Rice: U.S. concerned about rising China (too late condi--)

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061117/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_china

Rice: U.S. concerned about rising China

By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer 19 minutes ago

HANOI, Vietnam - The United States has some concerns about a rising China, including a military expansion that may be excessive, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday.


Beijing has spent heavily in recent years on adding submarines, missiles, fighter planes and other high-tech weapons to its arsenal and extending the reach of the 2.3 million-member People's Liberation Army, the world's largest fighting force.

Its reported military budget rose more than 14 percent this year to $35.3 billion, but outside estimates of China's true spending are up to three times that level.

"There are concerns about China's military buildup," Rice told a television interviewer. "It's sometimes seemed outsized for China's regional role."

Beijing insists its multibillion-dollar buildup is defensive, but it has alarmed some Asian neighbors and U.S. military planners who see China as a potential threat to U.S. military pre-eminence in the Pacific.

[Kber]

1. No one could have forseen

China rising as a great power, replacing America as a world manufacturing center, and owning a large % of American debt.

Oh wait.

[warrens]

16. Beat me to it...but you have to add that creepy sobbing voice she uses...nt

[lander]

2. Oh, hey, yeah, Condi...

...welcome to five years ago. :puke:

[wakeme2008]

3. Go tell Walmart to stop funding the Chinese military

:grr:

[LynnTheDem]

4. Gee, who coulda known...

James Webb, former Sec. of Navy under Ronald Reagan, Decorated Marine Veteran - Navy Cross, Silver Star, and Purple Heart:
September 3, 2002

"Do we really want to occupy Iraq for the next 30 years? …In Japan, American occupation forces quickly became 50,000 friends. In Iraq, they would quickly become 50,000 terrorist targets…. Nations such as China can only view the prospect of an American military consumed for the next generation by the turmoil of the Middle East as a glorious windfall."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A34847-2002Sep3

Something else you "forgot" to think about, condi.

[jwirr]

22. We actually have no one to blame for this state of affairs than

ourselves. Overstretch has brought every empire in history down, did we think we would be different? If we had spent that money on fortifying our own nation through R&D, instead of trying to police/rule the world for our own benefit we would have jobs, a strong well armed military to protect our own borders, a smaller trade deficit, a much smaller national debt to pull us down, etc.

Instead we have been spending our tax money on ruling the world or letting corporations plunder the resources of other nations while we protect their backs. When I was growing up that was called stealing. Remember the Robber Barons?

We do not need to isolate ourselves totally but we need to recognize that the cold war is over and we are no longer the chosen protector of the world. We are one of many regional powers forming today. I would suggest that we make nice with out closest neighbors so that we are not left total isolated. Humility is a virtue.

[Lasher]

5. But not concerned enough to stop the outsourcing of US jobs to China

Gotta have all that cheap labor that the 'free' trade agreements provide for those big corporations, right Condi? And you're not concerned enough to repeal all those tax cuts for rich people either, are you Condi? It's kinda hard to keep up with the Joneses in arms races after you've maxed out all the credit cards. I wonder how much interest we're paying China on all that money they loaned us. Enough to buy a few submarines and missiles, I would think. I'll bet it's a lot easier for China to build up their military since they haven't hemorrhaged $350 Billion and almost 3000 soldiers' lives on an ill-advised adventure in Iraq.

[dipsydoodle]

8. Yes - her only concern is Corporate America.

edit : bad link

[independentpiney]

6. This hypocrisy makes me sick

"There are concerns about China's military buildup," Rice told a television interviewer. "It's sometimes seemed outsized for China's regional role."
:puke: :eyes:

Even if it is the high estimate of $100 billion, what's that, 20% of ours? Nice too how she thinks the US can assign China a regional role as opposed to her empires' galactic role

[Javaman]

7. While moron* plays his personal grudge war of tidily winks in Iraq...

China, looks upon moron* as the child that he* is and sees nothing but opportunity to grow and take over.

A long as our own version of Ivan the terrible* is in power, the rise of China as a superpower becomes more and more likely.

We as a nation are very similar to Great Britain circa 1940. A world power on paper but a but a failed economy in reality.

[Bigmack]

9. I always have this mental picture....

... of the guys who run China sitting around a table laughing about Dumbya and his Dumblings fucking up the US to the advantage of China.

These guys are all survivors of the toughest political infighting in the world, and Dumbya going up against them is like the one-legged man in the ass-kicking contest.

[Tempest]

10. Whatever China is spending on its military

It's a drop in the bucket compared to the U.S.' $400+ billion military budget.

And that doesn't include the billions spent off budget.

[Supersedeas]

11. Pot, meet kettle?

[anotherdrew]

21. 400+ military budget? we might as well start saying 500+ billion n/t

[lakeguy]

12. we spend more on military than the entire rest of the planet...

i think she should be concerned about waste in her own back yard. like that's going to happen.

[Oreegone]

13. But we get most of that money from China

Check out this Dennis Kucinch page. China is the lender we are the debtor. If Condi is worried then she shouldn't encourage a war that plunges us further and further into debt to China every day. If we keep going they will own us lock, stock, and barrel.

"The United States currently owes China over $650 BILLION in debt. That number is expected to grow to over $1 Trillion during the next 2 years.

How is this possible?

In order to pay for its two recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Bush administration has been forced to loan money from, you guessed it, China."

http://www.lilithgallery.com/articles/china_winning_tradewar.html

[jwirr]

23. If they own us "lock stock and barrel" does that mean we are

communist by default?

[Ezlivin]

14. China has to learn to manufacture the weapons WE need

As soon as we can outsource that, we can balance the budget.

[jwirr]

24. And increase the deficit.

[fob]

15. HEY! Not fair, kindasleazy is an "expert" in russian affairs, so as soon

as russia does something she couldn't be concerned about then it's okay to slam her. :sarcasm:

[Bridget Burke]

17. Isn't she really an expert on Soviet affairs?

Her knowledge will be useful when the USSR rises anew.

[fob]

18. Not as I recall. While there was a USSR she became an "expert"

in Russia. In other words, she's always been irrelevant!

[OhioChick]

19. Wow....

The United States has "some concerns" about a rising China??

[UpInArms]

20. USAToday (02/18/2002): President's uncle shares Bush family ties to China

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2002/02/19/usat-prescott-bush.htm

Along with access, the family name has also brought scrutiny to Prescott Bush's deals:
He was criticized in 1989 for visiting China to meet with business and government leaders just three months after the Tiananmen Square massacre, in which army troops fired at pro-democracy demonstrators.
His Shanghai partnership with the Japanese firm Aoki in 1988 proved embarrassing when revelations surfaced that Aoki at the same time was allegedly trying to get business contracts by bribing Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, whom the first President Bush later ousted from power.
His connections to an American firm, Asset Management, came into question in 1989, when the company was the only U.S. firm able to skirt U.S. sanctions and import communications satellites into China.
When Asset Management went bankrupt later that year, Bush's deal to arrange a buyout through West Tsusho, a Japanese investment firm, raised eyebrows. Newspapers reported that Japanese police were investigating West Tsusho's alleged ties to organized crime.

Bush declines to discuss those controversies. "That's old news. It's in the past," he says.

Last year, he opened the U.S.-China Chamber of Commerce offices in Chicago. The membership roster includes United Airlines, American Express, McDonald's, Ford and Arthur Andersen, the beleaguered company that audited Enron's books.

[Parche]

25. china

I think China has enough rice to deal with..............

[stepnw1f]

26. The Bush Admin Was Great in Creating our New "Cold War"

Afterall.... they were paid to get our government to feed the military industrial complex. I believe HAS BEEN THEIR AGENDA FROM THE BEGINNING!