“Since no nation threatens China, one must wonder; Why this growing investment? Why these continuing large and expanding arms purchases? Why these continuing robust deployments?”
Thus spake the yet to be tried war criminal Donald Rumsfeld. But when one looks closely at the situation one is struck by the fact China is surrounded on all sides by threatening, or possibly threatening nations, least of which is the U.S.
To the East lies Japan, a nation with the second largest military budget in the world, the capability of maunfacturing nuclear weapons in days if not hours, and most worrisome a bellicose government bent reliving the militarism which plagued Japan in the 1930’s. Indeed so rampant is the resurgent militarism in Japan, openly encouraged by the Bush regime, that Japanese troops are sent to War in a nation thousands of miles from Japan, purely at the behest of America.
Combined with awful history of Japanese aggression toward China, it is eminently reasonable that China is apprehensive about it’s neighboor to the East.
To the North lie Russia, owning thousands of nuclear bombs, which has had a history of low-level armed conflict with China for the past 50 years. Also there is Mongolia which has seen U.S. military advisors installed simply for the purpose of roiling the waters.
To the South lie Taiwan, where the remnants of the Kuomintang fled in 1949 displacing the native Taiwnese, and engaging, with U.S. connivance, in decades of provactive armed aggression, sabotage, and mischief-making in general. A nation which just announced launching of a home-made cruise missile. Vietnam, which had major armed clashes in 1979-1980 with China and a millenia old history of hostility toward China. North and South Korea, one of which can at best be termed a highly unreliable quasi-ally, the other a puppet government, host to tens of thousands of U.S. troops and their attendent nuclear weapons.
Needless to say the Korean War and U.S. attacks on China have not been forgotten. Burma, where for years the U.S. armed and funded irredentist attacks against China using Kuomintang forces and encouraging narcotics trafficking to weaken China’s southern provinces. Nepal, where a raectionary monarch slaughters civilians with U.S. supplied armaments under the direction of U.S. advisors.
To the Southwest is nuclear-armed India, a nation whose relations with China have been fractious at best, and have exploded into armed conflict on more than one occasion, threatening to escalate into full-fledged nuclear exchange. The border disputes are still unresolved.
To the West are the Central Asian nations, of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Krygystan, and Kazakhstan. While militarily weak themselves they either are host to enormous U.S. military bases, each one of which must be presumed to possess nuclear capability, or in the case of Kazakhstan possibly possess leftover Soviet nuclear arms.
And then there is the greatest threat of all, the United States of America; the most warlike nation in the history of mankind. A nation which has overthrown numberless governments, invaded countless nations including those so tiny as Grenada as to not possess armed forces, and which most importantly openly boasts of “full-spectrum dominance”, militarizing space, and spends as much as the rest of the world COMBINED on its military (not including hundreds of billions on “black programs” and “intelliegence” agencies). A nation, lest it be forgotten, which in attempting to assassinate Chou-en-Lai blew up the wrong civilian aircraft. A nation which to this day constantly violates Chinese airspace with provacative overflights by manned and unmanned aircraft.
No, as usual, when Rumsfeld points his blood-soaked finger the other four point directly back. A more accurate statement would be “Since no nation threatens the United States, one must wonder: Why this growing investment? Why these continuing large and expanding arms purchases? Why these continuing robust deployments?”
Why indeed, Donald, why indeed.
CHARLES WALKER POFF lives in Oregon. He can be reached at: battlingbastard@yahoo.com
