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China-Japan-Koreas
Official Chinese Newspaper Calls For War Against Vietnam And The Philippines
2011-10-04
An excerpt:
An ugly momentum is building in the South China Sea, where an official Chinese newspaper called last week for war against Vietnam and the Philippines to uphold China's assertion of sovereignty over the mineral-rich seabed, estimated to hold 7 billion barrels of oil and 900 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The lead article in the Chinese Communist Party newspaper Global Times Tuesday carried the headline "The time to use force has arrived in the South China Sea; Let's wage wars on the Philippines and Vietnam to prevent more wars."

"The South China Sea is the best place for China to wage wars," the article said. "Of the more than 1,000 oil rigs there, none belongs to China; of the four airfields in the Spratly Islands, none belongs to China; once a war is declared, the South China Sea will be a sea of fire [with burning oil rigs]. Who will suffer the most from a war? Once a war starts there, the Western oil companies will flee the area, who will suffer the most?"
Posted by:Anonymoose

#22  The interesting part and the message itself is that this was said out loud. State-controlled media, and all that.

As for the economic impact, war in the South China Sea might chase away the multi-nationals, but it would also shut down China's exports to the United States - a savage blow to their economy at a time when they can ill afford it.
Posted by: SteveS   2011-10-04 18:54  

#21  And it would subtract a very large amount of electricity from the national grid at the same time. As well, the traditional flooding problems would be back with a vengeance since the watershed areas have been flooding and drowned for years by the dam's lakes.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2011-10-04 17:23  

#20  Besides, destroying the Three Gorges Dam is not a pinprick to the Chinese: it would obliterate several cities and all their factories, destroy dozens if not hundreds of miles of rail line, and render river traffic in the area unusable for a couple of years. And the Chinese are more dependent on river transport than we are.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2011-10-04 17:21  

#19  If it was good enough for the Nazis, it is good enough for the ChiComs. Hell, we made movies about the guys bombing dams in the Nazi areas, 'The Dam Busters' being one.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2011-10-04 17:18  

#18  Its intriguing to suggest destroying the three gorges dam but really? Destroying a dam that would in turn destroy a very populated city with minimal warning not to mention everything else between. Well I think it's unlikely in any scenerio except a war for survival (such as Taiwan might face).

Just saying, such an attack would be villified for decades around the world and could easily result in a nuclear return.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2011-10-04 15:06  

#17  From what I'm reading, it looks like Chinese labour costs, which have already gone up, are about to rise significantly as the government gets serious about workplace safety and starting a Social Security retirement scheme. Manufacturers have been setting up elsewhere rather than expanding in China anywhere, and that would accelerate the trend.
Posted by: trailing wife   2011-10-04 12:11  

#16  
In this chaos they may very well have Pakistan as an ally


Which is less useful than having France as an ally, and more dangerous. The Pakis are likely to ship weapons to China's Muslims as be worth a damned in a fight.

They would likely, however, be enough to paralyze India.
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2011-10-04 11:58  

#15  Eohippus Phater7165 Sharp as ever. I believe they will squander it. The "ameliorated" was well applied.
Posted by: Dale   2011-10-04 10:47  

#14  China has many problems.

Which can be ameliorated with the annual incoming of near $300 billion US dollars.
Posted by: Eohippus Phater7165   2011-10-04 10:31  

#13  I hope somebody in the NRO has been keeping their dam targeting list up to date with all the new dams in China.
Posted by: Water Modem   2011-10-04 10:18  

#12  Check the comments at this main source. Very interesting. I don't believe things would be as bad had we a strong leader, opportunism.
Posted by: Dale   2011-10-04 10:00  

#11  China has many problems. This may be a trial balloon but I doubt it. The quick rise of industry has been at a price. The bullet train wreck. The Dam construction of poor quality. The imports of products that harken back to the Japanese days of manufacturing poor quality products. Corruption is a plaque that is everywhere in this country. The printing of too much paper is the worst offense. They will not be concerned with loss of life. Their people are like blades of grass. They are not ready for war. They delude themselves. They must import coal for their steel, fuel, and industry. Like Japan if you threaten their supply of resources they will act. With or without Russia. The imperial China.
They will go it alone. Appease or oppose. A Maronite moment.
Posted by: Dale   2011-10-04 08:51  

#10  I don't believe Russia will be drawn into the fray.
They are allot more interested in holding their country together and building bonds with former republics. They operate in the black. The will to fight a war is not there in my opinion. I see them being an engine of growth in the near future.
Posted by: Dale   2011-10-04 08:22  

#9  Several things.

1) Blowing 3 Gorges would hurt, messing up Shanghai, but it is a bb gun against an elephant. Don't count on it to be a knock out punch.

2) According to Joseph Farah, the Pentagon has suddenly shifted gears big time, if quietly, "prepping for 'tank-on-tank' war", due to "expecting something conventional, and big, coming down the pipe relatively soon."

3) The US senate is about to pass an anti-China tariff bill that could throw a wrench into the Chinese export scheme, and the Chinese are enraged about it, because this could pull the rug out from their explosive growth, and force them into a different economic mode.

4) China is getting too belligerent, too fast, and in too many directions at once. They may be looking at war as an "out" in the face of a collapsing economy. In this chaos they may very well have Pakistan as an ally, and some sympathy from Russia as long as they don't drag Russia into the fray.

5) Everybody else, however, have finally woken up to Chinese belligerence. This means India, Japan, Taiwan, SKor, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, maybe even Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. None of the other ASEAN members are large enough to matter, however.

Oh, yes, and the United States, if there is a Republican president.

6) The US forces may be subdivided, because of Iran and Turkey cutting up rough at the same time.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2011-10-04 07:54  

#8  A relative worked on the explosives for this.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2011-10-04 06:32  

#7  

BTW A relative worked on the explosives for this.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2011-10-04 06:31  

#6  Also, looks like time for the Philippines to get some F-16s and Patriot missile batteries; and for Vietnam to get a bunch more of the latest Sukhois and some missile boats for oil field defenses.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2011-10-04 02:42  

#5  The Three Gorges dam is incredibly vulnerable to cruise missile strikes because of the poor quality of concrete used in it. It is much more brittle because of that, and would be likely to fail from impact damage, let alone explosive damage.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2011-10-04 02:41  

#4  So did the Sea of Fire guy flee across the border and get a job writing for the ChiComs?
Posted by: imoyaro   2011-10-04 01:13  

#3  And since Taiwan didn't get the F-16s they were supposed to because Bambi refused to authorize it, the ChiComs are getting a bit bolder. and The One can only bow and scrape. Michelle must have his balls in a jar on the WH mantle, cause he sure isn't using them. spineless phuck.
Posted by: USN, Ret.   2011-10-04 00:58  

#2  Kinda puts the Vietnam War into a whole new perspective.
Posted by: Mikey Hunt   2011-10-04 00:57  

#1  So .. what are the air and water defenses like around the Three Gorges? Enough to withstand whatever Vietnam, the Philippines and any allies could do?

Posted by: Water Modem   2011-10-04 00:32  

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