China to Open Military Bases Worldwide. There’s a New Kid in Town.

[Joanne98]

This we know.

It has been speculated upon in open-source intelligence circles for years. So, there is little surprise for the rest of the world when it hears of China’s first major foray in its new role as a Superpower.

Americans might be surprised. That is, if they even hear about it before the Juarez, Mexico base goes live.

China mulls setting up military base in Pakistan

BEIJING: China has signaled it wants to go the US way and set up military bases in overseas locations that would possibly include Pakistan. The obvious purpose would be to exert pressure on India as well as counter US influence in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Well, why not?

China already pays for our military imperialism by loaning us the money to play big, bad soldier. So, why shouldn’t the world’s new Superpower cut to the chase and open their own bases?

"It is baseless to say that we will not set up any military bases in future because we have never sent troops abroad," an article published on Thursday at a Chinese government website said. "It is our right," the article said and went on to suggest that it would be done in the neighborhood, possibly Pakistan.

"As for the military aspect, we should be able to conduct the retaliatory attack within the country or at the neighboring area of our potential enemies. We should also be able to put pressure on the potential enemies’ overseas interests," it said.

A military base in Pakistan will also help China keep a check on Muslim Uighur separatists fighting for an independent nation in its western region of Xingjian, which borders the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Beijing recently signed an agreement with the local government of NWFP in order to keep a close watch on the movement of Uighur ultras.



But don’t let me put words into China’s mouth. The Chinese are quite capable of speaking for themselves:

Setting up overseas military bases is not an idea we have to shun; on the contrary, it is our right. Bases established by other countries appear to be used to protect their overseas rights and interests. As long as the bases are set up in line with international laws and regulations, they are legal ones. But if the bases are established to harm other countries, their existence becomes illegal and they are likely to be opposed by other countries.

China develops its military force with a theme of peace in mind. Therefore, we can either develop military forces domestically to maintain peace, or place the forces abroad as long as we take world peace as the ultimate goal. In the 1950s, the Korean War enflamed the border of China. China had no option but to call up volunteer soldiers to fight against the overseas intervention in its northern neighbor. Many of the volunteer soldiers remained in North Korea for years after the end of the Korean war to safeguard the peace of the two countries. Finally, the troops withdrew from the peninsular where the stability was regained.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, China dispatched troops abroad under the invitation of the foreign countries as long as their requests are in line with our security interests, good to resume regional stability and benefit for the world peace process. So it is baseless to say that we will not set up any military bases in future because we have never sent troops abroad.

We need to know the military bases are not set up in view of the previous practices but are established in accordance with China’s interests as well as world peace. We can speak the point clearly even though to set up overseas military bases is not yet on agenda. It is wrong for us to believe we have no rights to set up the bases abroad.



So, how does the rest of the world view it? Generally, it is seen as healthy for the relationships between the world’s most powerful nations. While the idea of Chinese troop bases may be sensitive to countries like the US, which have already set up military bases abroad, there’s always room for more.

Pakistan, of course, is already triangulating the inherent geopolitical anxiety about the situation. Here’s what our nuclear-capable ally in the region has to say

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http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/27299

They wouldn't even have the money to do this if the greedy ass bastards in this country haven't shipped all our jobs over there.



Nothing left but Wall Street, foreclosures and debt.

REAGANOMICS SUX

[RC]

1. Maybe now we can turn the job of the worlds policeman over to China also?

Why not, we've given them everything else.

[Ezlivin]

2. They'd better get busy to surpass our 700+ bases worldwide

If we get a Chinese base here, will I be able to shop at the Base Exchange and avoid paying state sales tax?

[xchrom]

3. Recommend

[Andronex]

4. The next bogeyman...

As far as I know there isn't any Chinese foreign military bases, or definite plans to open one anywhere, correct me if I am wrong.

[harkadog]

5. Depends on how you view Tibet.

[Arctic Dave]

6. I am trying to make a list of potential base countries.

1. Venezuela
2. Iran
3. Nigeria
4. Peru
5. UAE
6. ...

[Andronex]

7. potential base countries...

for non existant plans for foreign Chinese military bases.

[Arctic Dave]

9. No negative nancys allowed in the brainstorming session.

[classysassy]

8. " Come let us reason together"

close all foreign bases,return our troops state side.Maybe then we can have "peace in our time".

[hack89]

10. India will be the flash point

the Chinese want to set up naval bases to extend their influence into the Indian Ocean. India won't take kindly to that - this is one of the big drivers behind the growing US-India military relationship.

[Goldstein1984]

11. Existent, nonexistent, planned, or not...

It's all completely irrelevant. It's China's business, not ours.

We have bases all over the world, and, to my knowledge, no special status beyond bully and world police state to give us that privilege. If China wants to make deals with other nations to build military bases to help defend their own "vital national interests," then we have no legal or moral authority from which to challenge their plans.

We have bases protecting our interests in Asia, so why can't they have bases in the Western Hemisphere to do the same?

We project power and flex out muscles, why should they not?

We mix our "defense" and economic interests, so why can't they?

This "American Exceptionalism" nonsense has got us nowhere. We're 5% of the world's population doing 50% of its military spending. This militarism is only taking us where any reasonable person would predict it is.

While Americans bicker among themselves about whether the U.S. is or isn't a Christian nation; while we water down our science education with mystical thinking; while we fail to provide healthcare to our citizens the way other developed nations have done; while we pursue economic policies that impoverish the working class but, conveniently, provide a steady stream of economically-driven recruits to serve as fodder for empire; while we bask in the glory of past achievements while infrastructure decays, while we devalue the brand of democracy with our own affronts to democracy, while we...

Need I go on. More power to China. I wish them well. If they solve their own problems before we solve ours, they deserve to call the shots on the world stage.

[Joe Chi Minh]

12. Apart from the science fetish, bang on the mark.

[Goldstein1984]

13. Science Fetish

Can't help myself--educated first as a biologist, then as an engineer. Routinely appalled by the scientific illiteracy I see in the media and among my fellow citizens. It prevents us from dealing in an informed fashion with some of the most pressing issues of the day.

Americans have been ridiculed at international scientific conferences as "scientific hillbillies and backwoodsmen." At a conference I once attended, a keynote speaker said, "The largely scientifically illiterate American population is fortunate to have an extremely comptentent scientific community upon which they can live as intellectual parasites."

I don't believe it is only about science. It's just a part of an overall anti-intellectualism that I think has infected the country. It's the weakness that those like Beck, O'Riley, Coulter, Hannity, Palin and Inhofe exploit.

[Joe Chi Minh]

15. I believe you. A poorly-educated population and fraud - although not

necessarily in that order - are their only hope, aren't they?

[Goldstein1984]

16. I think "they" are doing all they can to create an ignorant

electorate. As long as the system produces enough educated people to provide the creativity we need, the Few benefit from the Many being functionally illiterate, easily pacified with entertainment, pseudoeducated infotainment, and easily manipulated by marketing of policies and candidates.

My personal opinion about who "they" are is that there really is a "Shadow elite" who run the show. The Shadow Elite isn't an organization like the Freemasons, an Illuminati, a Trilateral Commission, or a . It's really just a fluid organization of people with a lot of money and power, who manipulate political sycophants willing to do their will in exchange for money (Money = Power).

[Joe Chi Minh]

19. Yes, that seems to be the case.

[proteus_lives]

14. Bases mean nothing.

China doesn't have the fleet or air capabilities to move mass amounts of troops except on the ground. And they won't have the capabilities for at least a decade. (If they can keep the steam up)

[Joe Chi Minh]

17. That old saw of Barbara Tuchman springs to mind whenever I read that kind of

triumphalist talk by an American: 'War is the unfolding of miscalculations.'

The idea that the former Communist countries of Russia and China are weaklings compared to the US is pitiable. You don't now how advanced China or Russia are on the military front. We talk a lot about the brilliance of German engineering, and rightly so, yet in WWII, it was a Russian tank, not the Tiger that earns the plaudits as the best, nor has it weaponry been found inferior. China, too, has had an effective space programme for many years now. Moreover, beause neither country has sunk to the level of decadence of the West their levels of competence in most fields, including management, would be likely to be significantly superior.

Has it ever occurred to you what would happen to the US if China 'came the ugly' and foreclosed on US debts to it. What you don't have you don't miss, so don't imagine China would suffer too much to envisage such a possibility.

But you miss the point by scoffing at Chinese bases as 'meaning nothing'. It's a statement to the whole world. Just as the US coming down hard on the little countries who step out of line is. It's a bedrock priniciple of organised crime. 'Let them hate us, as long as they fear us.' China's saying, 'You're dealing with a major player now. Whatchew gonna do about it?'

Two more can play at America's game, and China and doubtless Russia are going to do so increasingly. Are you aware that, as well as possessing a large land mass, they have quite a large population, which, moreover, is accustomed to being regimented and working together for the public good. It was particularly evident in news clips of floods they've had there. Even post-Katrina would be unthinkable. They're not into 'disaster capitalism', at least, yet. White-collar fraudsters are shot like the dirty dogs they are, just like any street-level hoodlum.

[proteus_lives]

20. Weaklings? No.

As powerful or capable militarily as the US? Not at the moment.

"yet in WWII, it was a Russian tank, not the Tiger that earns the plaudits as the best, nor has it weaponry been found inferior."

You know what kept the T-34s and KVs in the fight? Ford trucks and spam. Russia couldn't have stayed in the war without the millions of tons of supplies we sent them.

"China, too, has had an effective space programme for many years now."

Call me when they get to the moon, send machines to Mars or build a space station.

"they have quite a large population, which, moreover, is accustomed to being regimented and working together for the public good."

FORCED to work together for The Party's version of the public good, there I fixed it for you. I know you think personal freedoms and liberties are disposable but the West never bought into that shit.

"They're not into 'disaster capitalism', at least, yet. White-collar fraudsters are shot like the dirty dogs they are, just like any street-level hoodlum. "

Commies and authoritarians are always about the blood in the streets but they never know what to do afterwards. That's why communist states are always totalitarian dictatorships.

Facts are facts, neither China or Russia are the equal to the US in military terms right now. The PLA should to stick to what it's best at, shooting unarmed monks.

What can China do right now? Invade Taiwan? The US and ROC would stop them in the straits. Invade India/Pakistan? Nuke-states, no one is going there. Invade Vietnam? Tried that in the 80s, got their asses kicked.

If China wants the level control the US possesses, they're going to have to do it economically. And that's if they can withstand the horrible pollution and state of the workers in their country. (Traditional hallmarks of a communist-ish state) Plus they have the problem of Tibet that's not going away despite how viciously the oppresses the native population, the disparity in male/female births and the increasing unrest among China's Muslims.

What's that Chinese saying/curse? "May you live in interesting times...."

[Joe Chi Minh]

22. 'You know what kept the T-34s and KVs in the fight? Ford trucks and spam.

Russia couldn't have stayed in the war without the millions of tons of supplies we sent them.'

Yes, I did know. What's that got to do with the price of fish and chips! The Russian soldiers used to joke that your spam was the promised second front. They shed a lot of blood to save us from our own leaders, who had thought Hitler and Mussolini were great.

'Call me when they get to the moon, send machines to Mars or build a space station.'

They've got more sense. Utterly childish waste of money.

'FORCED to work together for The Party's version of the public good, there I fixed it for you. I know you think personal freedoms and liberties are disposable but the West never bought into that shit.'

Being forced to do good should should not be a cross. Freedom to do evil is anything but true freedom. Freedom implies responsiblities. But I don't expect you to understand any of that.

'Commies and authoritarians are always about the blood in the streets but they never know what to do afterwards. That's why communist states are always totalitarian dictatorships.'

I'd love to answer that for you. But I can't. It's your customary, sloganeering gibberish.

If you took on Russia or China on our Old World turf you'd rued the day you were born. Especially if they both 'took a scunner' to you and allied themselves. You'd be over-extended against such powerful enemies with large land masses. Your overseas, military bases wouldn't count for an awful lot.

You bet China could invade Taiwan. It belongs to them. Do you really think the US would risk war with China over Taiwan?!?! I've never understood why they held back. Perhaps like Hong Kong, they prefer to exploit its dog-eat-dog capitalism.

I think your right-wing friends have indeed made these 'interesting times'. I trust you, too, will find them utterly absorbing.

[proteus_lives]

23. You should really crack open a history book one or twice.

"Yes, I did know. What's that got to do with the price of fish and chips! The Russian soldiers used to joke that your spam was the promised second front. They shed a lot of blood to save us from our own leaders, who had thought Hitler and Mussolini were great."

Russian soldiers needed a second front because Stalin kept feeding them into German machine guns. I respect Russia's role in WWII but they would have lost on their own, just like England would lost on her own. FDR and Churchill thought Hitler and Mussolini were great? Wasn't Stalin that signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact? Wasn't it Stalin that fed Germany supplies in the 30s and allowed them to access to Russian fields and factories? Wasn't it Russia that Germany rape Poland? Wasn't it Stalin that had a nervous breakdown in the opening days of the war because he couldn't believe that Hitler would betray him?

Russian soldiers often had to be saved from the Germans and their own leaders.


"They've got more sense. Utterly childish waste of money."

Another communist hallmark, forsaking science and exploration. Rather have the old factories and forced labor huh?

"Being forced to do good should should not be a cross. Freedom to do evil is anything but true freedom. Freedom implies responsibilities. But I don't expect you to understand any of that."

Semi-artful way of saying that people should bow to the state and personal liberty means nothing. Another reason communism fell, people eventually stop being robots. Some people worship a god-figure, others worship the state. Either way, you want someone else to make your decisions for you.

"I'd love to answer that for you. But I can't. It's your customary, sloganeering gibberish.

Or because it's true. Please name one communist state that's not a one-party dictatorship.

"You bet China could invade Taiwan. It belongs to them. Do you really think the US would risk war with China over Taiwan?!?! I've never understood why they held back. Perhaps like Hong Kong, they prefer to exploit its dog-eat-dog capitalism."

No, Taiwan belongs to the Taiwanese. The people who fled certain death from the mainland. Ok and Hong Kong works because the Party backed off. They realized that their system couldn't compare to HK. They've held back because it will be a bloodbath if they do. And it's not the 50s or the 60s anymore where the Chinese killed 50 million of their people. The US and others won't let them take Taiwan and start lining people up against a wall. (A practice I sense would delight you.)

"think your right-wing friends have indeed made these 'interesting times'. I trust you, too, will find them utterly absorbing."

Right-wing? :rofl: It's funny because you're defending a bloody dictatorship. Why do you want your choices taken away from you? You do realize since you're in the UK you have the choice to believe in nonsense where in another life and time it would be your only option?

[Goldstein1984]

21. A decade isn't that long

Look how much "progress" we've made in ten years.

I have no problem with China having bases around the globe.

As far as them not being able to afford the infrastructure? We can't afford it. We borrow the money to do it from China.

[bertman]

18. Why shouldn't they. After all, they've been "off-shoring" that job to us for a couple of decades

now. Maybe they're just trying to solve an unemployment problem.

[winyanstaz]

24. K & R....

Yes, China is now rich because we let our polititicans get away with letting the corporations run wild.
Out sourcing and privatizing and a lack of oversight and regulations has allowed this mess.
The good news is...if China is stupid enough to go for a global presence...they will be spending all that money and soon be as broke as we are.
Now if we can just get those rich Chinese to outsource all their jobs to us.........