Posted on Aug 16, 2015
COL Ted Mc
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From "Reuters"

Podcast: How China’s military might matches up with the United States

China is the world’s youngest and most ambitious superpower. Over the past decade the country has dumped billions of dollars into its military. That rapid expansion worries some analysts.

Now Beijing is regional military juggernaut, expanding its hold on the Pacific and pushing against the U.S and its allies. China can now project military power like never before.

But does regional power lead to global dominance? What does China really want in the Pacific? And would China and America ever go to war? In this week’s War College podcast, we look for some answers.

EDITORIAL COMMENT:- An interesting 26 minute podcast (pay special attention to the comments starting at minute 00:04:00 and ending at 00:04:30).

http://blogs.reuters.com/war-college/2015/08/12/podcast-how-chinas-military-might-matches-up-with-the-united-states/
Posted in these groups: China ChinaUs flag 48 stars.svg United StatesStrategy globe 1cfii4y Strategy
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Responses: 11
LTC John Shaw
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COL Ted Mc The Chinese and India are significant military powers and if they keep investing in Navy and Airforce and have effectively caught up with the US in any significant power on power element. China has limited Naval capacity to project power but their State enterprises have purchased and developed in South America, Africa, ME and Central Asia. The positioning of deployment of forces is the only advantage of one side or the other.
Total war with China is unthinkable and must be avoided at all cost. Limited war with China over a specific territory like Taiwan is not in the US interest. Even if we deployed all forces, we could not prevent the Chinese from taking Taiwan. Korea or any area that does not require significant Naval projection is a losing fight.
It is a matter of time and market effectiveness China, then India will be the largest economies. Large MNC will look to the Asian markets for guidance, not the US or Europe, because we will be the 3rd major market behind China and India. Even it we treat Mexico and Canada as part of the US in a North American marketplace. We will need to determine NOW how to develop an effective partnership out of necessity.
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COL Ted Mc
COL Ted Mc
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LTC John Shaw - Colonel; From all the evidence (so far) neither China nor India is interested in being more than a "Regional Power" (in the geopolitical sense).

Both, of course, are interested in being a "Global Power" (in the economic sense).

My suspicion is that the moaning and hand wringing about "The Chinese Threat" is motivated more by the second factor than the first - regardless of the rhetoric.

It's a basic fact of economics that the non-competitive eventually lose out. If America's economic system is no longer competitive, then America's economic dominance will fade out. If America's economic system is more effective than anyone else's, then America will retain economic dominance. That applies REGARDLESS of the form(s) of government involved.

As far as developing a partnership with Canada and Mexico is concerned, that is a strong possibility as soon as the US government approaches it without an "All animals are equal (but some are more equal than others)." attitude.

Do I think that that is likely to happen? Quite frankly, no.

Could the US use its military to simply annex either Canada or Mexico? Of course - provided that the US government could convince the American public to go along with the cost in lives and money.

Do I think that that is likely to happen? No.
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SSG Intelligence Analyst
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Their navy is a pale shadow of ours; they have 1 carrier and that is an old, Cold War era ex-Soviet ski-jump model, half the capacity of a single US carrier. Their air force is based mostly on 1970's era Soviet knock-offs with a couple of "parade" wings equipped with more recent tech. Their army is dangerous only by sheer numbers.

We don't have much to worry about, but they are aware of the tech disparities and are working to close them, It will take many years, decades, to catch up, and it will be expensive for them. A lot can change in that time.
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PO3 Information Systems Technician
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My main concern with china would be the cyber warfare aspects of their military. The use of cyber attacks could become exponentially detrimental to our c4i systems if the future is to include more autonomous weapon platforms. Our ability to communicate is one of the most important aspects of any tactical operation and also could become vulnerable to cyber warfare with the advent of 5th generation weapon systems reliant on computers to integrate all military assets in a combat theater. Imagine if a virus could give enemy commanders the ability to manipulate where these future weapons end up on the field. We aim to be on the cutting edge of technological superiority but i fear that our approach to these new systems is akin to building a tank with a big cannon but cardboard armor.
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