NY Times article "China Shows Assertiveness in Weapons Test" by Joseph Kahn reminds us that China is the pivotal strategic relationship of the 21st century and that we need to invest more (Mandarin classes and sending students to China) in preparing for that relationship. From the NY Times article:
China’s apparent success in destroying one of its own orbiting satellites with a ballistic missile signals that its rising military intends to contest American supremacy in space, a realm many here consider increasingly crucial to national security.
The test of an antisatellite weapon last week, which Beijing declined to confirm or deny Friday despite widespread news coverage and diplomatic inquiries, was perceived by East Asia experts as China’s most provocative military action since it testfired missiles off the coast of Taiwan more than a decade ago.
Unlike in the Taiwan exercise, the message this time was directed mainly at the United States, the sole superpower in space.
With lengthy white papers, energetic diplomacy and generous aid policies, Chinese officials have taken pains in recent years to present their country as a new kind of global power that, unlike the United States, has only good will toward other nations.
But some analysts say the test shows that the reality is more complex. China has surging national wealth, legitimate security concerns and an opaque military bureaucracy that may belie the government’s promise of a “peaceful rise.”......
Tom Barnett comments in his post "Infantile US Strategy on China:"
....But this is routine hypocrisy for us: all our "tests" are to preserve "peace" (meaning our ability to project power militarily anywhere in the world without effective resistance from anybody), while all their "attacks" are clearly designed to threaten global stability.
This is the essence of the primacy argument of the neocons: America must not only have the biggest gun, but the only gun worth mentioning. If anyone reaches for one, they are automatically bad unless they're already in bed with us (meaning we sell it to them).
Is this a grown-up attitude WRT China? No, strategically it's infantile, given the everything else going on in China, the world, America, and between us and China.
But the hawks want their war calculations held strictly within the context of war and nuttin' else. That way, our "requirement" to weaponize space can proceed apace, with our side trusting the Chinese space hawks to continually return the favor tit for tat.
Yet another implicit U.S.- Chinese strategic partnership that keeps the mil-industrial complex on both sides happy.
Comments