Commando

Even if China puts forward there largest level of conscription and amasses an army of 100-200 million men. The mighty Air force and navy of the USA and there well trained troops would still kick there ****. The USA is no force to be reckoned with at the moment. And i feel that Taiwan can defend itself against a Chinese attack. Taiwan=very impressive air force and well trained troops.

Officer of Engineers

My apologies, People,

#1 Daughter had a fever over the weekend and it didn't break for 72 hours (hospital visit and all, being a parent with worries ain't exactly fun).

Something just occurred to me. The Chinese will have an ecological problem akin to a nuke strike in the coming 20-30 years. The 3 Gorges Project is going to litterally redraw the face of China with impacts that would be unforeseen for decades, even centuries to come.

At the very least, this is going to affect 100 million people directly and all of China indirectly. A war is not in their interest, even a successful one, now or in the future.

__________________
Chimo

MIKEMUN

Quote:

Originally Posted by Officer of Engineers My apologies, People, #1 Daughter had a fever over the weekend and it didn't break for 72 hours (hospital visit and all, being a parent with worries ain't exactly fun). Something just occurred to me. The Chinese will have an ecological problem akin to a nuke strike in the coming 20-30 years. The 3 Gorges Project is going to litterally redraw the face of China with impacts that would be unforeseen for decades, even centuries to come. At the very least, this is going to affect 100 million people directly and all of China indirectly. A war is not in their interest, even a successful one, now or in the future.

Sorry about your daughter,Colonel. I hope she is recovering. On a different note, how do I get to your site?? I promise I'll behave.

__________________
"They want to test our feelings.They want to know whether Muslims are extremists or not. Death to them and their newspapers."

Protester

Officer of Engineers

She's fine right now though her daddy is a wreck. It's http://forum.china-defense.com but you will have to register to read it. Lack of bandwidth issue which means that we had to restrict access to those serious about the subject and takes the time to register (and we're still cracking 40 gigs a month).

Julie

I would like to visit the site as well...probably not to post...but am very interesting in the read. Do you mind if I register as well?

Hope your daughter has a speedy recovery....alcohol swabbing all over the body does wonders for fever.

Officer of Engineers

Please do. The site is currently the largest deposit of English (and now some limited Chinese) articles and images (some faked but kept for historic assessement reasonning) on China in the world at the moment.

The one thing I do ask people to keep in mind is that we could be wrong. The War Zone Campaign thread is filled with mistakes but we keep them in there since it is necessary to know why we were wrong.

Also, we're not above keeping contravertial postings (albeit they have to be pilote about it). One of my biggest beef is against a retired USN Captain (full Colonel equivelent) ElCid. He may be an expert submariner but when it comes to land warfare, I was rolling my eyes.

Oh, btw, the site is 30 gigs big and is not well organized for so much data (we're trying to figure out a way to better organize it), so don't be overwhelmed.

#1 Daughter came out of this much better than daddy. Alcohol wipes? I need a damn scotch.

Julie

LOL...I can really relate to what you are saying. My husband never over-reacted when was son took ill (he's now 18), but when my daughter came along....my husband goes into what I call "panic mode," when she takes ill. The first encounter was when she was 2 and developed strep(?) throat, with a high fever that came upon her in a matter of minutes. One minute my husband was in the living room with my daughter, and the next minute, he was taking her outside and putting her in the car, him only in shorts, no shirt nor shoes. I ran outside to ask what was going on, and he said, get in, she has a fever, and I'm taking her to the emergency room. To this day, my husband still reacts in the same "panic mode" when she takes ill...and I find myself consoling him moreso than my daughter.

In these situations over the years, my husband has read and tried every home remedy available, from fevers, sprains, and cuts, as supplements and re-inforcements, if you will, to medications. Have you ever heard of tearing a brown paper bag into strips, soaking them in vinegar, putting them on a sprain, then wrapping an ace-bandage on top? Yes, that was even done by my husband, when my daughter fell skating and sprained her wrist.

Needless to say, it are times like those, that make me want to give my husband a shot of scotch, when Dr. Daddy is succumbed by his feelings of helplessness, when his #1 daughter takes ill. It is really a site to see sometimes.

The pediatrician says it is normal for daddys to respond in such a way, to their daughters. Because I asked him.

Ray

Colonel,

Glad to know that your daughter is getting better.

I could finally log in today at CDF by using the link you posted. I had given trying to log in because there were always some error coming.

Confed999

As allways Sir, best wishes to you and your family...

__________________
No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry

bonehead

Officer of engineers.

I know just how you feel. My three kids have been playing "three card monty" with strep throat for the last few weeks.

Officer of Engineers

Parents are rushing in from Ottawa and Toronto as I type, making sure that we did a good job taking care of their precious granddaughter.

Officer of Engineers

I don't know about encirclement but the neighbourhood BBQ certainly ain't going to extend an invite




Bush Welcomes EU Decision on China

Tue Mar 22, 3:18 PM ET World - AP Asia


By BARRY SCHWEID, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Renewing a U.S. demand that allies maintain an arms embargo on China, the Bush administration on Tuesday said it would welcome a European decision to reconsider the controversial issue.




Responding to reports attributed to European diplomats that a decision to authorize weapons sales was being reconsidered, State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said, "Certainly, if they were true, that would be good, that would be welcome."


He went on to say "we do not think the time is right for lifting the arms embargo on China. It would not send the right signal" and was not justified.


But Ereli said it was not aware of any direct confirmation from Europeans of the reports the embargo would be kept in place.


The allies are under pressure from the United States and also reacting to the toughened Chinese stance on Taiwan.


A European diplomat said Monday that at a minimum such weapons as night-vision goggles and submarine technology would not be sold.


Europeans have discussed a "code of conduct" designed to keep dangerous weapons out of China's hands.


The Bush administration maintains that the weapons could be turned against Taiwan as China attempts to assert its sovereignty over the island.


There also is strong opposition in Congress to arms sales to China.


President Bush (news - web sites) has sought to repair frayed relations with the Europeans in some areas, as differences over going to war with Iraq (news - web sites) recede, but remains determined to persuade the allies not to lift an embargo imposed after the bloody crackdown on Chinese dissenters at Tiananmen Square in 1989.


Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) told the allies Sunday that they "should do nothing" that alters the military balance of power in Asia through the sale of sophisticated weapons.


At the same time, she is struggling to enlist China in a more vigorous effort to lure North Korea (news - web sites) to resume nuclear disarmament talks.


The Europeans had countered with an offer to put certain weapons out of China's reach, but even so, the European diplomat told reporters over lunch the allies had taken no final decision to proceed with arms sales.


Speaking on condition that he not be not be identified by name or country, the diplomat said Europeans had a right to sell China non-lethal weapons and so-called dual-use equipment capable of civilian and military uses.


Clarification of the latest European position is expected soon from the European Council in Brussels.


China's assertion that it would use military force if Taiwan formally declares independence has made it more difficult for the European Union (news - web sites) to lift an arms embargo on the mainland, Britain's foreign secretary said Sunday.


France and Germany have taken the lead toward lifting the embargo, because they want to let their weapons companies tap the Chinese market.





China passed a law this month codifying its intention to use military force against Taiwan should the island declare formal independence.

"Politically there are problems and these problems have actually got more difficult rather than less difficult, not least because there hasn't been much movement by China in respect of human rights," Jack Straw told Britain's ITV network.

"And for their own reasons they decided to pass this new law authorizing the use of force in the event of Taiwan seceding," he said. "So it's created quite a difficult political environment."

Lifting the embargo would allow sale of technology and weapons that China badly wants to modernize its creaky military.














http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aj5iOePyceJ4


China Criticizes EU for Reconsidering Plan to Lift Arms Embargo

March 23 (Bloomberg) -- China criticized the European Union for reconsidering a plan to lift a 15-year-old arms embargo because China passed a law that would authorize war against Taiwan should the island declare independence.

``China's position is clear. The EU embargo is political discrimination,'' Liu Jianchao, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said in a statement posted today on the ministry's Web site. ``We hope the EU would stop this discrimination for the sake of honoring the 34th anniversary of EU-China ties.''

China's law passed last week is one of the elements that makes the process of lifting the arms embargo ``more complex,'' Cristina Gallach, a spokeswoman for Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, said yesterday. The time isn't right for opening the arms trade with China, Elmar Brok, chairman of the EU parliament's foreign affairs committee, said yesterday.

U.S. President George W. Bush, on the first visit by a U.S. leader to EU headquarters last month, lobbied the 25-nation bloc to keep the ban on weapons sales to China in place because of ``deep concern'' over an arms race on the Pacific rim. The EU imposed the arms embargo after China's crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

The U.S. House of Representatives, by a vote of 411-3 on Feb. 2, appealed to the EU to maintain the arms-sales curbs. Lawmakers from both parties argued that such sales could mean U.S. military forces might face European-made weaponry if called upon to defend Taiwan against an attack from the mainland.

No Timetable

A French-led campaign to lift the embargo, imposed after the violent Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, ``remains the objective, but we cannot give a timetable,' Gallach said before a meeting of EU leaders yesterday in Brussels.

``There should be no withdrawal of the embargo because of the human rights situation in China and especially after the anti- secession law in relationship to Taiwan,'' Brok, a German Christian Democrat, said yesterday in Brussels. ``This is not the moment to open up the arms trade with China.''

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said last week the new law ``is not a war bill'' and isn't aimed at the Taiwanese people.

``The anti-secession law is meant to promote Cross-Strait relations and peaceful unification,'' Liu of the Foreign Ministry said in today's statement. ``It is not a war mobilization act. We hope all relevant parties would understand this and would support the peaceful reunification of China.''

China and Taiwan have been separately ruled since the 1949 civil war that saw the rise of the Communist Party on the mainland.

Rice Visit

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who visited China earlier this week, urged the EU to maintain its arms embargo against China, citing concern about a military buildup in the world's most populous nation.

The Chinese government said earlier this month it will boost military spending this year by 13 percent to $30 billion.

``Introducing a factor like lifting the embargo is not conducive to peace in the region,'' Rice said in Tokyo over the weekend during a weeklong trip to Asia. ``It might serve to alter the balance in an area where the U.S. has security interests.''

A European Union committee is working on replacing the embargo with a ``code of conduct'' governing technology transfers designed to reassure the U.S. that sensitive military equipment won't fall into Chinese hands. A draft of that code will be ready in April or May, Gallach said.

----With reporting by Emma Vandore, Rainer Buergin and James G. Neuger in Brussels. Editors: Ahlstrand, Tighe

Anon

It amazes me that we even have to convince the Euros that it's dumb to sell weapons to the chinese at all.

Officer of Engineers

It amazes me that the Chinese keep shooting themselves in the foot. That idiotic law about invading TW certainly ain't going to help the EU ban any.

troung

Kind of funny who we let China uncircle itself in the first place...