China claims Pentagon report 'ignores objective truth,'

[frigidmagi]

Christian Science Monitor

[quote]Beijing reacted angrily Wednesday to a Pentagon report expressing worries about China’s burgeoning military capabilities, calling such concerns baseless.

“The report ignores the objective truth and accuses China for its normal national defense and army constructionâ€

[Stofsk]

Didn't you win the last Asian Naval experience?

[frigidmagi]

How many men and ships did it cost us?

[Stofsk]

How many men and ships did it cost us?

Quite a lot, I don't deny that. Although I doubt you'd lose if another such naval experience came up in Asia. I also doubt China wants to get into a slugging match with the Pacific Fleet.

[The Minx]

The two countries are too economically dependent on each other to seriously consider such a move anyway. It's all just a matter of prestige.

[Cynical Cat]

The two countries are too economically dependent on each other to seriously consider such a move anyway. It's all just a matter of prestige.

While I tend to agree, Great Britain and Germany were each others largest trading partners right before World War I.

[frigidmagi]

So were Japan and the United States before WWII.

[The Minx]

Granted, people can be very irrational. I'd hope that interdependence makes people less likely to be irrational, though.

How much are they adding to their fleet anyway?

[frigidmagi]

Not enough to fight WWIII. It's hard to say really because China treats all of this as top secret and doesn't share. We know that for example, whether they admit it or not, they're building at least one Air Craft Carrier and expanding their troop lift (they can currently transport by sea less then a division, which means they couldn't even take Taiwan). Also we're very sure they're expanding the sub force and their sea borne missile technology and platforms.

The thought being that they may decide that instead of trying to match us Carrier for Carrier, which is an open question of whether they could anyways, instead they'll try to use missile ships to make the Carriers big expensive targets.

To be honest the odds of a Chinese/American war are rather low, but their cutting of military ties does increase them a bit. I can understand the Chinese point of view, however I don't agree with it.