Military hammer makes everything look like a nail

[unhappycamper]

http://atimes.com/atimes/China/CHIN-01-080814.html



Military hammer makes everything look like a nail
By Peter Lee
Aug 8, '14

Both the United States and the People's Republic of China (PRC) are displaying a disturbing predisposition toward militarizing their national security strategies. It is understandable. An external military threat is easier to sell and explain than a complex national challenge of economic, social, and political competitiveness, and there is a large and influential coterie of officers, natsec types, and defense contractors that welcomes a military framing.

But the devil is in the details - the actual implementation of a successful policy - something that both the US and the PRC are, one can only hope, considering.

But the publicly available data is not encouraging. It describes the primary dynamic of the PRC's maritime strategy: designing its program of regional assertiveness/encroachments in a way that prevents militarization of frictions and, in particular, avoids direct military confrontation with the United States.

On the one hand, the PRC throws its weight around with oil rigs, maritime surveillance vessels, and coast guard ships; on the other hand, the PLA Navy is a virtually invisible player when it comes to PRC moves in the East and South China Seas.