The Bear is waking up

I'm not talkin' 'bout Yogi Bear, either. I've posted on this sort of thing many times. The International Herald Tribune confirms my fears.

A mystery in Beijing: Who runs the military?

BEIJING: As China converts its growing economic power into military muscle, a lack of transparency and a habit of secrecy pose formidable challenges in assessing the country's long-term ambitions, according to defense experts.For foreign governments and analysts monitoring the Chinese military, one of the biggest mysteries is who is actually in charge.

Nominally, President Hu Jintao, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, the top military command body, is head of the armed forces, but there is considerable doubt among experts about the extent of the authority that he and his fellow civilian leaders exert over the 2.3 million-strong People's Liberation Army.

[...]

In addition to defending Chinese territory, most Chinese and foreign analysts agree that Beijing aims to build a force capable of enforcing its claim of sovereignty over Taiwan.

But China's current thinking about when force is justified or what perceived threats are driving its accumulation of firepower remains unclear for most foreign governments and analysts.

Some foreign military analysts believe that there is now considerable debate under way in the Chinese military about the role of pre-emptive force in some circumstances including the use of nuclear weapons.

If and when we strike Iran with tactical nuclear weapons; it will set precedent and give China the international green light for pre-emtive nuclear strikes. On what grounds will we have to complain?

The Bush administration has repeatedly complained about this lack of transparency and called for increased military exchanges with Beijing. "The outside world has limited knowledge of the motivations, decision making and key capabilities supporting China's military modernization," the Pentagon said in its annual report on China's military power released late last month. "China's leaders have yet to explain adequately the purposes or desired end-states of the PLA's expanding military capabilities."

Well, Duuuuuuhhhhh!!!! Bush has yet to explain adequately the purpose of ours. This attitude of, 'Do what I say, not as I do' bullsh*t has got to stop. It is absurd, ludicrous, and down-right farcical, for the Bush Administration to complain about a 'lack of transparency'. In addition to that, he is sending out the signal, that, "If you've got Nukes, we'll talk to you". What better incentive could we provide to the smaller nations?

Submit To Propeller
Tweet