achieved initial operating capability. Last month, photographs and video of the J-20 fifth-generation stealth aircraft, a plane considerably more advanced than observers expected of China, appeared on the internet.

On Monday, Ross Babbage, the founder of Australia's respected think tank, the Kokoda Foundation, issued a monograph, Australia's Strategic Edge in 2030 that examined the changing military balance in the Western Pacific and its implications for Australia. It is a report that demands the attention of policy makers in Washington.

Babbage argued that China's aggressive military modernization is rapidly undermining the pillars that have supported American presence in the Western Pacific for more than half a century. As he puts it, "China is for the first time close to achieving a military capability to deny United States and allied forces access to much of the Western Pacific rim." He catalogues China's anti-access efforts, which include cruise and ballistic missiles that can attack ships and fixed targets; a massive investment in cyber-warfare capabilities, with reports of tens of thousands of Chinese cyber intrusions daily; new classes of both nuclear and conventionally powered submarines; a substantial increase in the Chinese nuclear stockpile; a huge investment in space warfare; and a massive increase in fighter bomber and other airborne strike capabilities.

(Excerpt) Read more at shadow.foreignpolicy.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: asbm; china; pla; plan

1 posted on 02/09/2011 4:45:52 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
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To: ErnstStavroBlofeld

Don’t worry. There won’t be a war between us and China. Obama will just retreat.


2 posted on 02/09/2011 4:53:12 PM PST by Brilliant
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To: ErnstStavroBlofeld

So what?

We have education and welfare for illegal aliens, socialized medicine, and a new high-speed rail initiative. Oh, and we’re bankrupt.


3 posted on 02/09/2011 7:16:33 PM PST by snowrip (Liberal? You are a socialist idiot with no rational argument.)
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Comment #4 Removed by Moderator

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