China power

[nelson]

Reuters: China eyes stronger military against threats
http://today.reuters.com/misc/PrinterFriendlyPopup.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-07-26T044621Z_01_PEK15897_RTRUKOC_0_US-CHINA-MILITARY.xml
Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:46 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - China needs stronger military forces as it faces growing instability and threats to national security, the ruling Communist Party's ideological mouthpiece said according to reports in the state media on Wednesday.

An essay in the latest issue of Qiushi, or Seek Truth, says China must strengthen its military to guard a peaceful international setting for economic growth, the official China News Service reported.

"Destabilizing and uncertain factors are increasing and having a major impact on China's security environment," the essay said.

"History demonstrates that one cannot rely on others granting peace, and only building a strong military and firm national defense can provide a reliable security barrier," it added.

Qiushi magazine is the Communist Party's ideological mouthpiece and often carries essays by senior officials and theorists. The latest essay appears to reflect unease about China's military preparedness, even with rapidly rising defense spending over the past decade.

The essay did not specify the threats calling for stronger defense, but it said that Western foes did not want to see a strong China.

"Hostile Western forces do not want to see a strong socialist China emerge in the east, and they are constantly cooking up vain attempts to hold in check and contain China's development."

Supporters of independence for Taiwan -- the self-governed island that China has claimed as its own since their split in 1949 amid civil war -- are also a "major peril", it added.

China has experienced deepening friction with Japan over Tokyo's treatment of its World War Two invasion and its increasingly assertive foreign policy.

Beijing's relations with Washington are strained by mutual mistrust, even as the two countries seek to cooperate over curtailing North Korea's nuclear weapons program and defusing other regional disputes.

"At present, the political and military environment on China's periphery is quite complex, and unpredictable factors are clearly rising," the essay said.

China's 2.3-million-strong People's Liberation Army is the world's largest standing force and Beijing has said its defense budget will rise 14.7 percent to 283.8 billion yuan ($35.5 billion) in 2006.

That is much smaller than United States' $419.3 billion defense budget for 2006, but many in Washington say China's real defense spending is higher than its official figure.



.

["shazbat"]

And we're financing it.

[The_Man]

And we're financing it.

Shazbat,
I agree and it angers me that we continue to do so with no regard for the consequences. I am really not an isolationist but the new World economy presents many problems and it has happened in such a short time that safeguards have not kept up with abusive trade imbalance policies.

["shazbat"]

"God forbid" we should make business responsible.
After all they're just making a profit.

[Teiwaz]

If you want to stop financing your biggest communist super power threat, you have to get the people of America to stop buying their stuff. So how does one do that? I actually have no idea, but lets have a look.

Substitute locally made, similar price, similar quality stuff. There's pandoras box, but it has to be at least an aim with a plan to acheive it.

Find other places that do not pose the threat China does who can make the stuff, and enter some sort of trade relationship with them

Engineer conditions to place on countries supplying goods to you that relate to treatment of workers producing the goods, enviromental considerations in the manufacturing process etc etc.

I'm sure there are smart guys who could come up with a stack of ideas if they were asked the right questions,

["shazbat"]

I personally like the notion of keeping our manufacturing at home.
NAFTA as an alternative did not work for two reasons.
The labor pool south of the border was shall we say inadequate as relates to quality of production.
The far east was opened and it was cheaper to go there so business of course went there.
As for production here we have pissed it all away.
Take a look at the "used equipment" web sites and you'll see there is a glut of used manufacturing equipment because based on price alone we can not compete.
Before we get into an argument about home grown labor costs and unions let me say that even if across the board, the pay scale was only the current federal "minimum wage" for skilled manufacturing labor we still would not be able to compete dollar for dollar on manufactured products.
Look at practices in Sweden for some type of workable format. It includes all of the following, wage controls, price controls, taxes, protectionism.
They have a structured middle class.
It may not be ideal but it works.