This week's column

Rebranding China’s military for tomorrow’s challenges

Last week in Honolulu I spoke at a high-level conference, hosted by our Pacific Command, of special operations forces (SOF) commanders from numerous Pacific Rim countries. This gathering was notable primarily for the attendance--for the second year in a row--of senior officers from the People’s Republic of China.

Now, depending on your worldview, you might be aghast that: 1) the U.S. military even interacts with SOF personnel from China, our rising competitor in the East, or 2) that it’s taken this long for such interactions to begin with a power already as globally significant as China is today.

I fall into the second category.

Read on at KnoxNews.
Read on at Scripps Howard.

Note: The Scripps Howard version turned out really funky: unexplained excision in the first paragraph and underscores instead of dashes throughout. Still waiting to hear how that happened...

Comments

[agnosis00]

I wonder what Dr. Barnett thinks of Senator Obama's foreign policy ideas. At this stage there is alot to fill in as far as details, but some broader goals were addressed in his recent speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (see transcript http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fpccga). Here, he stated:

"And as we strengthen NATO, we should also seek to build new alliances and relationships in other regions important to our interests in the 21st century. In Asia, the emergence of an economically vibrant, more politically active China offers new opportunities for prosperity and cooperation, but also poses new challenges for the United States and our partners in the region. It is time for the United States to take a more active role here – to build on our strong bilateral relations and informal arrangements like the Six Party talks. As President, I intend to forge a more effective regional framework in Asia that will promote stability, prosperity and help us confront common transnational threats such as tracking down terrorists and responding to global health problems like avian flu.

In this way, the security alliances and relationships we build in the 21st century will serve a broader purpose than preventing the invasion of one country by another. They can help us meet challenges that the world can only confront together, like the unprecedented threat of global climate change."

Also, in the first Democratic debate he alluded to more generalized goals (see transcript http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18352397). When asked about who are the top three American allies, Mr. Obama mentioned EU (through NATO?), Japan, and here is what he said about China: "We also have to look east, because increasingly, the center of gravity in this world is shifting to Asia....But, obviously, China is rising and it's not going away.

They're neither our enemy nor our friend. They're competitors. But we have to make sure that we have enough military-to-military contact, and forge enough of a relationship with them that we can stabilize the region.

That's something I'd like to do as president. "

[c]

What are the chances that China will just hire a Blackwater, when their economic interests are threatened? Outsource the security for the big issues to the US (buy US debt, provide cheap goods) and the little local ones to the pros or locals (pay Blackwater or the Local Thug to keep the pipeline open).