It’s never a good sign when the world’s second largest economy announces the most significant revamp of its military in decades, at almost the exact same time that its economy implodes. Unfortunately, this is what just happened. From Bloomberg:
President Xi Jinping will as soon as this month announce the most sweeping overhaul of the Chinese military in at least three decades, moving it closer to a U.S.-style joint command structure, people familiar with the matter said.
The blueprint would unify the army, navy, air force and strategic missile corps under one command, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the proposal hasn’t been released. The plans call for thinning the ranks of officers and traditional ground forces, helping elevate the role of the navy and air force, to better project force in a modern conflict, they said.
Xi is preparing to unveil the proposal in the wake of Thursday’s World War II anniversary parade in Beijing, which will showcase his authority over the People’s Liberation Army and China’s growing clout in the region. The plan to mold the military into a force that meets Xi’s goal of being “able to fight and win a modern war” has been delayed for months as anti-graft investigators swept up dozens of current and retired generals, referring the PLA’s former top general to prosecutors in July.
Xi “mainly employed the anti-corruption campaign in the military to form his absolute command over the army, so that his military restructuring plan can press ahead after being initially stalled,” said Yue Gang, a retired colonel in the PLA’s General Staff Department. “Now, his authority in the army is solid enough for him to flesh out his vision to transform the military and set it on a path to emulate the U.S.”
Such a command system is seen as necessary to improve communications and coordinate modern forces across the various arms of the military. The organizational changes would aid China’s shift from a land-based military to one able to project force far from its coastline.
But there’s more. Just today, it was reported that Chinese warships were seen off the coast of Alaska for the first time ever.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Five Chinese navy ships are currently operating in the Bering Sea, off the coast of Alaska, the first time the U.S. military has seen such activity in the area, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.
The officials said they have been aware in recent days that three Chinese combat ships, a replenishment vessel and an amphibious ship were in the vicinity after observing them moving toward the Aleutian Islands, which are split between U.S. and Russian control.
They said the Chinese ships were still in the area, but declined to specify when the vessels were first spotted or how far they were from the coast of Alaska, where President Barack Obama is winding up a three-day visit.
The presence of the Chinese ships so close to U.S. shores is the latest demonstration of how China’s military is rapidly expanding its operations far from its own coast to protect the nation’s growing global interests.
Mr. Xi is heading to the U.S. in late September for a state visit, which has already been overshadowed by tensions over Chinese military activity, including alleged cyberattacks on the U.S. and island-building in the South China Sea.
China and Russia held joint naval exercises off the Russian Pacific coast—about 2,000 miles west of the Bering Sea—between August 20 and 28, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
I really hope and pray we can avoid World War III. Unfortunately, with global economic collapse now underway, this might be wishful thinking. The most tragic part of it all is that the status quo leaders in both the U.S. and China who will bring us this war are the ones directly responsible for the economic collapse that preceded it. The status quo will not suffer the consequences of their actions, only the hapless, ignorant citizenry will. Unless we can figure out a way to stop them.
For related articles, see:
Video of the Day: Help Obama Kickstart World War III
Unusually Massive Protests Erupt in Japan Against Forthcoming “War Legislation”
In Liberty,
Michael Krieger
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G
Follow me on Twitter.
Cold War 2.0 : Further actions by the US to surround China
http://bit.ly/1EtWrHr
The Movement of…..as well as the Potential To BLOCK Ships through some of the Narrow passages in that Area…is of great concern to both Super powers…aloha
Its Interesting that the Chinese Navy is so close to American territory,especially in light of some of the “Far-out chatter” on the net@the Horrific explosions In China being caused by our “Rod of God” Satellites,as a pay back for Cyber Crimes,Treasury dumping and Yuan devaluation….as well as Their Government’s Clamp-down on extensive explosion News..?. We truly live in interesting times…thanks for reading
FALSE FLAG PREPARATION.
who knows, maybe the chinese and americans are both conspiring to start a fake real war to help create conditions for confisacatoin of citizen wealth under threat of violent mass murder.
could happen!
and this is why you know the chinese are scared. they have no 2nd amendment gun rights. and don’t own guns.
mao starved 50m to death. there’s far more chinese now alive, and far more reprefereseive measures enecesary to keep them all part of the same nation.
if we play our cards right the west can help breakup the centralized control of the chinese government over its own people, while at the same time ensuring neoliberal native chinese gangsters are well funded enough to financially rape the country for their own benefit and ours just like the russian oligarchy did to a yelzinized post soviet weak russia.
go go neoliberalism!. why use nukes when you can use the printing press to much more effective results!