Wissler, Please Be Respectful of Chinese Army

Recently, Lt. Gen. John Wissler, commander of the U.S. forces in Okinawa and the III Marine Expeditionary Force, claimed:

“If we were directed to take the Senkakus, could we? Yes.

“And that’s where that whole integration of our full capabilities as a Navy-Marine Corps team would be of value.”

That a regional commander of the U.S. Pacific headquarters could overstep his role and talk wildly, explicitly expressing hostility toward the People’s Liberation Army, has never happened in recent years. Is the threat of war from the commanding general in Okinawa intended to scare the Chinese people, its government and armies? He must have been expecting too much.

Chinese commanders who hold the same rank as Wissler cannot easily reply to his provocative remarks because of the PLA’s discipline. As a retired commander of the former war zone, I want to express my attitudes to Wissler.

First of all, during a joint press conference held by your Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, our Chinese Minister of Defense Chang Wanquan said that the PLA has the responsibility to protect China’s national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, and thus has been well-prepared for various sorts of threats and challenges. It will engage in fighting and certainly win, as long as the party and people need it. Therefore, no matter how provocative you are, China is not going to change its policy regarding the Diaoyu Islands, and neither is the PLA in terms of its operational direction and tasks.

Second, the Diaoyu Islands face China’s Huadong region, which falls under the jurisdiction of China’s Nanjing war zone. Stretching to the East China Sea, it overlaps with your “range of jurisdiction.” The islands are less than 400 kilometers (250 miles) from China’s coastline, and thus belong to the coastal areas, according to military geography. I can tell you responsibly that our capacity to control the islands with our weapons and forces is more than adequate: Our region is able to cover both the marine area and air zone with our current forces. As soldiers, we should all be familiar with this jargon: to convoy. We used to convoy using troops. Now, we convoy using weapons. Therefore, do not threaten our boats and jets that are performing their duties in our waters and airspace. Otherwise, your own security will be threatened in turn. Mind you, before you mobilize your weapons, study the comparative strengths and the environment, and then engage in some deduction and computational simulation to calculate the odds of success. Otherwise, you may not come out of the encounter very well.

Third, it is said that the Diaoyu Islands have been used as a shooting range for the U.S. Air Force in Japan. Our air force, along with other long-range forces, is in need of such a shooting range as well. Our advantage is that we do not need to push forward the deployment of our armed forces in our war zone. All we need is to adjust the direction of shooting, and amend some data and shooting parameters before we start. Thus, if we announce that we want to use the Diaoyu Islands as our shooting range someday, you should be psychologically prepared.

Fourth, please understand that the Chinese army is familiar with the military and geographical environment of the Diaoyu Islands. Once the islands become a battlefield, the defending army will have no chances of surviving. Thus, our action regarding the Diaoyu Islands resembles yours: We can win it of course, and without landing: just sea and air offensive to eliminate the threat. So, would you please forward our plan to Japan, and tell it not to move recklessly? I also would like to remind you that your deployment of troops may be a bit too near the front. If you want to keep your army safe, I advise you to retreat beyond the second sea chain, which is temporarily safe.

Last, as a former commander of a war zone, I could have talked to your superior, the Pacific command. However, talking directly to you is out of respect for you. I have talked to your former superiors, Peter Pace of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and U.S. Pacific Command Timothy Keating, about topics that would interest both the Chinese and American armies, and had a pleasant time. Please learn from your former superiors and refrain from using the threat of force. Show some respect to the Chinese army, which defeated your army during the Korean War. I also suggest that you study history properly, especially the parts on the Pacific War and China’s anti-Japanese war, and understand what Japanese militarism really is.