How China's Military Views the United States

Why China's Military Sees America As The True Enemy

An interesting read of internal Chinese policy papers over the last 15 years. China's military calls the U.S. the "Strong Enemy". They view the U.S. as pursuing hegemony in the world, and they need to stop us. In reality, the U.S. prevents China from achieving many of its goals, like taking over Taiwan, claiming the South China Sea, etc. Many in the military favor a pre-emptive strike against the U.S.

 

We are enforcing international standards, not our own self-serving "standards". We do it because we're the only nation that can. I'm sure the U.S. would be happy to have the European Union and maybe Japan and South Korea share in this responsibility. And it benefits all nations to have access to international waters. We don't clear the area around another country so we can bring in our own fishing vessels, like China did with the Philippines. We don't make claims to international waters and islands in international waters in case we decide we need to explore for oil. We don't build islands and then convert them to military bases to help with illegal claims over international waters. Look at all the disputes that China has with its neighbors. Without U.S. involvement, the entire Pacific would be utter chaos, with wars breaking out on a regular basis. Hegemony is using one's leadership position to take advantage of other nations. While we benefit from free trade, I doubt we otherwise break even with all the money we spend on world security. If we didn't provide security for Pacific Rim countries (and the oceans), China would provide it by default, and then we would see what hegemony really is.

India is a perfect example. China is very bold with its move on the border with India, because the U.S. military is unlikely to get involved in a dispute over 24 sq. mi. at the edge of the Himalayas between two nuclear powers.

I just don't think that China is very appreciative of its largest customer (and its largest supplier of five-fingered technology).

 

I think there are two problems with China: an illegitimate communist government, and a mentality of a once proud country humiliated by its inability to defend itself in WWII, and largely unable to move past that humiliation. They seem to be desperately seeking military victories, as its the one thing that they don't have in abundance. Celebrating some kind of big victory in (preferably) recent history is a part of many nations' cultural heritage, whether that victory involves pushing out a colonial overlord, or playing a major part in the victory of a world war or regional conflict. China has had few significant military victories since the communists took over. Now that they are a world economic power, this bothers them, and they are looking for a fight that they can win. Unfortunately, their ego grows with their ambitions, and they start to think they could defeat an opponent like the United States.

Another aspect is the need of an un-elected government to divert the attention of the citizenry when the economy goes bad. A foreign enemy accomplishes this better than most domestic programs could ever hope to. Iran does this all the time with their "Death to America" speeches. China has to be more subtle, as they are less isolated than Iran.

 

China's dispute with India may push India to become closer to the U.S., as well as Australia and Japan. There is a coalition of countries looking to contain China, especially since China claimed large parts of the South China Sea.

China border dispute may push India closer to some of Beijing's top rivals - CNN

 

Another interesting article on where the Chinese military gets its confidence and strategy doctrine from. They had some border battles with Vietnam in the late-1970's and early 1980's. They initially failed to defeat Vietnam in the 70's, using Korean War tactics, but then brought in some new leadership and tactics and had more success in the 1980's. I don't know why this success would convince them that taking on the U.S. might be a good idea, especially after all the U.S. military technology advances in the last 40 years.

The War That Made China's Army What It Is Today

 

Some good information on China's Three Magic Weapons, according to Xi Jinping. Jinping considers the Three Weapons to be: the Communist Party, the United Front, and armed struggle. Most people know what the Communist Party is and what armed struggle is, but may not know about the United Front. The United Front is an arm of the Chinese government that sponsors Chinese cultural and education groups around the world. These are the same Chinese that are being caught stealing U.S. military and technological secrets, and recruiting others to spy on their host countries. It turns out they do more than spying. When the coronavirus was first identified, and the Chinese knew how dangerous it was (but did not tell anyone), the United Front in Canada was very busy buying up all the masks and other medical supplies and sending them back to China. It was probably doing the same in every free country that had medical supplies on the open market.

China's growing belligerence

Some interesting news: European countries expect China to surpass the U.S. (economically, technically, and militarily) within a generation or two.

Trump's stupidity is also considered an advantage to China, who fully support his re-election. His shallow, dimwitted tweets reveal his simple-minded thinking to China, making it much easier to negotiate with the U.S.

 

I don't see how you can compare how we treat other countries in the South China Sea (providing them with safe and secure passage to send goods all over the world, and allowing them to fish in their own waters) to the way China treats other countries (ramming their fishing vessels, keeping them out of international waters, building reef islands into military bases, violating other countries' air space, etc.). The U.S. has not been perfect, but it has been far better than China.

 

I'd like to think the last 30-50 years are more relevant. They tell you a lot more about where a country is going, rather than where it's been. China is a very different country than it was before 1911, and the U.S. is very different than what it was in the 1800's. I am not looking to demonize China. I just think it is important to recognize that western civilization is not compatible with the Chinese way of doing things. The Chinese people are generally good people, but their leaders are like Trump: willing to lie, cheat and steal to win. We don't have these problems with European countries, or Japan or South Korea or Singapore. We would be perfectly happy to allow China to compete economically with the rest of the world, and probably even look the other way with a lot of their technology theft. When they start claiming land and ocean that they have no right to, we have to find a way to stop it. When they start stealing our military secrets, we have to stop it.