How long does it take to learn Mandarin? We won't have anything left
to compete with china after we are done blowing our national wad in
iraq, so I guess i'd better marry a fabulous asian babe to be on the
safe side...
http://www.janes.com/defence/news/jir/jir060307_2_n.shtml
US Quadrennial Defense Review sparks anger in China
By John Hill
Once again, a report by the US military has provoked a public display
of ire in Beijing. This time, it is the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense
Review (QDR), published in February, in which the senior leadership of
the Department of Defense (DoD) "sets out where the department
currently is and the direction we believe it needs to go in fulfilling
our responsibilities to the American people". The assessment is
primarily concerned with what it calls "a long war" against terrorists,
"currently... centred in Iraq and Afghanistan", but it also has
something to say about the wider security environment, and in
particular about China.
In the most recent QDR, the Pentagon has pinpointed the perceived
threat from China far more specifically than in previous reports, and
this alone is enough to be of concern to Beijing. Robert Sutter,
professor of Asian Studies at Georgetown University and former national
intelligence officer for East Asia and the Pacific at the US National
Intelligence Council, told Jane's that the QDR reflects "continued
strong US government (not just DoD) concern about China's military
build-up and other policies seen as disruptive or potentially
disruptive to international norms supported by the US government".
However, the seemingly bellicose rhetoric within the QDR belies the
US's actual policy formulation towards China. Professor Shi Yinhong,
the director of the Centre for American Studies at Beijing's People's
University told Jane's: "The US government is paying much more
attention than before to the peaceful nature and co-operative aspects
of China's foreign policy, and [is trying] to increase the possibility
of a future 'good' China through rhetorical and substantial policy
actions, while making strategic preparations... to guard against the
possibility of a 'bad' one." He commented that the US government
"really believes" in the concept of China being at a "strategic
crossroads".
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