Current Events > Admiral warns that US must prepare for possibility of war with China

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/16/admiral-warns-us-must-prepare-for-possibility-of-war-with-china

The navy admiral nominated to be the next US ambassador to Australia has told Congress America must prepare for the possibility of war with China, and said it would rely on Australia to help uphold the international rules-based system in the Asia-Pacific.

In an excoriating assessment of Chinas increasingly muscular posture in the region, Harry Harris said Beijings intent is crystal clear to dominate the South China Sea and that its military might could soon rival American power across almost every domain.

Harris, soon to retire as the head of US Pacific Command in Hawaii, told the House armed services committee, the US and its allies should be wary of Beijings military expansionism in the region, and condemned Chinas foreign influence operations, predatory economic behaviour and coercion of regional neighbours.

Chinas intent is crystal clear. We ignore it at our peril, he said. Im concerned China will now work to undermine the international rules-based order.

Harris also warned of a cult of personality developing around Chinese president Xi Jinping.

Harris praised Australia as one of Americas staunchest allies in the Asia-Pacific region, noting existing military cooperation at air force bases in the Northern Territory, joint naval exercises and the regular rotation of 1,500 marines through Darwin.

Australia is one of the keys to a rules-based international order, Harris said. I look to my Australian counterparts for their assistance, I admire their leadership in the battlefield and in the corridors of power in the world.

They are a key ally of the United States and they have been with us in every major conflict since world war one.

Harris, the Yokosuka-born son of an American naval officer and a Japanese mother, has been nominated by President Donald Trump as the next ambassador to Australia. His appointment must be confirmed by the Senate.

Australia has been without a US ambassador since John Berry departed in September 2016.

Harris said he was alarmed by Chinas construction of military bases on seven disputed islands in the South China Sea that neighbouring countries lay territorial claims to.

In 2016, the permanent court of arbitration in The Hague, sided with the Philippines in the dispute it brought, saying there was no legal basis for Chinas claim of historic sovereignty over waters within the so-called nine-dash line in the sea.

Regardless, Chinese military build-up continues in the sea.

Chinas impressive military build-up could soon challenge the United States across almost every domain, Harris said.

In a separate answer, he said of the risk of conflict with China: as far as the idea of deterrence and winning wars, Im a military guy. And I think its important you must plan and resource to win a war at the same time you work to prevent it.

At the end of the day the ability to wage war is important or you become a paper tiger. Im hopeful that it wont come to a conflict with China, but we must all be prepared for that if it should come to that.

Should Harris be confirmed as the next ambassador to Australia, his hawkish position would present a challenge for Canberra, as it seeks to navigate an increasingly delicate diplomatic and economic relationship with Beijing.

Ties were severely strained last year after a backlash against Chinas perceived influence on and infiltration of Australias political system, highlighted by the resignation of Labor senator Sam Dastyari over accepting cash from Chinese businessmen for private debts and his position, at odds with his party, on the South China Sea. The Australian government has proposed new espionage laws and tightening of rules around foreign donations to political parties.

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but wait we need to cut the military budget

or something
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M_Live posted...

@The_Admiral

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Probably by far the biggest reason I voted for Trump was because he took a particularly hard stance against China. I know people like to talk about Russia, but Russia is a rotting corpse of a world power struggling to stay relevant. China scares the fuck out of me.
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s0nicfan posted...

Probably by far the biggest reason I voted for Trump was because he took a particularly hard stance against China. I know people like to talk about Russia, but Russia is a rotting corpse of a world power struggling to stay relevant. China scares the fuck out of me.

can you elaborate on the bolded?
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capital is moving east whether anyone likes it or not

the last gasps of the american empire, as all others, will be ugly

RickyTheBAWSE posted...

s0nicfan posted...

Probably by far the biggest reason I voted for Trump was because he took a particularly hard stance against China. I know people like to talk about Russia, but Russia is a rotting corpse of a world power struggling to stay relevant. China scares the fuck out of me.

can you elaborate on the bolded?

Their economy isn't going anywhere, they produce nothing of real value beyond natural resources, their government is basically built to support 1 man and shit's gonna get bad when he dies, and they have few allies and fewer real places where they can influence outside of military might.

China has been stealing IP for decades and through currency manipulation have basically gotten the rest of the world to fund their infrastructure projects (they do this thing where to get their cheap labor you have to build a town for their workers). They're growing at a crazy rate, have access to a massive amount of rare natural resources, their people have a zealous national fervor, they've actually managed to control social media (unlike Russia). The world is afraid to piss them off and all the while they're building a competitive navy, a space program, and everything else necessary to begin to play with the big boys in soft power.

EDIT: Really, and I'm being completely serious here, our obsession with Russia because it makes our president look bad is hurting us significantly in our ability to adapt to the real threat. The fact that China has effectively locked down the South China Sea (and the largest stockpile of rare earth metals on the planet) is shameful. The amount of "land" they've taken with their ocean power play makes Crimea a literal joke.

EDIT X2: Seriously, look at it. Look at how much they're claiming ownership of that other countries also claim and realize nobody is doing shit to stop them, but Russia doing a land grab in a country nobody gives a shit about with no actual value has been the talk of the town for years now:

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Thanks NAFTA.
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We are fucked
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s0nicfan posted...

Probably by far the biggest reason I voted for Trump was because he took a particularly hard stance against China

Same
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Oh and let's talk about investing and brain drain.

The number of Chinese coming to the US to get an American education and then going home is staggering. Plus Chinese investors are buying land, companies... they'll own us before they fight us. Russia can't do any of this shit.
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Tag for Admirals response.
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https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/400-current-events/76325326

>:(!!!
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Well that's scary if true.
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so glad we have the anti-war candidate as president
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s0nicfan posted...

RickyTheBAWSE posted...

s0nicfan posted...

Probably by far the biggest reason I voted for Trump was because he took a particularly hard stance against China. I know people like to talk about Russia, but Russia is a rotting corpse of a world power struggling to stay relevant. China scares the fuck out of me.

can you elaborate on the bolded?

Their economy isn't going anywhere, they produce nothing of real value beyond natural resources, their government is basically built to support 1 man and shit's gonna get bad when he dies, and they have few allies and fewer real places where they can influence outside of military might.

China has been stealing IP for decades and through currency manipulation have basically gotten the rest of the world to fund their infrastructure projects (they do this thing where to get their cheap labor you have to build a town for their workers). They're growing at a crazy rate, have access to a massive amount of rare natural resources, their people have a zealous national fervor, they've actually managed to control social media (unlike Russia). The world is afraid to piss them off and all the while they're building a competitive navy, a space program, and everything else necessary to begin to play with the big boys in soft power.

EDIT: Really, and I'm being completely serious here, our obsession with Russia because it makes our president look bad is hurting us significantly in our ability to adapt to the real threat. The fact that China has effectively locked down the South China Sea (and the largest stockpile of rare earth metals on the planet) is shameful. The amount of "land" they've taken with their ocean power play makes Crimea a literal joke.

EDIT X2: Seriously, look at it. Look at how much they're claiming ownership of that other countries also claim and realize nobody is doing shit to stop them, but Russia doing a land grab in a country nobody gives a shit about with no actual value has been the talk of the town for years now:

This was a pretty informative post.
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china superpower by 2030
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The Admirals power knows no bounds
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PlsGodDontBanMe posted...

s0nicfan posted...

RickyTheBAWSE posted...

s0nicfan posted...

Probably by far the biggest reason I voted for Trump was because he took a particularly hard stance against China. I know people like to talk about Russia, but Russia is a rotting corpse of a world power struggling to stay relevant. China scares the fuck out of me.

can you elaborate on the bolded?

Their economy isn't going anywhere, they produce nothing of real value beyond natural resources, their government is basically built to support 1 man and shit's gonna get bad when he dies, and they have few allies and fewer real places where they can influence outside of military might.

China has been stealing IP for decades and through currency manipulation have basically gotten the rest of the world to fund their infrastructure projects (they do this thing where to get their cheap labor you have to build a town for their workers). They're growing at a crazy rate, have access to a massive amount of rare natural resources, their people have a zealous national fervor, they've actually managed to control social media (unlike Russia). The world is afraid to piss them off and all the while they're building a competitive navy, a space program, and everything else necessary to begin to play with the big boys in soft power.

EDIT: Really, and I'm being completely serious here, our obsession with Russia because it makes our president look bad is hurting us significantly in our ability to adapt to the real threat. The fact that China has effectively locked down the South China Sea (and the largest stockpile of rare earth metals on the planet) is shameful. The amount of "land" they've taken with their ocean power play makes Crimea a literal joke.

EDIT X2: Seriously, look at it. Look at how much they're claiming ownership of that other countries also claim and realize nobody is doing shit to stop them, but Russia doing a land grab in a country nobody gives a shit about with no actual value has been the talk of the town for years now:

This was a pretty informative post.

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s0nicfan posted...

RickyTheBAWSE posted...

s0nicfan posted...

Probably by far the biggest reason I voted for Trump was because he took a particularly hard stance against China. I know people like to talk about Russia, but Russia is a rotting corpse of a world power struggling to stay relevant. China scares the fuck out of me.

can you elaborate on the bolded?

Their economy isn't going anywhere, they produce nothing of real value beyond natural resources, their government is basically built to support 1 man and shit's gonna get bad when he dies, and they have few allies and fewer real places where they can influence outside of military might.

China has been stealing IP for decades and through currency manipulation have basically gotten the rest of the world to fund their infrastructure projects (they do this thing where to get their cheap labor you have to build a town for their workers). They're growing at a crazy rate, have access to a massive amount of rare natural resources, their people have a zealous national fervor, they've actually managed to control social media (unlike Russia). The world is afraid to piss them off and all the while they're building a competitive navy, a space program, and everything else necessary to begin to play with the big boys in soft power.

EDIT: Really, and I'm being completely serious here, our obsession with Russia because it makes our president look bad is hurting us significantly in our ability to adapt to the real threat. The fact that China has effectively locked down the South China Sea (and the largest stockpile of rare earth metals on the planet) is shameful. The amount of "land" they've taken with their ocean power play makes Crimea a literal joke.

EDIT X2: Seriously, look at it. Look at how much they're claiming ownership of that other countries also claim and realize nobody is doing shit to stop them, but Russia doing a land grab in a country nobody gives a shit about with no actual value has been the talk of the town for years now:

Don't bring that real talk in here. We gotta expend more time and resources on a fruitless witch hunt.
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America will be the world's greatest super power until long after we die. China is definitely growing, but they are nowhere near where we are.

All the greatest companies and assets and individuals are in America. America is the state of the art in almost every aspect of engineering and science and technology. And soon space exploration, which will bring us unimaginable new reserves of wealth and precious minerals.

China will be a great ally. Not an enemy.
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There will be no war between nuclear powers. MAD will assure that.
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s0nicfan posted...

and brain drain

It's not really a brain drain for people to move to the US solely for undergrad education and then leaving. In addition, those students usually have to pay full tuition and so universities love to have them.
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FLUFFYGERM posted...

America will be the world's greatest super power until long after we die. China is definitely growing, but they are nowhere near where we are.

All the greatest companies and assets and individuals are in America. America is the state of the art in almost every aspect of engineering and science and technology. And soon space exploration, which will bring us unimaginable new reserves of wealth and precious minerals.

China will be a great ally. Not an enemy.

Wut...
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Wow way to go @The_Admiral
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Anteaterking posted...

s0nicfan posted...

and brain drain

It's not really a brain drain for people to move to the US solely for undergrad education and then leaving. In addition, those students usually have to pay full tuition and so universities love to have them.

Yea, I couldn't think of a better phrase to describe it, though. Much like getting US companies to build their roads, its more like using far better resources to rapidly advance at a pace far faster than they could on their own, and in return offering nothing of real value (tuition compared to access to the literal cutting edge of research is nowhere close to a fair trade).
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I don't know. I don't agree with the "zealous national fervor." China is not as anti-West as the Soviet Union was during their height. China loves western culture and they travel to the US more than any country. I don't see them being this jingoistic force the way the Russians were.

shanefu22 posted...

FLUFFYGERM posted...

America will be the world's greatest super power until long after we die. China is definitely growing, but they are nowhere near where we are.

All the greatest companies and assets and individuals are in America. America is the state of the art in almost every aspect of engineering and science and technology. And soon space exploration, which will bring us unimaginable new reserves of wealth and precious minerals.

China will be a great ally. Not an enemy.

Wut...

The space economy will be the newest sector to open up, and it'll happen within our lifetime. It's happening right now.
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EnterTheTekken posted...

I don't know. I don't agree with the "zealous national fervor." China is not as anti-West as the Soviet Union was during their height. China loves western culture and they travel to the US more than any country. I don't see them being this jingoistic force the way the Russians were.

It's not about them being anti-west. It's about their unity surrounding their own government. They're nearly impossible to culturally influence because they have an incredible amount of faith in their own system, and if their government declares "we should all hate X" they get far more traction out of that than any other nation. It's the threat of being able to mobilize a people's will and focus it like a laser beam that is terrifying.
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Well we have Australia so that should mean we win right
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thronedfire2 posted...

Well we have Australia so that should mean we win right

Our best weapon against China right now is North Korea. Deploying THAAD in S. Korea is an immense resource in protecting our interests in the area, and it would have been political suicide if not for Kim. The more N. Korea acts up, the more justified we are in deploying military resources to the region, which is why China has finally started to clamp down on their "ally" because it's really starting to hurt their plans for total pacific dominance.
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s0nicfan posted...

Anteaterking posted...

s0nicfan posted...

and brain drain

It's not really a brain drain for people to move to the US solely for undergrad education and then leaving. In addition, those students usually have to pay full tuition and so universities love to have them.

Yea, I couldn't think of a better phrase to describe it, though. Much like getting US companies to build their roads, its more like using far better resources to rapidly advance at a pace far faster than they could on their own, and in return offering nothing of real value (tuition compared to access to the literal cutting edge of research is nowhere close to a fair trade).

Oh, I see what you are trying to get at.
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