'China's Growing Military' - NOT!
Jordan D'Amato is a research associate for the New America Foundation. He has a piece up at The Washington Note about President Hu visit to Washington:
[China] is the second biggest economy in the world, it has the fastest growing military, and it holds a huge share of the US national debt.
The fastest growing military?
Well, well, according to Janes Defense Weekly (found here and here, see also here) the growth of China's military is negative:
JDW 09-Oct-2009 *PLA cuts manpower to modernise capabilities: “China is preparing to accelerate the downsizing of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by slashing its total force strength by up to 700,000 as the country strives to modernise its military capabilities. China’s armed forces consist of 2.185 million personnel, with the army accounting for 1.6 million of these. In September the PLA’s own news service reported that the army faced reductions to help fund increases in the air force, navy and the Second Artillery Force, which operates China’s … – 2009/10/09 00:00:00″
After his false assertion on China's military Mr. D'Amato continues:
However, when the United States is making policy, it needs to be based on facts, not feelings.
Indeed. And that is exactly why no one should ever ask Mr. D'Amato for any policy advice.
Posted by b on January 25, 2011 at 14:50 UTC | Permalink
@lambent - thanks, link corrected.
The Chinese military has been steadily downsized over the last ten years. The U.S. MIC will of course not let you know that. They need the China bogeyman to make more money.
looks like another chinese con job... they make a feint towards a big blue water navy to lure the foolish americans into spending hundreds of billions on their navy.
meanwhile, capitalists move their operations to china and teach the chinese how to mass produce sophisticated electronics that will enable china to take out a few billion bucks' worth of american carrier with a few thousand bucks' worth of missile.
.
but nobody can accuse the chinese of lacking a sense of humor...
"Chinese shipyards have gained some exposure to carrier design with the acquisition of retired hulls such as the Australian HMAS Melbourne acquired in 1985. Through various ventures, China has also purchased the ex-Soviet carriers Minsk[5] and Kiev. These carriers have become floating amusement parks for tourists.
Posted by: flickervertigo | Jan 25 2011 16:05 utc | 3
meanwhile, the real chinese threat to israeli america proliferates...
"According to the magazine Chinese Restaurant News, there are nearly 41,000 Chinese restaurants in the United States, three times the number of McDonalds franchise units"
we're all gonna die of egg foo yung poisoning, once the shit hits the fan.
Posted by: flickervertigo | Jan 25 2011 16:15 utc | 4
Some more numbers that show how utterly stupid the claim of "military growth" in China is:
Since the mid-1990s, the army has shrunk from about 100 divisions to approximately 50, with many of the units downsizing to brigades. The PLA also has three Airborne divisions and two Marine brigades. However, the army’s ability to project force much beyond China’s land borders remains limited due to a shortage of amphibious ships, heavy cargo carrying aircraft, long-range transports, and other logistical shortcomings. Although the PLA has improved its amphibious attack capabilities in recent years, there are no signs that Beijing is serious about increasing its heavy lift capacity or conducting sustained ground operations.In September 2003 China announced more cuts to its military, currently the largest standing armed force in the world. Former President Jiang Zemin, who heads China's Central Military Commission, announced the government plans to cut 200,000 troops from its force by the end the year 2005.
Despite selling themselves as flag-waving, apple-pie eating American loyalists, GE and other US-based defense contractors are about as loyal to our country as Joe Lieberman and other Israeli-firsters are. Which means they have no loyalty whatsoever to our country. After GE gets done selling all of its military know-how to China, which was mostly financed by US taxpayers, GE will probably go from being a high-flier on the Dow to a down-and-out penny stock. But this won't matter at all to GE's top executives and other company insiders because by then, they will have already liquidated all of their GE shares and run to China where they can live like royalty under the protection of Blackwater-trained Chinese guards.
We failed to treat Joe Lieberman and other Israeli-firsters as enemies of the state. We can't afford to not do the same to GE and other US-based defense contractors.
Posted by: Cynthia | Jan 25 2011 20:08 utc | 6
but but but the red communist chinese recently unveiled the HUGE surprise J20 Stealth Fighter Bomber !!!!!!!!!!!!
which means we are all gonna die soon !!!!!
Posted by: J20 Stealth Fighter Bomber | Jan 25 2011 20:11 utc | 7
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That would be very good news if it were not from 2009!
I couldn't pull up your last link, however...
It is reasonably good news even now - downsizing unproductive ventures is a sane approach to the use of finite resources. However, the Chinese have this problem of all the surplus males...
Thank you, b! Your perspectives are much appreciated!
Posted by: lambent1 | Jan 25 2011 15:11 utc | 1