Gunpowder Chronicle posted on August 19, 2007 8:18 PM | Rating:
| Views: 237
According to this article from Bill Gertz in Friday's Washington Times, the Dragon apparently offered the US the opportunity to split the Pacific in half.
According to Gertz:
The senior Air Force commander in the Pacific this week threw cold water on a Chinese military proposal to divide up the Pacific Ocean into U.S. and Chinese spheres of influence.
Gen. Paul V. Hester was asked about China's recent plan to give the United States control of the eastern Pacific region, while China would control the western Pacific.
"Our policy is not to cede space to anyone," Gen. Hester said in a telephone press conference from Hawaii.
Apparently, the Chi-Coms made the offer to Admiral Tim Keating, CINCPAC during a recent visit to China.
As I stated in previous posts, the Chi-Coms are absolutely determined to carve up WestPac to establish their own hegemony in this vital and strategic region. Espeically in the area of the Spratley Islands, where they have long-standing contentions and claims over the area and its mineral-rich seabeds.
While I am pleased that so far, we have said "Umm... please self copulate", I am worried that this position may not hold. First, while the world went to war in 1939 because Hitler invaded Poland, that same world was unwilling to fight for Eastern Europe when the Soviets decided to build an outer defense ring in Central Europe. Second, we were all too willing to cede North Korea AND Northern Vietnam to the communists in 1948 and 1949. The lesson of the cold war: you can gain peace by giving up territory.
A scarier scenario, though, is that the China hands at Foggy Bottom and the NSC view China as more of a economic ally than a military threat. Also from Gertz's article:
Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell weighed in on the debate over the threat from a rising China this week and appears to favor the soft-line approach favored by Tom Fingar, the deputy director for analysis.
So the DNI thinks that we should deal with the Oriental version of the Corleone family on a soft-line approach?
That should worry everyone.