I'm not really sure what sub-stalk incident you are referring to? Maybe the one involving USS Kitty Hawk? But I was speaking in general when I say that the PLAN monitors USN activity and vice versa. It is pretty unrealistic to say that a country's military does not monitor the activities of potential rivals.
China and the US resume military contacts
- Thread starter bd popeye
- Start date
Yeah, the PLAN monitors the USN and vice versa. To the men that conduct this surveillance, it's all fairly routine, it's been that way for decades.
I'm really glad someone is willing to say the things in that article. I'm definitely a realist, I believe in the efficacy of power. Thus I don't believe the US should just cede East Asia to China. But I also believe that the US's greatest weakness as a power is its hubris and inability to see the world from the perspective of others, and the ingrained weaknesses that our domestic political system has developed over the last several decades.
That's why I can assure you that we will never see an American politician think rationally about relations with China like the guy who wrote that article does. They will never take a step back and examine the assertions on which their view of China is based. They will never stop and ask "Is it really necessary that we act as if China is such a threat? Is this the most appropriate policy?" This is because of two factors: A rational China policy would leave politicians open to the charge of "weakness in the face of the enemy" and it would go against the entrenched special interests of defense companies, the military and neoconservative ideologues.
The American political system punishes rational thought and objective analysis (the voters just can't take it) and any real problem solving can only get so far because the system can be entirely paralyzed by even some of the smaller special interest groups who cry bloody murder when someone steps on their little toe. You can't make meaningful policy changes without offending someone, so, given that the American political system is so deeply in control of various self-interested groups, almost all meaningful policy changes are stifled. This happens when a law is drafted, in Congress, in the agencies, everywhere.
So don't expect America's policy towards China to lose its hostile edge and move towards one of maintaining strength yet accommodating China's rise. That's too much to ask for from a dysfunctional machine like the one we have here in the good ol' USA today.
(I realize this was a bit political, but international events don't take place in a vacuum, we have to understand the systems that create a nations behavior)
I'm really glad someone is willing to say the things in that article. I'm definitely a realist, I believe in the efficacy of power. Thus I don't believe the US should just cede East Asia to China. But I also believe that the US's greatest weakness as a power is its hubris and inability to see the world from the perspective of others, and the ingrained weaknesses that our domestic political system has developed over the last several decades.
That's why I can assure you that we will never see an American politician think rationally about relations with China like the guy who wrote that article does. They will never take a step back and examine the assertions on which their view of China is based. They will never stop and ask "Is it really necessary that we act as if China is such a threat? Is this the most appropriate policy?" This is because of two factors: A rational China policy would leave politicians open to the charge of "weakness in the face of the enemy" and it would go against the entrenched special interests of defense companies, the military and neoconservative ideologues.
The American political system punishes rational thought and objective analysis (the voters just can't take it) and any real problem solving can only get so far because the system can be entirely paralyzed by even some of the smaller special interest groups who cry bloody murder when someone steps on their little toe. You can't make meaningful policy changes without offending someone, so, given that the American political system is so deeply in control of various self-interested groups, almost all meaningful policy changes are stifled. This happens when a law is drafted, in Congress, in the agencies, everywhere.
So don't expect America's policy towards China to lose its hostile edge and move towards one of maintaining strength yet accommodating China's rise. That's too much to ask for from a dysfunctional machine like the one we have here in the good ol' USA today.
(I realize this was a bit political, but international events don't take place in a vacuum, we have to understand the systems that create a nations behavior)
solarz
Brigadier
It's interesting that you single out the conservatives as hostile to China, when really, the Democrats and liberals are just as hostile (Tibet, Human Rights, etc.)
Also, what you described as a dysfunctional system is the end result of a democratic system of government. While I won't go so far as to say American voters can't take in rational thought and objective analysis, it is true that emotional appeals are far more powerful and motivating to voters.
The latter is true of Chinese people as well. Look at what happened with the Diaoyutai incident. Now imagine what would have happened if the Chinese government had to bow to domestic public opinion.