Posted on 03/16/2005 8:34:58 PM PST by Lokibob
Pentagon delegation arrives in Taipei for talks with militaryBy Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Mar 17, 2005,Page 1
A US military delegation arrived in Taipei yesterday, and will discuss the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities with Taiwanese military officials.
A member of the delegation, who requested anonymity, told the Taipei Times that the US saw the possibility of China's launching an attack using asymmetric warfare tactics against Taiwan as increasing.
"The US is concerned as to whether the PLA would be able to start an asymmetric war against Taiwan and whether there exists a fifth column of infiltrators in Taiwan," he said.
He said that the military delegation would also attend a four-day, closed-door unscheduled briefing with the Ministry of National Defense (MND) on the PLA's ability to invade Taiwan.
Meanwhile, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Hsueh Shih-ming (Á§¥Û¥Á) told the legislature on Monday that, according to NSB statistics, law enforcement officials have documented more than 49,000 Chinese illegal immigrants in Taiwan, and had repatriated more than 45,000 of them. Over 4,000 are missing.
Hsueh said that, while the NSB found that some of them are spying for China in Taiwan, the NSB has yet to uncover any organized activity among Chinese immigrants.
Hsueh, however, admitted that the NSB is concerned that China might use infiltrators to engage in asymmetric warfare against Taiwan, employing such tactics as sabotage and hacker attacks, or using biological and chemical weapons to destroy Taiwan's military infrastructure, command systems, and political and business centers in a short time.
"The goal of such tactics is to devastate the morale of our armed forces and citizens. This threat is strikingly similar to terrorism in nature," he added.
The US delegation member said that in addition to discussing Chinese infiltrators, the delegation would also exchange its views with Taipei on China's increasingly aggressive submarine force.
He said the US is concerned about incursions by Chinese submarines into the waters surrounding Japan and the Pacific Ocean east of Taiwan.
"A Chinese nuclear submarine made an incursion into waters near Okinawa last November, which really angered and affected Japan," he said.
The US is also concerned about China's acquisition of advanced Kilo-class attack submarines from Russia, he said.
He added that the US is seeking to share intelligence with Taiwan about anti-submarine warfare.
He said several delegations of US military personal would be arriving in Taipei in succession to observe the annual Han Kuang (Han Glory) exercises.
In related news, a Chinese newspaper yesterday said that the former commander of US Pacific Command, Admiral Thomas Fargo, will lead the US' biggest-ever delegation to watch this year's war games, which begin next month.
Japan will also send military personnel to Taipei, the paper said.
The report said the nation's military is preparing to conduct joint computer war games with the US and Japan, and the military will link up with the US military's Pacific headquarters in Hawaii for the first time.
I don't know. Even though we aren't as productive as we used to be, if we did have to go to war with China, and a lot of our resources were shifted to that war, things like the aid we give to other countries, the food we sell worldwide (we are still the largest supplier of food to the world, right?), and the sheer force of America gearing up for a new BIG war will make the rest of the world think "now do we want this to go on for a long time by sitting out, not getting anything from America, or should we jump in and get this over with ASAP?" I for one still have faith that America will be helped out, maybe just to get the world back to status quo.
But can we really afford a larger military right now? Will the markets allow for more spending. The problem now is the lack of revenue streams for government to function on. I don't see how a larger military can be achieved without raising taxes which simply put Washington is not willing to do. We can talk all day long about how great it would be if we could realize a libertarian/conservative government whose main concern was national defense, but I don't see that happening ever. People like their Medicare/Medicaid, and they like Social Security (I don't want this discussion to devolve into a discussion of Social Security it has been done in other forums).
Personally, I don't think that raising taxes for the expressed purpose of investing in the military is a bad thing. The money should translate to jobs in the private sector. That however does not solve the problem of people or more precisely lack therof. I do not see anyway around a draft on this one.
To the comment that 600 billion isn't all that much in treasuries. I completely disagree especially if it is taken in conjunction with a complete nationalization of all factories in the PRC. If you personally have enough liquidity to purchase them I congratulate you, however, from what I've seen of the most recent set of economic data, most Americans simply put do not have the savings to prop up our debt in that manner. If you follow the economic/business news then you are no doubt aware that even Warren Buffet is moving away from the dollar and into European markets, and the saying is where the Wizard goes Wall Street follows.
Free trade has been an unmitigated disaster for most Americans, and the national security angle of relocating our manufacturing capacity in China has not been covered in the MSM (am I surprised of course not).
Our economy is the least of our worries when dealing with China.
The most dangerous type of animal is a cornered one.
We need to at least treat the ChiComs like Ronald Reagan treated the Societ Union. The threat of overwhelming force to keep the peace and if the ChiComs make a move. Well we would have that overwheliming force to crush them like an egg.
Some of you are correct in some aspects, Europe would not get involved unless it was an all out-war, which I'm sure we all pray will never again happen.
A recent column was posted on a blog site called AtlasWide and it gave an interesting analysis of the snowballing China-Taiwan situation and how the world MIGHT line up.
It looks something like this.
Australia, the U.S., Japan and Taiwan are literally locked together by not only past agreements but more recent ones as well. We have recently "put muscle" into our relations with Japan after a 6 point talk with ambassadors of both parties (March 14).
Russia is essentially locked in with China now. Like this posting said (but it's not the first time it's been said), Russia either chooses the possibility of a future power with China, provided they can assume the position economically, loosing everything with the U.S. and our closer allies, OR they stay neutral. Well the latter is impossible, 3 months ago they dug themselves a hole with BRICs and have been taken up with China ever since. They promised to perform joint military maneuvers last year. Russia would never get involved in a conflict if it had no special interest for them. Their possible power with China MUST outweigh the cost of a war with the United States or else they wouldn't even attempt it; they are betting on a win.
North Korea might have to get involved if China asks for it, so don't count that out. In the case that NK does put a foot in, things will escalate back home with fear of a nuclear strike.
This isn't all of it but you can read the rest at atlaswide.blogspot.com
Allowing the invasion of Taiwan by the PRC is unacceptable. After Taiwan, they will move outward to the other islands and territories that they claim. Even if we decided not to act, millions would die.
To bad I am told old to join the military.
When we get into a fight with the PRC you will A. Be working in a defense industry B. Be a member of the military in some sort of capacity. C. Be dead. We don't have the population for a war like WWII to be fought with young men. It will be an all or nothing draft.
A lot of economic pundits forget that money is just numbers in bankers' computers. If the Fed needs to create money to buy up Chinese bond holdings, they can create all the money they need in seconds and stop any financial panic. This can be inflationary, but the key concept is that it's not so easy to collapse any financial market and generate panic when the US Fed can create money at will to buy into any market and stop a selling panic.
Intel has a plant in China now
If this thing does go real hot, I'd guess its high up on the targeting list.
We won't invade China, we'll bomb them back into the stone age and they know it. They can't win in an exchange of bombs and missiles, and they know it.
If it comes to it, think the rest of the world would choose a future dominated by China just because they don't like us much? I doubt it. If the sh*t hits the fan, they'll run to us for protection as fast as they can. Unfortunately, they won't be able to help us much.
I for one still have faith that America will be helped out, maybe just to get the world back to status quo.
I think you are right. I think the rest of the world would be terrified of a world dominated by China, which is what would happen if we get into a shooting war with them and do not prevail. If they can take us on and come out on top, they will be free to do what they want in the world. That is the Realpolitiks of the situation.
War with China is unthinkable. WalMart shoppers would rise up in rebellion.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.