12/11: Chinese Cooperation
Category: America and the World
Posted by: an okie gardener
Overlooked by me in the run-up to the election, this report on China and North Korea by Bill Gertz. Gertz, I think, has the best sources in defense of any reporter in Washington. A portion of the article
China helped North Korea develop nuclear weapons and in the past year increased its support to Pyongyang, rather than pressing the regime to halt nuclear arms and missile activities, according to a congressional report.
The final draft report of the U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission also says that Chinese government-run companies are continuing to threaten U.S. national security by exporting arms to American enemies in Asia and the Middle East.
The report is based on public testimony and highly classified intelligence reports made available to its members and staff. It indirectly criticizes the Bush administration for failing to pressure Beijing into joining U.S.-led anti-proliferation programs and calls for Congress to take action to force the administration to do more
This report supports the contention made earlier on this blog in a guest post (below). It is a very dangerous world, and Dems in control of Congress does not reassure me. Although, in fairness, the Bushes have been too pro-China for my way of thinking.
Guest Blog
The college atop a hill overlooking the Bosque River recently added two luminaries to its galaxy of stars. One of whom, "Jerry Vorhees," at my request, offers this insightful analysis of the US dilemma in re the Korean peninsula. Let's make him feel welcome. Hopefully, we can prevail on him to provide more on this subject and other IR matters in the future:
North Korea has become a "covert province" of the People's Republic of China. We now have evidence of a connection between the AQ Kahn's nuclear network, China, North Korea, and of course Iran. China is playing a delicate game with the United States via their North Korean proxies.
The trick for China is to push the United States to the point of desperation in our desire for Chinese cooperation without actually triggering a war in the region and losing access to lucrative American markets.
What am I getting at? Taiwan. From the first announcement by North Korea that they indeed possessed nuclear weapons, I had my eye on Taiwan. The main obstacle standing in the way of the mainland's desire to intimidate the Taiwanese into a more conciliatory position toward reconciliation is the wide spread belief that if China attacks Taiwan as its government recently voted to authorize, the Americans would feel obligated to intervene.
Indeed the China lobby in Congress would be hysterical if the United States allowed an attack on the Taiwanese to go unchecked. The ultimate objective of this latest Chinese-North Korean gambit could be a softening of the American stance on Taiwan in exchange for real Chinese cooperation on the North Korean issue, an issue they are themselves behind.
JV
China helped North Korea develop nuclear weapons and in the past year increased its support to Pyongyang, rather than pressing the regime to halt nuclear arms and missile activities, according to a congressional report.
The final draft report of the U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission also says that Chinese government-run companies are continuing to threaten U.S. national security by exporting arms to American enemies in Asia and the Middle East.
The report is based on public testimony and highly classified intelligence reports made available to its members and staff. It indirectly criticizes the Bush administration for failing to pressure Beijing into joining U.S.-led anti-proliferation programs and calls for Congress to take action to force the administration to do more
This report supports the contention made earlier on this blog in a guest post (below). It is a very dangerous world, and Dems in control of Congress does not reassure me. Although, in fairness, the Bushes have been too pro-China for my way of thinking.
Guest Blog
The college atop a hill overlooking the Bosque River recently added two luminaries to its galaxy of stars. One of whom, "Jerry Vorhees," at my request, offers this insightful analysis of the US dilemma in re the Korean peninsula. Let's make him feel welcome. Hopefully, we can prevail on him to provide more on this subject and other IR matters in the future:
North Korea has become a "covert province" of the People's Republic of China. We now have evidence of a connection between the AQ Kahn's nuclear network, China, North Korea, and of course Iran. China is playing a delicate game with the United States via their North Korean proxies.
The trick for China is to push the United States to the point of desperation in our desire for Chinese cooperation without actually triggering a war in the region and losing access to lucrative American markets.
What am I getting at? Taiwan. From the first announcement by North Korea that they indeed possessed nuclear weapons, I had my eye on Taiwan. The main obstacle standing in the way of the mainland's desire to intimidate the Taiwanese into a more conciliatory position toward reconciliation is the wide spread belief that if China attacks Taiwan as its government recently voted to authorize, the Americans would feel obligated to intervene.
Indeed the China lobby in Congress would be hysterical if the United States allowed an attack on the Taiwanese to go unchecked. The ultimate objective of this latest Chinese-North Korean gambit could be a softening of the American stance on Taiwan in exchange for real Chinese cooperation on the North Korean issue, an issue they are themselves behind.
JV
martian mariner wrote:
Not to hijack this thread, but what in the world does that mean? That he is the most able to get people to divulge sensitive (if not classified) information for open publication? I'm all for freedom of the press, don't get me wrong. But I'm starting to get sick of all these "leaks" in the past 2 years. The ultimate responsibility goes to the releaser of the information, but the newspapers should vet their sources and documents a little more, too. As is, anyone who has a beef with the administration and has some information can find an open forum for publication. The news industry is not even attempting to stop this - rather they are lauding the efforts of those who "break" such stories. See here: http://www.pulitzer.org/yea... Maybe the Attorney General should dust off the Espionage Act and indict a few reporters to make a point.
Back to the issue at hand: While not my area of study, it is obvious that China is at work extending its sphere of influence in the world, beyond North Korea. I'm not sure what the party is thinking, but there are shades of Cold War containment theory and Soviet-style geopolitics in some of China's actions. Just search China +Africa on Google for some info.