David Rothkopf, The National: China has opened a military base in Djibouti. The geopolitics of the Middle East will never be the same again
Last week, China sent an unmistakable message that its role in the world is changing.
The world changed this past week in ways that it may take decades to fully appreciate. With the opening of its first overseas military base in Djibouti, China sent an unmistakable message that its role in the world is changing. The implications for the Middle East and Africa are immediate, but the larger message is that China is no longer pretending to be an inward-looking, exclusively Asian power.
Of course, that stance, one that dates back centuries in Chinese history, has largely been a fiction for decades. Since acquiring nuclear weapons in the 1960s and building an inter-continental ballistic missile capability that now includes submarines and land-based delivery systems and estimates exceeding more than 90 missiles capable of reaching the United States, the country has been a formidable global power for a long time.
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WNU Editor: China's economic and military presence in the Middle East is small when compared to the U.S. ..... but it is a sign that times are changing, and more to the point .... one can only imagine the presence that China will have ten years from now.
9 comments:
It amazes me how stupid Humans are, Rome, Spain, France several times, the British Empire, the USSR and the USA Bankrupted themselves thru Military over spending and now the Chinese the dumb shits are following right down that path, being lead by an egomaniac that wants to be called Chairman. Human no smarter than Yeast.
China, Military expenditure (% of GDP)
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS
China 1.9%
The US,
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?locations=US
3.3% of GDP,
I know Jay, but they are just getting started and I have faith they are no smarted the the rest.
Sorry TWN all these countries fail not by their military spending, but by their economy wrongdoing (especially taxes).
Jay,
You know better than anybody else that the 1.9% is an "official" number which is not the real one, and also not according with the purchase measurement.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_and_Road_Initiative
Rather than pursuing Regime Change, or Conversion's to "Democracy", the Chinese are persuing their own version of Globalization, with a mix of Marshall Plan, Non-Judgement and Military and Security Alliances."
It's probably a more stable form of Globalization and Capitalism, than the current Western Model, of imposing terms and conditions, militarally if needed.
Rather than imposing brutal Dictatorship's on Countries, and calling them "Democracies" or "Needed Partners", China's happy to work with anyone, simply on the basis of commerce. Rather than go to war, or sponsor a coup, or initiate a tribal war, or flood the country with jihadi's,
China, will probably just close the road off to Government's that renege on "The Deal".
PPP actually makes no difference, because it increases China's GDP exactly the same percentage as it increases China's military spending.
BTW, if you actually go to the links, you will see that not only has China's military spending as a percent of GDP fallen over the years, but so has the US's.
Wages are rising in China.
It will affect the army too.
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