February 23, 2005
RUNNING ON FUMES:
China fumes as Japan and the US discuss security: Beijing feels left out (Jing-dong Yuan, 2/24/05, Asia Times)
What alarmed Beijing is what it views as the unprecedented clarity with which Washington and Tokyo define their security interests and security perimeter in the region, which now clearly includes the Taiwan Strait. This is seen by China as exceeding the jurisdiction of a bilateral US-Japan security pact, whose original objective was the defense of Japan. While the US-Japan joint statement issued last weekend also made a point to "develop a cooperative relationship with China, welcoming the country to play a responsible and constructive role regionally as well as globally", the spat and misunderstanding that could arise from this development could cast a shadow over the long-term stability in the region.Beijing's strong reaction to a significant extent reflects the divergent perspectives of China on the one hand, and the US and Japan on the other, over the future of the region's security architecture, and their mutual suspicion and concerns over each other's long-term intentions.
It's easy enough to move from left-out to let-in--reform your government. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 23, 2005 9:31 AM
china doesn't have to be carthage to our rome; it's their choice.
Posted by: cjm at February 23, 2005 9:40 AMThis may speed the formation of the Axis of Pouters, with France and Germany looking towards building up China as their surrogate military rival to the U.S., as France boosts China's weaponry and their own military industry in the process. If that does happen, it will be interesting to watch the reaction by Japan and see how its future relations with the EU nations turn out.
Posted by: John at February 23, 2005 10:06 AM
The signal security issue in asia is how to accelerate and shape impending political break-up of China. Think of it as reverse hydraulic engineering.
Posted by: Luciferous at February 23, 2005 11:01 AMThe Chinese would have to be insane to trade access to America and Japan, and possibly the ROK(IOW, its 3 largest trading partners) for access to Weasel-Land. My expectation is that there is plenty of cable traffic back and forth indicating that PRC saber-rattling about Taiwan is for domestic consumption only.
Chinese purchases of weaponry from that Sarasota Clown College called the French arms industry should not be a great concern to us.
Posted by: Bart at February 23, 2005 11:01 AMWhy would the Chinese be so eager to buy weapons from Europe? Don't they know what happened to the natural gas equipment the Russians bought in the 1980s?
Posted by: jim hamlen at February 23, 2005 11:11 AM"shadow over the long-term stability "
Stability is not a goal of George Bush.
Posted by: Bob at February 23, 2005 11:34 AMthe french are going to be seen as "radioactive" in short order, and no one is going to have anything to do with them commercially or otherwise. they will come to be shunned by the decent countries, and the countries that simply want to stay in the good graces of america. watch for some particularly damning information to become public over the next couple of years.
Posted by: cjm at February 23, 2005 12:26 PMIf North Korea keeps things up as they are.....
And if our "Friends" in Europe arm China with their best toys.........
Don't be surprised within two years, Japan scraps their chastity belt, switch over their Defense forces to a full fledged honest to god army and in GWB words go N-U-C-U-L-A-R to ready themselves for a Chinese or NK threat.
An armed Japan is a nightmare that will keep China up at night.
That's not a bad thing!!
A 'nucular' Japan scares everybody from Russia to the Philippines. Given the kind of silliness that emanates from Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Manila from time to time, this is not a bad thing.
Posted by: Bart at February 24, 2005 10:51 AM