China should move

Q
The PRC can gain the critical and necessary experience of exercising their military off-shore in other more peaceful operations to begin with without sending their forces into combat so far removed from their own supply lines and ability to supply and maintain them
UQ

Flying an actual plane is an entirely different thing than practising in a simulator.

As per my understanding Popeye and Fishhead and I as well are not talking about waging a full fledge war against Eritrea or Insurregents, we just like Chinese troops to defend their posts / people their and that too with the consent of local govt. Acting more like a retaliatery force than an aggressor.

Q
Getting glory by killing some African tribesman and igniting a wave of hatred against the Chinese in the whole region? Is that good business?
UQ

How can anybody blame you for defending yourself.

@ Red Mercury

If it were me I will definitely not hire any merc force to defend or guard my people, specially in Africa, because there always is a higher bidder.

Also It was a well thought-off attack and it maybe possible in Hollywood but a merc force can't be good enuff to hold off trained army.

You are making some pretty astronomical assumptions here.

1). Overthrow a government and thus the problem is fixed. You should tell that to the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan. The problem with overthrowing a regime is that it's squarely up to you now to not only replace it with a "better" regime that is widely recognized by the international community, but also fix the underlying social and economic problems that causes issues in those countries in the first place. You don't have to, but if you don't, the whole place is going to fester with anti-Chinese sentiments and pretty soon you'll see poor tribesmen funded by the international Jihadist movement to wage Jihad on Chinese cities. Ever read what happened after the Americans got out of Afghanistan?

2). Think of the outrage if the PRC spends billions of dollars and thousands of lives waging a war against African tribesmen while it faces dire social and political problems at home. I don't know if there's anything more that the Taiwanese independence movement can ask for....

3). You think America is going to wage war in Africa? Think again. If America doesn't step in when hundreds of thousands of tribesmen hack each other to death in Rwanda, it aint going to step in just because some Chinese oil industrialists are killed.

The Chinese killed were industrialists who operated in a dangerous region. They knew it, and they should accept the consequences. It's like setting up shop in a dangerous neighborhood. It's sad that they were caught in the crossfire, but come on, what you are proposing amounts to killing every lion in Africa to avenge one man's death at the hands of a lion.

Leeda said:

Q
The PRC can gain the critical and necessary experience of exercising their military off-shore in other more peaceful operations to begin with without sending their forces into combat so far removed from their own supply lines and ability to supply and maintain them
UQ

Flying an actual plane is an entirely different thing than practising in a simulator.

As per my understanding Popeye and Fishhead and I as well are not talking about waging a full fledge war against Eritrea or Insurregents, we just like Chinese troops to defend their posts / people their and that too with the consent of local govt. Acting more like a retaliatery force than an aggressor.

Q
Getting glory by killing some African tribesman and igniting a wave of hatred against the Chinese in the whole region? Is that good business?
UQ

How can anybody blame you for defending yourself.

@ Red Mercury

If it were me I will definitely not hire any merc force to defend or guard my people, specially in Africa, because there always is a higher bidder.

Also It was a well thought-off attack and it maybe possible in Hollywood but a merc force can't be good enuff to hold off trained army.

Click to expand...

I may be way off target but I suspect that using African lives as target practice for the Chinese military is going to go over very well not only in Africa, but also in the rest of the world...

The Chinese killed were doing business there at the welcome of their hosts. That doesn't mean China has been given the license to run the country or do whatever it wants in that nation. While it is very unfortunate that innocents were killed, this is about crime and justice, not about geopolitical shifts and region conflagurations. And it certainly shouldn't be about China seeking an opportunity to practice dropping bombs on people.

FugitiveVisions said:

I may be way off target but I suspect that using African lives as target practice for the Chinese military is going to go over very well not only in Africa, but also in the rest of the world...

The Chinese killed were doing business there at the welcome of their hosts. That doesn't mean China has been given the license to run the country or do whatever it wants in that nation. While it is very unfortunate that innocents were killed, this is about crime and justice, not about geopolitical shifts and region conflagurations. And it certainly shouldn't be about China seeking an opportunity to practice dropping bombs on people.

Click to expand...

Say if.. those killed and kidnapped are Americans.. what do you think US would probably do ? Remember the US were able to use the Ethiopians as a proxy force to invade Somalia (turning it into a killing fields now).. and got away with it. I don't see the world bitching about it ? Further using excuse like "Protecting Americans" for invasion worked pretty well in Panama.. in an obvious false flag operation.. despite rounding up Panama politicians and soldiers, who are later found in about 10 mass graves... They got away with that too..

What I am trying to point out is... it is because the rebels knows that China would not react the same way as Westerners would.. why not attack Chevron, shell, BP or Total ? Because China would be picked clean by the Western Media Bias reporting...

Another thing.. I mentioned Ethopian proxy thingy is because China can (or most likely) station troops and logistical support bases in neighbouring Sudan, which can be sea supplied... so China can and is truly able to project force into ethiopia operation.. if China so wished.

And my question still remains...why would China commit itself to a massive military expedition in Africa when it's got much bigger things to worry about?

You just don't quite understand the gravity of committing forces in far away lands. All diplomatic consequences aside, just from a pure military standpoint, you are talking about committing upwards of 100,000 of China's best troops if you want to crush Somalia, rebuild the place, and the Chinese would undoubted suffer tons of casualties as well as innocent Africans. Can you imagine pictures of Chinese troops suppressing Africans on the front pages of world newspapers? How about the headline of "China: Taking Tiananmen to Somalia". So we are talking about a tremendous amount of firepower to crush and rebuild a failed African state, a state that harbors international Jihadists. Great, so now Chinese cities are fair game for the Jihadists. And oh, let's not forget that China is doing this while Japan is begging for F-22s and building new powerful Aegis destroyers. This isn't playing videogames. China would be doing this at the expense of billions and billions of dollars.

And you mention the US as if the US wants any part of the mess in Africa. Well let me tell you, it doesn't. That's why you don't see US troops in Rwanda, Liberia, Serra Leon, Somalia, Ethiopia, the Sudan...there's just not enough to justify a grand military action. Heck, there wasn't enough to justify groundtroops in Kosovo and that was in Europe.

Until you visualize the delight on the faces of Taiwanese and American military leadership do you fully realize how absurd the idea of committing thousands of China's best troops in Africa truly is...

So you are advocating that China should become America II....and this will help China because the US military is getting warm handshakes and roses everywhere it has been?

Click to expand...

No. I'm advocating China should protect it's citizens overseas. Nothing more, nothing less.

Your snide country bashing remarks are not appreciated.

FugitiveVisions said:

And my question still remains...why would China commit itself to a massive military expedition in Africa when it's got much bigger things to worry about?

You just don't quite understand the gravity of committing forces in far away lands. All diplomatic consequences aside, just from a pure military standpoint, you are talking about committing upwards of 100,000 of China's best troops if you want to crush Somalia, rebuild the place, and the Chinese would undoubted suffer tons of casualties as well as innocent Africans.

Click to expand...

Where have I advocated that China should commit mass military force in Africa ? ... I'm saying that China can.. in this case... if they so wished. Further the Rebels are Ethiopian... why would they want to crush Somalia, if nothing, it's target would be the renegate group responsible. China can also follow US footstep by using Sudanese proxy.. I suspect even the Janjaweed ? What I am saying is having SF type operations to rescue.. or rather.. to show others that China can react.

Can you imagine pictures of Chinese troops suppressing Africans on the front pages of world newspapers? How about the headline of "China: Taking Tiananmen to Somalia". So we are talking about a tremendous amount of firepower to crush and rebuild a failed African state, a state that harbors international Jihadists. Great, so now Chinese cities are fair game for the Jihadists. And oh, let's not forget that China is doing this while Japan is begging for F-22s and building new powerful Aegis destroyers. This isn't playing videogames. China would be doing this at the expense of billions and billions of dollars.

Click to expand...

China would not engage a total war, much less, rebuilt what they destroy.. just because of the actions of a renegate group. You think US invaded Iraq for freedom and democracy ? It is to install a Puppet regime to legalise their oil concession. What does somalia ethiopia offer ?

Now, I alway had the impression that China is the most picked upon country in the world. Most US mass media and especially BBC, who is the main culprit.. so I would agree on your point.. They would have a field day, or rather, months to years.

And you mention the US as if the US wants any part of the mess in Africa. Well let me tell you, it doesn't. That's why you don't see US troops in Rwanda, Liberia, Serra Leon, Somalia, Ethiopia, the Sudan...there's just not enough to justify a grand military action. Heck, there wasn't enough to justify groundtroops in Kosovo and that was in Europe.

Click to expand...

You should really need to research this further... The US SF are presently in Chad, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya. In fact, they seemed to be in-charge.

Until you visualize the delight on the faces of Taiwanese and American military leadership do you fully realize how absurd the idea of committing thousands of China's best troops in Africa truly is...

Click to expand...

You should re read my post.. I'm saying that they can support force projection - if they so wished.

My basic thought process is that the PRC is becoming a second super power thus it must exercise its right as a superpower to say

"NO we will not accept a two bit rebel group taking nine of our citizens putting them on their knees and shooting them in the head"

China must react to this and has the ability to react. China is setting on 1 TRILLION dollars in cash reserves and that is a fact. It should start spending some of that money in protecting its innocent civs through aggressive military action.

The fact remains that like the US the PRC needs natural resources to continue to expand its great economy thus it is absolutely necessary that the PRC goes out to other parts of the world and gets said resources. This is not a option or a choice but is necessary for its national life. This is going to require that it flex its military might when things like this in the horn of Africa happen.

further more posters are getting carried away by this 100,000 of china's best troops. This action would require around 10,000 PRC troops to include a heavy brigade for the punitive action against Eritrea. It would also need the needed air cover for air strikes against said OPFOR.

Eritrea is quite utterly a World War 1 type army with a dash of cheap cold war era equipment that would be steam rolled by PRC marines backed Type-96 Main battle tanks from elements of a Heavy Brigade.

There is really no need to send in troops.

All that needs be done is to offer host country military aids
(hardware, munition, advisors) and let the host country deal with them. This way, nothing is lost -- no intervention, host country is happy, and terrorist get the message.

BTW, the foreign exchange reserve are not really owned by
the government -- it merely holds it. If government need to use those currency, it need to buy it in terms of local currency -- and that means tax revenue or injecting new money (and increase inflation).

bd popeye said:

No. I'm advocating China should protect it's citizens overseas. Nothing more, nothing less.

Your snide country bashing remarks are not appreciated.

Click to expand...

Fair enough. And I'm not bashing any countries, simply pointing out emprical evidence about the dangers of foreign adventures that some posters don't seem to understand.