China

Several times recently, I've seen stories in the news that suggest in various ways that China is a growing threat, and one that we are not taking seriously. I keep meaning to comment on it, and keep not getting to it, only to be reminded some weeks later by yet another story.

The latest example:

As reported by national security reporter Bill Gertz of The Washington Times, a report prepared for the new director concludes that U.S. agencies have missed more than a dozen Chinese military developments that pose serious challenges to the U.S. and its presence in the Western Pacific.

We seem to have missed China's development of a long-range cruise missile, the deployment of a new warship equipped with a stolen Chinese copy of our Aegis naval battle management technology, development of precision-guided munitions such as we used to great effect in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and a new attack submarine dubbed the Yuan class that was unknown to U.S. authorities until photos appeared on the Internet.

The premise behind a strategy of economic engagement with a rival power is that you draw your potential adversary into an economic relationship where the benefits of trade are greater to them than the potential benefits of war. That was, I believe, how we got started with China. Over the years, however, it appears we have stupidly allowed the Chinese to turn the tables, and work the strategy on us in reverse. We've shipped most of our hard manufacturing capability either to China itself or to other places like Taiwan that lie in China's immediate sphere of influence. This leaves China in a position to use military force to pursue their aims in anticipation that we are less likely to respond in kind. If China goes to war with us, they will have access to all of the factories we helped build to supply their war effort, while we would have few left to supply ours. If they attack Taiwan, for example, we will be in a poor position to meet our obligation to help defend them.

Not good, I say.