A U.S. Navy admiral expressed new concern Friday over China’s military buildup and urged Beijing to be clearer about its intentions.
With China’s military growing at an “unprecedented rate,” the U.S. wants to ensure that expansion doesn’t destabilize the region, Rear Adm. Kevin Donegan told reporters on a visit to the Chinese territory of Hong Kong.
Donegan referred to China’s expanded weaponry. His remarks echoed the concerns of other U.S. military leaders who have said the growth in China’s military spending ”” up almost 15 percent in the 2009 budget ”” raises questions about how Beijing plans on deploying its new power.
“When we see a military growing at that rate, we’re interested in transparency and the understanding of the uses of that military,” said Donegan, commander of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier strike group, a key part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
If memory serves, the People’s Republic of China has a bachelor population of about 30 million military aged men that have no hope for spouses in China because of the single child policy imposed by the communist regime. Couple that with an emerging industrial base, a currency crisis (because of the U.S. and U.K.), energy pressures, etc. and it is a volatile mix.
Tea, anyone?
Dear Adm. Konegan,
Please contemplate this line from [i]Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan [/i]:
“Surely I have made my meaning plain.”
What the admiral and our entire defence department should be worried about is that we have no effective way to protect our aircraft carriers against a ballistic missile strike.
America is predominantly a sea and an air power. Aircraft carriers are the unique intersection of those two, and with satellite surveillance it is possible to locate them precisely to within a couple of metres. Given that ballistic missiles come nearly vertical onto the target, the normal azimuthal variance is not a factor, so if you can guide the missile to a CEP of about 20-25 metres — satellite guidance on final approach — you’ve killed the ship.
We know that China’s most advanced Dong Feng have a CEP of 200 metres or so. How confident are we they’ve not made an order of magnitude improvement we don’t know about?
The USA does not have to worry about China’s land army, and China remains overwhelmingly a land power. They cannot project that force anywhere it matters directly to us. Eastern Siberia, however, is another question. It is mineral rich, quite thinly populated, and in many areas nearly half its residents are illegal Chinese immigrants. Russia’s demographics are terrible, and I suspect they will not retain their far east for more than a few decades.
Our issue is shipping lanes, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea, all of which require a robust naval presence in the far Pacific.
So with this background, Obama follows in the footsteps of Clinton and provides even better missile technology to the Communist Chinese.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/15/inside-the-ring-2059116/
Just brilliant! What is it with democrat presidents and selling advanced weapons technology to the commies? Birds of a feather?