Thursday, January 18, 2018

North Korea Is Advancing China's Strategic Objectives In The Region And Against The West

Joseph A. Bosco, National Interest: North Korea Is China's Double-Edged Sword

Keeping the Kim family dynasty in power, economically afloat, and technologically capable has significantly advanced China’s strategic objectives toward the West.

The citizens and government of Hawaii should send a big mock congratulatory lei to Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The sheer terror they experienced for the better part of an hour last Saturday morning ultimately came courtesy of China’s longstanding policy of enabling and protecting North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Yes, the immediate cause of the panic was the local government’s erroneous flash warning that the Pacific paradise island was about to be hit by a nuclear missile. Given North Korea’s recent nuclear and missile tests and blatant threats against America, the alert seemed credible.

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WNU Editor: North Korea may have served China's strategic interests in the past, but I certainly do not see it now. The North Korean crisis is forcing Japan and South Korea to start an arms build-up while aligning itself more closely to the U.S., and there is now additional pressure on China to rein in its ally via through sanctions or face potential trade restrictions itself.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The US missile defense shield is not as good as one would hope it to be. And that's still phrasing it nicely.

Not even readiness seems to be in place. Civilians in Hawaii had nowhere to go in time. That's the reality to me at least. I don't know about you.

Now, if we both agree and if you and I have read the same news about north Koreas advances in both,  magnitude of the atom bombs and their payload delivery, then chances are very substantial that North Korea could actually nuke San Francisco and with it Silicon Valley. It's the furthest west target at the US coast and of double digit Trillion $ value. Of the roughly 18 Trillion US GDP, Silicon Valley is certainly 1-2tn per year worth...Apple alone made 200bn in revenue last year and are valuated at nearly 1tn US dollars. And that's just GDP and apple's value...the technological value and knowhow is much higher.

1) All companies depend on silicon valley in some shape or form

2) Infrastructure (airports etc) depend on silicon valley in some shape or form. Do you think satellites are running w/o software?

3) Nuking SF and silicon valley would also kill millions of tech talent. Like em or hate em, we need them.

4) Importantly, many of the Silicon Valley tech talent contribute significantly to the (narrowing) leadership the US holds in Artificial Intelligence. Means this is a security issue as well:

As many have stated, "whoever wins the race for general or multiple narrow AI for military and economy will likely rule the world". Even China said so. They're pumping billions into this while the US still struggles with coming up with a plan how to speed up AI development the way China does.

With Silicon Valley gone, China would be in excellent position to achieve just that. Obviously China will overtake Russia in all relevant manners to world domination...it did so already, I'd argue ..economically, 15 times more people now and with Russia's aging  population you can be assured it won't even be an even match between the two. Not even militarily, as with AI you will be able to significantly multiply your defensive and offensive technologies. The war between China and Russia would maybe happen under Xi still, it sure might be his dream, but likely it'll be when Russia's population and technology has fallen behind so far that it's not even worth having the fightime,  as they won't count as super power any longer. Nukes are not everything when you significantly lead in AI. But China will need and want Russia's vast resources. I'm sure they'll find a historic claim. Didn't they also first discover the US? Remember that story? We're dealing with half delusional, half imperialistic people in China and North Korea. At least from where I'm standing ..or do you think China behaves peacefully when it threatened Vietnam with outright war over an oil platform in contested waters? Or do you think building military islands is normal? What about trying to infiltrate and manipulate the Australian government? What about the threats against the US? Or the threats against Japan?

This means the following, and I have stated so before many times:

If North Korea nukes SF/Silicon valley, which it will be able to very very soon, it could literally mean the World to China.

Do you see it?

The Olympics too are just a distraction if I'm right. Do you really believe the guy who has his half brother murdered with a nerve agent and has torture and concentration camps going, this is the good guy in the end all of a sudden,  so close to the finish line?  We pin the future of the World on this guy's stability? And hope Xi is not at all thinking about what I just layed out?

Not one bit of doubt in your mind that I'm wrong?

I hope someone will plan for the contingency I layed out, I really do.

Anonymous said...

I think Russia makes a grave mistake helping north Korea with money and fuel and political favors. If the US economy implodes because of a nuke hit and the US fails behind technologically for decades if not forever, then Russia will be the next target. Obviously. Then India.

B.Poster said...

Any attack on the US by North Korea will be viewed as an attack by China. As such, the US nuclear retaliatory response will hurt China allot worse than the North Korean nuclear attack on the United States.

As such, an attack on the United States by North Korea = a nuclear retaliatory response by the United States of two 1,500 or more nuclear weapons which = no Chinese century.

If the Chinese are thinking rationally here, they will come to the conclusion and many have probably already come to the conclusion that the editor has come to. Unfortunately humans do not always think rationally.

If they go through with the plan as laid out by anonymous # 1 not only will they not realize their goal of a Chinese century but the mothers who gave birth to them will regret doing so. The Chinese could have very easily and still could very easily have the f!cking century. America is in terrible shape right now. All they would have had to do was simply wait five to ten years or use their economic power to implode the country from within. As far as Americans are generally concerned, they can have their f!cking century. We have big enough problems without this. I can see how if US political and business leaders make the proper decisions we can position ourselves to prosper within the Chinese century. Drop a nuke courtesy of North Korea anywhere in the United States the Chinese can forget about their century and they could have very easily had their freaking century without this!!

Anonymous said...

Bposter: No

Let me explain

Correct: China is responsible for arming and supporting North Korea.

Correct: A missile from North Korea should be treated as if it came from China

Incorrect: A non-proportional response. the US will not engage in disproportionate response. If SF is hit, likely Shanghai will be hit (yes, more people, but of similar value as Silicon Valley and SF combined). No more, no less. There won't be thousands of missiles coming at China. The US is not a monster. Sure, the aggressor (China) will be dealt with swiftly and severely, also by US many allies - and the many enemies China made (its neighbors! can you believe the stupidity of China? all but encircled now)

Anyways. China just has to stop its hostile actions. I'm all for living peacefully with China. No Chinese man, child or woman should be harmed because of the stupidity of Xi. Look at what this guy did.

Japan: Adversary (disputes over territory, arming of north Korea)

Vietnam: Adversary (they threatened Vietnam with war last year, they are pissed; disputes over territory)

Australia: Adversary (China tried to meddle in their government and got caught; Disputes over territory etc)

USA (Absolutely adversary; stole so much IP from the US its not even funny.. China are the biggest thieves in the world)

EU (Adversaries; China stole a lot of IP from Europe too)

If North Korea fires a missile, this will not end well for China. It's powerful, but it's not as powerful as the US, EU, and its asian neighbours combined. This show is over before it starts.

Anonymous said...

People so easily forget:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/7720461/USSR-planned-nuclear-attack-on-China-in-1969.html

You realize that Chinese should be forever thankful to the US.

Instead, they arm North Korea to nuke the US.

What backstabbers, what thieves, what liars.

Do not trust China!

They steal our IP, they brag with their wealth based on their thefts, they are nothing but a totalitarian regime in which you cannot speak out against them. Ask their own population. Ask the people in Hong Kong - how much prison sentence they get for speaking out. And that's where the UK and China had an agreement to treat Hong Kong people nicer. Unbelievable. Lies, lies, lies.


Anonymous said...

The problem is this:

The US has not made it policy yet that China will be hit if North Korea fires the missile. China is playing it very closely. They give North Korea the trucks to drive the missiles around. They give North Korea even the rocket fuel. But have they given them also the tech for the atom bomb? Perhaps not. North Korea made suspiciously fast progress lately, but they may have done it alone.

Unless the US publicly and clearly states that this will be the case, there cannot be such a retaliatory hit. The world would not understand. Not everyone follows what's happening here. People would be freaking surprised. And such a response has to happen within minutes, if not seconds. You cannot explain what has happened over the years, how China helped the North Koreans to get to this place.

Trump needs to state this policy. Otherwise China (XI!) will be tempted to keep arming and pushing North Korea over the edge. and then, be all like "Oh no, bad North Korea" (what if China just nukes North Korea? All good then, right? Every stupid pundit would be like "China is such a good member of the world, they nuked the aggressors North Korea after North Korea nuked SF". BUT here's the problem: The biggest loser will be the US)


North Korea nukes SF (US loses TRILLIONS over TRILLIONS)
China nukes Pyongyang (worth a few billions)
US cannot nuke China then, unless it previously made it clear what will happen

It might be that North Korea is the stupid one in the end. Do you really think China gives a f*ck about them? They are just useful now. That's about it.