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Is America Up for a Second Cold War?
Townhall.com ^ | Nov 17, 2017 | Pat Buchanan

Posted on 11/16/2017 11:47:21 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom

After the 19th national congress of the Chinese Communist Party in October, one may discern Premier Xi Jinping's vision of the emerging New World Order.

By 2049, the centennial of the triumph of Communist Revolution, China shall have become the first power on earth. Her occupation and humiliation by the West and Japan in the 19th and 20th centuries will have become hated but ancient history.

America will have been pushed out of Asia and the western Pacific back beyond the second chain of islands.

Taiwan will have been returned to the motherland, South Korea and the Philippines neutralized, Japan contained. China's claim to all the rocks, reefs and islets in the South China Sea will have been recognized by all current claimants.

Xi's "One Belt, One Road" strategy will have brought South and Central Asia into Beijing's orbit, and he will be in the Pantheon beside the Founding Father of Communist China, Mao Zedong.

Democracy has been rejected by China in favor of one-party rule of all political, economic, cultural and social life.

And as one views Europe, depopulating, riven by secessionism, fearful of a Third World migrant invasion, and America tearing herself apart over politics and ideology, China must appear to ambitious and rising powers as the model to emulate.

Indeed, has not China shown the world that authoritarianism can be compatible with national growth that outstrips a democratic West?

Over the last quarter century, China, thanks to economic nationalism and $4 trillion in trade surpluses with the United States, has exhibited growth unseen since 19th-century America.

Whatever we may think of Xi's methods, this vision must attract vast numbers of China's young -- they see their country displace America as first power, becoming the dominant people on earth.

What is America's vision? What is America's cause in the 21st century? What is the mission and goal that unites, inspires and drives us on?

After World War II, America's foreign policy was imposed upon her by the terrible realities the war produced: brutalitarian Stalinist domination of Eastern and Central Europe and much of Asia.

Under nine presidents, containment of the Soviet empire, while avoiding a war that would destroy civilization, was our policy. In Korea and Vietnam, Americans died in the thousands to sustain that policy.

But with the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the breakup of the USSR, it seemed that by 1992 our great work was done. Now democracy would flourish and be embraced by all advanced peoples and nations.

But it did not happen. The "end of history" never came. The New World Order of Bush I did not last. Bush II's democracy crusade to end tyranny in our world produced disasters from Libya to Afghanistan.

Authoritarianism is now ascendant and democracy is in retreat.

Is the United States prepared to accept a world in which China, growing at twice our rate, more united and purposeful, emerges as the dominant power? Are we willing to acquiesce in a Chinese Century?

Or will we adopt a policy to ensure that America remains the world's preeminent power?

Do we have what is required in wealth, power, stamina and will to pursue a Second Cold War to contain China, which, strategic weapons aside, is more powerful and has greater potential than the Soviet Union ever did?

On his Asia tour, President Trump spoke of the "Indo-Pacific," shorthand for the proposition that the U.S., Japan, Australia and India form the core of a coalition to maintain the balance of power in Asia and contain the expansion of China.

Yet, before we create some Asia-Pacific NATO to corral and contain China in this century, as we did the USSR in the 20th century, we need to ask ourselves why.

Does China, even if she rises to surpass the U.S. in manufacturing, technology and economic output, and is a comparable military power, truly threaten us as the USSR did, to where we should consider war to prevent its expansion in places like the South China Sea that are not vital to America?

While China is a great power, she has great problems.

She is feared and disliked by her neighbors. She has territorial quarrels with Russia, India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan. She has separatists in Tibet and Xinjiang. Christianity is growing while Communism, the state religion, is a dead faith. Moreover, the monopoly of power now enjoyed by the Communist Party and Xi Jinping mean that if things go wrong, there is no one else to blame.

Finally, why is the containment of China in Asia the responsibility of a United States 12 time zones away? For while China seeks to dominate Eurasia, she appears to have no desire to threaten the vital interests of the United States. China's Communism appears to be an ideology disbelieved by her own people, that she does not intend to impose it on Asia or the world.

Again, are we Americans up for a Second Cold War, and, if so, why?


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
China has always been at war with us. They were smart enough to realize that they couldn't defeat us on the battlefield so they used Richard Nixon to learn how beat us with our own weapons. It continues to this day with an army of hackers stealing every bit of information they can crack into and it will continue until either we fight back or they win. I'm hoping DJT is the fighter we've been hoping for.
1 posted on 11/16/2017 11:47:21 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

China is always going to be a serious problem and we need as good of a relationship as possible with Russia to help keep them in check.


2 posted on 11/17/2017 12:00:31 AM PST by DarthVader ("These lying tyrants are about to get hit with a tsunami of destruction on their evil reign." Gaffer)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

The Communist Party of China will not last until 2023. Mark these words. May God help the people who now live under that regime. For it will be a long dreadful collapse of what they now believe to be permanent.


3 posted on 11/17/2017 12:03:15 AM PST by advance_copy (Stand for life or nothing at all)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

We’ve been in a Second Cold War since the communists conquered the Mainland as well as the Soviets conquered Eastern Europe. No change in policy, only the leaders and how they define their policies.

Buchanan is a smart man and writes well, but he doesn’t know a damned thing about communism and its goals. They don’t change. Only the tactics.


4 posted on 11/17/2017 12:23:48 AM PST by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: advance_copy
I don't know about 2023, but with the government dictating which cities will be winners and which can get by as best they can, they're setting up exactly the sort of scenario that's led to warlord-ism and internal region vs. region strife many times throughout Chinese history.

Add to that the fact that a lot of the magnificent new infrastructure will start falling apart well before it should and it's a real mess in the making.

5 posted on 11/17/2017 12:58:23 AM PST by Rashputin (Jesus Christ doesn't evacuate His troops, He leads them to victory !!)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

America will have been pushed out of Asia and the western Pacific back beyond the second chain of islands.>>>>>>>>>>>

Not really. The Chinese can have a massive reduction in their population and economy via nuclear strike.Chiina’s power comes from exploitation of peace, not war.

But China still needs to be held accountable for the invasion and systematic rape of Tibet.They tried to do the same to Vietnam but had their asses handed to them.

China is not omnipotent.If they dominate the world, it is because idiots like Obama let them.Thew era of strategic patience is thankfully over.

And the sky is not falling. This article is exceedingly alarmist. The long game is still being played. Without the USA, and Nixon, China would still be stuck deploying water buffalo as troop carriers.


6 posted on 11/17/2017 1:17:40 AM PST by Candor7 (Obama FAscism) http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

I thought we are already were involved in a “Second Cold War” ... right here in the USA between the neo-marxist and the rest of us ... the “libs” and the “conservatives”.

I would think our own Cold War would have the potential to become “Hot” before anything would happen outside of our boarders.


7 posted on 11/17/2017 2:49:10 AM PST by CapnJack
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

We are even closer to a second civil war than we are to a second cold war.


8 posted on 11/17/2017 2:58:37 AM PST by Pollster1 ("Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed")
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To: Candor7
China "won" its short war with Việt Nam in that it did what China has done historically to wayward vassal states and accomplished what they said they would do. They invaded, took and leveled a city and several provincial capitals, then turned around and left. However. - Việt Nam did not oppose China with its regular army but with "militia" and inflicted a cost on China that guaranteed that China would not repeat the action again for a long time. At one point a small group of relatively lightly armed militia held off a regiment for a number of days and China left a lot of aircraft and tank wreckage in Việt Nam. It was a very expensive chastisement of its neighbor for not bearing the proper tribute to the Middle Kingdom. China's tactic now is to cut off Việt Nam from the world by sea by imposing a tacit blockade. America and Australia are fending off the Chinese desire to restrict and tax trade in the Eastern Sea for now but China has made a so far successful incursion and claim of sovereignty over all the water right up to the coastlines of several countries.
9 posted on 11/17/2017 4:41:52 AM PST by ThanhPhero
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

By the year 2030, half of China’s population will be over 50 years of age. By that same year, half of India’s population will be under the age of 30. The stupid ChiComms have aborted their future.

The power of China will wane, while India will become the No. 1 economic and military power in Asia.


10 posted on 11/17/2017 5:25:20 AM PST by sergeantdave
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

China’s growth has been built on several factors that may have run their course.

The rising population has crested, due to their one child policy, and they now face twenty years of a declining graduating class entering the economy or military.

Their debt is astronomical. Much of what was loaned to build ghost cities, or to maintain zombie factories, will not be repaid. Their growth is unusually dependent on additional investment, rather than consumption.

Their economy is unbalanced - overly dependent on manufacturing for export. But they must import the raw materials, and they are no longer a low-cost labor provider, compared to the competition.

Their cheating on trade and massive theft of intellectual property are now widely recognized. Many countries now seem to recognize the need to defend against specifically Chinese abuses - most notably, their most important trading partner and source of intellectual property, the USA.

Private companies have been significantly steering new investment toward other countries for some time, especially since 2012. The last two years have seen large capital outflows from China, that required relatively draconian controls to slow. Insiders have been selling, and trying to get their money out.

In the 1970’s, the Arabs were projected to take over the world with oil wealth. In the 1980’s, the Japanese were projected to rise to pre-eminence based on their manufacturing. In the 90’s, America was projected.

Things change, and things are likely to change for China too.


11 posted on 11/17/2017 6:01:43 AM PST by BeauBo
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

Richard Nixon did not do a great thing for America when he open the doors to China. He acted out of personal weakness, not in the best interest of our country


12 posted on 11/17/2017 9:04:41 AM PST by The_Media_never_lie
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

All war is economics. What you can afford to spend on your military directly depends on the productivity value and earnings of your people.

China’s GDP per capita = $8,123.18

USA GDP per capita = $58,030


13 posted on 11/17/2017 12:52:57 PM PST by gandalftb (OK State, Go Cowboys!!)
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