The New York Times sheds a spotlight on the duality of China and the United States and an underlining goal of the Chinese….
With the worlds second largest economy and a military that is working day and night to expand…
China is trading WITH America….
But?
Is working to eclipse it in economic and military positions….
Donald Trump has engaged the country in a trade war with China that is testing the Chinese leadership ….
But on the military front?
China is out with it’s first American type aircraft carrier in a bid to push America, Japan and Taiwan out of controlling the South China Sea….
Most people are unaware that while Russian President Putin does his act in the East?
(China and Russia have announced joint war games)
America is sliding back into shades of World War II…..
A two front engagement militarily …..
Last year, the Chinese Navy became the world’s largest, with more warships and submarines than the United States, and it continues to build new ships at a stunning rate. Though the American fleet remains superior qualitatively, it is spread much thinner.
“The task of building a powerful navy has never been as urgent as it is today,” President Xi Jinping declared in April as he presided over a naval procession off the southern Chinese island of Hainan that opened exercises involving 48 ships and submarines. The Ministry of National Defense said they were the largest since the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949.
Even as the United States wages a trade war against China, Chinese warships and aircraft have picked up the pace of operations in the waters off Japan, Taiwan, and the islands, shoals and reefs it has claimed in the South China Sea over the objections of Vietnam and the Philippines.
When two American warships — the Higgins, a destroyer, and the Antietam, a cruiser — sailed within a few miles of disputed islands in the Paracels in May, Chinese vessels rushed to challenge what Beijing later denounced as “a provocative act.” China did the same to three Australian ships passing through the South China Sea in April.
Only three years ago, Mr. Xi stood beside President Barack Obama in the Rose Garden and promised not to militarize artificial islands it has built farther south in the Spratlys archipelago. Chinese officials have since acknowledged deploying missiles there, but argue that they are necessary because of American “incursions” in Chinese waters….
More…
The Kremlin’s spokesman says China’s participation in major military exercises in Russia next month demonstrates growing connections between Moscow and Beijing.
The war games in central and eastern Russia, which are billed as the largest since the fall of the Soviet Union, will involve about 300,000 Russian troops. China’s state Xinhua news agency has reported China plans to send 3,200 troops and about 900 weapons units.
Navy’s top officer warns of increased Russian and Chinese activity in the Atlantic Ocean
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson said in a Voice of America interview that Russian sub activity in the North Atlantic is at a level unseen in 25 years.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Tuesday that “it indicates the broadening of interaction between these two allies in all spheres.”….
More…
Note….
It is NO coincidence that Republicans are seeking to politically support the largest military budget in a while….
image….China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, at sea in April. First launched by the Soviet Union in 1988, it was sold for $20 million to a Chinese investor who said it would become a floating casino, though he was in reality acting on behalf of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.CreditCreditAgence France-Presse — Getty Images