Red China is NOT a Panda

From: http://www.americaneconomicalert.org/view_art.asp?Prod_ID=2064

The report ponders the implications of the Chinese build-up: "China does not now face a direct threat from another nation. Yet, it continues to invest heavily in its military, particularly in programs designed to improve power projection. The pace and scope of China's military build-up are, already, such as to put regional military balances at risk. Current trends in China's military modernization could provide China with a force capable of prosecuting a range of military operations in Asia – well beyond Taiwan – potentially posing a credible threat to modern militaries operating in the region."

The report mentions China's growing need for foreign sources of metals and fossil fuels as a "driver of strategy," citing how these account for 60 percent of China's total imports. It is pushing Beijing into closer ties with a variety of regimes hostile to the United States, such as Iran and Venezuela. The Pentagon is not alone in noting this. In the summer issue of The National Interest journal, Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, writes, "It is China's urgent need for secure, long-term access to energy supplies and raw materials that is driving Beijing to define China's national interests much more broadly – and well beyond China's traditional spheres of influence. That dynamic is bringing U.S. and Chinese interests into conflict in unprecedented ways."

("The Military Power of the People's Republic of China.", Pentagon, 8/05)

Our Commerce folks did their damndest to edit this report in order to make PRChina into "a good trading partner," (and to continue telling themselves, the Commander-in-Chief, and the Fortune 500) that, after everybody in China gets rich through "free trade," then China will be well-behaved and only make love, not war.

Maybe. And maybe the Easter Bunny lives on your back porch.