Modern CHinA

Discussion in 'Economics' started by ImamicPH, Jan 26, 2006.

  1. Retired

    Retired

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...23.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/04/23/ixnewstop.html

    (Filed: 23/04/2006)

    America has embarked on an undeclared arms race in Asia, in response to a Chinese military build-up that has convinced Washington of the importance of facing up to its fast-emerging Communist rival, writes Philip Sherwell.

    The United States has begun a significant strengthening and revamp of its forces in case growing tensions - fuelled by the struggle to secure oil supplies - spill over into military confrontation.

    The radical, but little hyped, review of US deployments in Asia is part of what Pentagon and White House officials have dubbed their "hedge" strategy towards China.

    The Bush administration is working on improving relations with Beijing while also ensuring that America is ready for a serious fall out - either over Taiwan or the hunt for natural resources.

    The US territory of Guam in the western Pacific is the hub for the new plan, where the Pentagon will spend $5 billion (£2.8 billion) to upgrade facilities for attack submarines, ships and new long-range strategic bombers.

    US Marine forces will be transferred there from Okinawa, in Japan, to put them out of immediate range of a Chinese attack.

    China has been increasing its defence spending by 10 per cent a year for a decade, and American analysts believe its annual military budget could be at least twice the $35 billion Beijing admits to.

    Of particular concern to the US is China's pursuit of a powerful "blue water" navy, based around a fleet of sophisticated submarines.

    Beijing is keeping Taiwan in its sights but also wants to defend the oil shipping lanes that run from the Middle East to China. To this end, it is pursuing a "string of pearls" strategy - the pearls being bases it is establishing along the route, in Pakistan, Burma and disputed islands in the South China Sea.

    America's "hedge" doctrine has been developed by Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, to prepare the armed forces for new threats, and move them away from their old Europe-based Cold War planning.

    Unlike some of Mr Rumsfeld's other initiatives, it has widespread support from State Department diplomats and the White House.

    Robert Zoellick, the deputy secretary of state, recently said: "Uncertainties about how China will use its power will lead the United States - and others - to hedge relations with China. Many countries hope China will pursue a peaceful rise but none will bet their future on it."

    Guam will become as important as the navy's main base in Honolulu, as more naval, air and land forces are moved from the Atlantic and the US mainland.

    The hedging strategy also involves closer military alliances with allies such as India, Australia and Japan.

    "This administration decided at an early stage that China is a potential military adversary and has spent a great deal of time and now money on how to counter that threat," Dan Goure, a Pentagon adviser, told The Sunday Telegraph. "The realignments, the new defence systems, the bomber programme - are all about China."

    The Pentagon's Quadrennial Defence Review, published in February, spelt out concerns about Beijing. It said that of the leading and emerging powers, China had the greatest potential to compete militarily with America and that in the absence of US counter strategies, Beijing's use of "disruptive military technologies . . . could, over time, offset traditional US military advantages".

    But for now, despite their respective military build-ups, neither Washington nor Beijing wants to engage in such sabre-rattling in public.
     
    #11     Apr 24, 2006
  2. Retired

    Retired

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/14/AR2006041400879.html

    China fears drive big US arms projects
    By Jim Wolf - Analysis
    Friday, April 14, 2006; 1:22 PM

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. fears of a rising China are spurring billions of dollars worth of weapons projects, from nuclear-fueled attack submarines to fighter jets to destroyers.

    Even as President George W. Bush prepares to welcome President Hu Jintao to the White House on Thursday with full military honors, Washington is factoring in potential conflicts over such sore spots as Taiwan, competition for scarce resources and any threat to its predominance in Asia.

    "Of the major and emerging powers, China has the greatest potential to compete militarily with the United States and field disruptive military technologies that could over time offset traditional U.S. military advantages absent U.S. counter strategies," the U.S. Defense Department said in a long-term strategy review released in February.

    The focus of the U.S. approach to China remains to prod it into playing a constructive regional role and to be a partner on security challenges from terrorism to curbing the spread of weapons, narcotics and piracy.

    But in its long-range blueprint, the Pentagon laid out plans for "prudent hedges against the possibility that cooperative approaches by themselves may fail to preclude future conflict" with powers such as China.

    Among China-related moves, the Pentagon said it would build -- two decades sooner than originally planned -- a "long-range strike capability" to be ready by 2018 while modernizing the U.S. bomber force of B-1s, B-2s and B-52s.

    The new project could involve manned or unmanned bombers as well as directed-energy weapons such as lasers.

    The U.S. Air Force has already begun to deploy the radar-evading, F-22A "Raptor" multirole fighter jet, designed to knock out advanced surface-to-air missiles and enemy fighters.

    "Deterring or defending against potential aggression by the PRC is the strongest argument for the F-22A," said Christopher Bolkcom, the top warplane expert at the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, using initials for the People's Republic of China.

    The Air Force hopes to buy at least 176 F-22As, which would be built through 2012 by Lockheed Martin Corp., the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier, at a projected $62.6 billion, including development costs. More than 50 have been delivered.

    BIG SPENDING

    Another big-ticket item that might be built in lesser numbers if not for the perceived China threat is the Virginia-class nuclear submarine. In its long-range blueprint, the Pentagon called for doubling to two per year the number bought by the Navy by 2012 at a cost of $2 billion apiece.

    The submarines are built by General Dynamics Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp..

    The same companies are building the Navy's next-generation DD(X), a destroyer designed to appear on enemy radar screens as no bigger than a small fishing boat.

    The first two DD(X) destroyers, which can attack land targets with precision weapons and new long-range guns, are to be purchased in fiscal 2007 at a combined cost of $6.6 billion. The Bush administration is planning to buy seven of them as part of a projected 313-ship Navy in the coming years.

    "The fleet will have greater presence in the Pacific Ocean, consistent with the global shift of trade and transport," the Pentagon said in its strategy paper. It said 60 percent of U.S. submarines would be based there, up from 50 percent now, and at least six aircraft carriers, up from five now.

    Peter Rodman, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, said last month that China's military buildup was forcing the United States to revise plans for any showdown over Taiwan -- the U.S.-armed, self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own.

    Roger Cliff of the RAND Corporation, a not-for-profit company that conducts many studies for the Pentagon, said China was turning out weapons comparable in capability to the systems that still make up the bulk of those used by U.S. forces.

    "If the United States is to keep its qualitative military advantage over China, therefore, we will need to continue to develop and field systems that are significantly more advanced than the types currently in our inventory," he said
     
    #12     Apr 24, 2006