Fallon: US needs strategy on China

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Source: Boston Globe

Fallon: US needs strategy on China
Former top commander says Pentagon officials
insisted he prepare for war with China

By Bryan Bender
Globe Staff / November 25, 2008

WASHINGTON—In 2005, the nation's top military
commander in the Pacific confronted Pentagon hawks
who insisted he prepare for a future war with China,
warning then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
that the United States was headed for disaster if
it insisted on confronting the Chinese militarily.

"There were people who warned me that you'd better
get ready for the shoot 'em up here because sooner
or later we're going to be at war with China," retired
Navy Admiral William J. Fallon recalled. "I don't
think that's where we want to go. And so I set
about challenging all the assumptions."

In his first extensive interview since resigning from
the Navy earlier this year, Fallon told the Globe that
the US desperately needs to come up with a
strategy for dealing peacefully with a rising China.

-snip-

US-China relations had soured in 2005 after the
Pentagon issued a high-profile report highlighting
a growing threat from China, and after Rumsfeld
publicly rebuked China's military build-up in a
Singapore speech.

Describing the message he brought back from the
region at the time, Fallon said he told his superiors,
"What are the priorities, guys? Do you want to
have a war ? We can probably have one. But is
that what you really want? Is that really in our
interest? Because I don't think so."

-snip-

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/11/25/fallon_us_needs_strategy_on_china