Bill Hayton, Foreign Policy: Is Tillerson Willing to Go to War Over the South China Sea?
The Exxon boss has shown before he can take Beijing to the limit — but as Secretary of State the stakes will be far higher.
Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon chief, didn’t get where he is by being nice to China. When Beijing tried to force his company to abandon a gas exploration project in the waters off Vietnam in 2008, ExxonMobil showed it the finger. BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and several others caved to Chinese pressure. ExxonMobil is still there, drilling on a Vietnamese license in waters also claimed by China.
Is Tillerson about to do the same on behalf of the United States? On Wednesday, the secretary of state-designate seemed ready to give China the finger again. He called on the incoming Trump administration to deny China access to the seven artificial island bases it has built in the southern part of the South China Sea.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: The U.S. strategy against China will not focus on using U.S. military strength .... instead .... the U.S. will focus on trade and economics to put pressure on the Chinese to step back. International trade is what is financing China's economic boom and it is its Achilles Heel. Curtail that by even a little bit .... through tariffs, penalties and/or restrictions on companies investing in China .... will impact China's policy goals and stability. How China will respond to this type of action is open to debate .... but they are already hinting to everyone that they should expect the worse .... Chinese Media Has Told Rex Tillerson to ‘Prepare for a Military Clash’ (Time).
Update: Beijing will 'take off the gloves' if Trump continues on Taiwan: China Daily (Reuters)
3 comments:
I think the Chinese are about to learn what a quick and limited conflict with a superpower looks like. They will find that there advancements are increasing their military standard compared to the rest of the world, but it is all measured again the United States Military. Advanced technology, training, numbers and combat experience is something the US brings to the table which China can't match. Just hope it stays limited to a conventional clash.
The implications suggest it will not stay conventional and we can't forget about North Korea... if the states is going to start a war with China they would have to take out North Korea first and that may create such a bad situation for china that would be all it would take to do the job... One other reaso the Americans need to have this war with China now is because thier most advanced weapons systems won't be operational until 2021-2025 so as of right now the Americans have the major edge in every facet of destruction and will vaporize the Chinese military before they have a chance to even come close to winning a war against the U.S.
I have always wondered why we have took so much abuse from China, from steel dumping to stealing classified docs. But then I remember history, Normandy, France for instance when numbers count. With our electric grid gone and most hi·Tech weapons rendered useless. ICBMs in air is all we got on home front. Think of that a front on American soil! Sure we will repel invaders eventually but at what cost and is cost worth it. Will it demoralize troops as Verdon did the French in WW1? If and when this finally does happen it has to be done big, fast and without regard of bystanders. Total destruction. The only way a war can and has been won.
Post a Comment