This is a busy blog day — lots of news about lots of topics. CIA boss Goss has been in the news all day, warning about inevitable nuclear strikes from terrorists on US soil (be afraid — be very, very, very afraid) and the blossoming of terrorism in US-occupied Iraq. And now we come at last to China.
The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency has warned that China’s military modernisation is tilting the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait and increasing the threat to US forces in the region.
Delivering the agency’s annual assessment of worldwide threats on Wednesday, Porter Goss, a former Republican congressman who was named in September to head the CIA, dropped any mention of the co-operative elements of the US-China relationship that characterised recent CIA statements. Instead, he said China was making determined military and diplomatic efforts to “counter what it sees as US efforts to contain or encircle China”.
[…]
[T]he statement on China indicated the CIA is paying growing attention to what it considers potential military threats amid China’s growing economic ties with its neighbours and the US. Mr Goss referred to US concerns over the increase in Chinese ballistic missiles deployed across the Taiwan Strait and the improvements in China’s nuclear and conventional capabilities.
The change in tone was notable given US concerns over Europe’s plan to end its embargo on arms sales to China. Experts on China said that, while warnings about China’s military capabilities were not new, the CIA had in the past underscored the co-operation between the US and China.
I’ve been saying for a while that Bush has to play good cop/bad cop on China, placating his psychotic right-wing base whilst soothing the anxieties of his big-business donors, whose very existences now revolve around the People’s Republic. This is, however, the most dramatic example yet of China baiting, and I’ll be surprised if the ever-prickly Chinese don’t have a cow over it.
1 By Other Lisa
Richard, have you seen the CIA think-tank’s 2020 report (I blogged about it under “Futureworld for Dummies”)? One of its major points is that the US is basically ceding Asia to China and India because of this obsession with the Middle East and oil…I mean, terrorism.
Pretty silly for Goss to be screaming about Chinese influence when the U.S. is becoming disengaged from the region.
The report is worth a look on a lot of levels. The presentation really cracked me up, for one thing.
February 16, 2005 @ 11:02 pm | Comment
2 By Simon World
Asia by Blog
Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Previous editions can be found here. This edition contains a new blog from restricted Nepal, the aftermath of NK’s nuke announ…
February 17, 2005 @ 1:34 am | Comment
3 By Simon World
Asia by Blog
Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Previous editions can be found here. This edition contains a new blog from restricted Nepal, the aftermath of NK’s nuke announ…
February 17, 2005 @ 1:37 am | Comment
4 By pete
Richard and others take a look at Phillip Bowing’s article in IHT of 2/22/05 on China, Japan and USA and Taiwan. He asserts that Taiwan, prior to the Dutch colonization of Taiwan it was populated by nonChinese people.
As I see it China has not much history of continually asserting sovreignty of Taiwan.
Now with the US and Japan newly asserting interests in the area for strategic reasons, China will have to go slowly and try to encourage the Taiwan population to voluntarily accept China’s claims of stewardship.
February 21, 2005 @ 10:14 pm | Comment
5 By richard
Pete, I can’t find the article. Any way youi can include a link?
February 22, 2005 @ 10:10 am | Comment
6 By richard
Okay, found it – will try to comment shortly.
February 22, 2005 @ 10:11 am | Comment