21 April 2006
Military Competition with China
Reporting in the April 20, 2006 Wall Street Journal on Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the U.S., Neil King Jr. highlighted the military rivalry between the two powers. Do we really want to lure China into a U.S.-Soviet style arms race that ends up crippling one of us? Can’t a proxy competition in another field -- IT, for example, arts, entertainment, or finance -- replace it to the benefit of both sides?
China’s Ambassador in Washington, Zhou Wenzhong, has it right. China has emerged as America’s next menace because the U.S. defense industry “needs more orders.”
The ultimate goal of an arms race is the destruction of the other competitor, and “splendid isolation” from its culture. Won’t collaboration by those competitors result in a better outcome for them both?
Reporting in the April 20, 2006 Wall Street Journal on Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the U.S., Neil King Jr. highlighted the military rivalry between the two powers. Do we really want to lure China into a U.S.-Soviet style arms race that ends up crippling one of us? Can’t a proxy competition in another field -- IT, for example, arts, entertainment, or finance -- replace it to the benefit of both sides?
China’s Ambassador in Washington, Zhou Wenzhong, has it right. China has emerged as America’s next menace because the U.S. defense industry “needs more orders.”
The ultimate goal of an arms race is the destruction of the other competitor, and “splendid isolation” from its culture. Won’t collaboration by those competitors result in a better outcome for them both?
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