The Anxiety and Helplessness of the U.S. Containment of China

America used the recent conflict between North and South Korea as an excuse to side with Japan and South Korea and hold military exercises together. The U.S.’ three aircraft carriers, the USS George Washington, the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Ronald Reagan, will soon join forces in East Asian waters. Some people take this as a threat of war; I, however, do not agree. For America this is obviously just an act mainly played out for three groups: The first group is North Korea and its purpose is to apply pressure to the North. The second group is Japan and South Korea and its purpose is to consolidate its military alliances. Lastly, the third group is China and Russia and its purpose is to show that America is still very strong. At the same time, having three aircraft carriers in East Asia reveals the U.S.’ anxiety toward not being able to do anything about China’s slow rise to power.

Having three American aircraft carriers in East Asia seems awe-inspiring, but as they have intimidated the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran, they may be able to deter North Korea. However, the U.S. is facing a nuclear-capable China that has sophisticated weapons such as nuclear submarines, nuclear missiles and the new Dong Feng 21-D class missiles, etc. Do not bother mentioning the three aircraft carriers; even with seven or eight American aircraft carriers, they would still be useless. If war does start, within half an hour all of the aircraft carriers will be wiped out. So the main purpose of the three American aircraft carriers joining forces in East Asia is definitely not for war, but merely for show.

Admiral Robert Willard, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, was quoted in the Dec. 26 edition of the Asahi Shimbun saying, “I think that China has reached initial operation capability; the new weapon, the ‘D’ version of China’s DF-21 medium-range missile, involves firing the mobile missile into space, returning it into the atmosphere and then maneuvering it to its target.”* What he said was an understatement; however, it shows that the American admiral is apprehensive.

Although America is adjusting their troops, they are also creating and deploying a new Asia-Pacific strategy, in essence just to contain China. This says it all; this of course is an absurd strategy that is doomed to fail. America’s economy has been in recession and seeing China’s economy booming does not make America happy. They try to compress the living space in China by stirring up trouble in the areas surrounding China to make China nervous and cause them to increase their military spending. And the U.S. is attempting to drag China into a military buildup race, putting China on the same path of the former Soviet Union and causing China to collapse eventually. This is how the Reagan and Bush administrations caused the collapse of the former Soviet Union. The collapse of the former Soviet Union was not a result of military action; it and the U.S. never shot at each other, but instead it could not compete economically.

China’s military is very wary. Recently, China’s State Councilor and Minister of National Defense, Liang Guanglie, told reporters that in general in the 61 years since the founding of the new China, China has been in a peaceful state. Peace did not come down from the heavens. From the point of view of the current world situation, having another world war is not that probable, but in a few areas there have been outbursts of conflict. There have also been countries saying that they are “on the brink of war” and this has caused a few military disputes; these situations cannot be ignored. China has an ancient saying: “Although there is peace, forgetting about war is dangerous.” We live in a time of peace, but we cannot forget about war or relax our vigilance against war.

Recently there have been two situations that have caused Chinese people to be happy. First is Canada’s “Kanwa Asian Defense” report: China’s reconstruction of the aircraft carrier Varyag in 2011 will soon be tested, and it is already combat capable. Second is Pakistan Patriot’s reports online; photos of China’s J-20 stealth fighter have appeared on the Internet, shocking the aviation community. Does this imply the end of U.S. dominance of the air? It introduces China’s J-20 stealth fighter by saying that it is like the front half of America’s F-22 stealth fighter and back end of Russia’s T-50 combined. This shows that though China’s development is number one, the modernization of China’s national defense and military is still gradual and continuing to accelerate in an orderly fashion.

China has already become the nightmare of America’s right-wing hawks. The causes of the U.S.’s anxieties are the areas where China is flourishing and growing stronger such as economy, politics and diplomacy, military, science, culture, etc. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will soon be visiting China, hoping to “increase mutual trust” with the Chinese military. Admiral Robert Willard also expressed that, “I believe that both countries need to continue their dialogue, for the eventual elimination of differences.”* China and the U.S. can only hold peaceful talks because “working together benefits both sides, but battling each other will only hurt one another.” Although many American leaders are anxious about China, realistically speaking China and America must work together, and trust that President Hu Jintao and President Barack Obama will meet and achieve the best results that benefit both Chinese and American people.

*Editor’s Note: These quotes, while accurately translated, could not be verified.