China Finds Solution for Its Problems but US Doesn’t

Chinese economy is slowing down though there have not yet been problems of unemployment or financial shortage. US economy has begun a real recovery from doldrums, but is unable to achieve an economic growth rate comparable to China’s slow growth rate now.

In addition to further economic reforms, China’s leader Xi Jinping finds two new ways for further economic growth to resolve China’s problem of economic slowdown: the Free Trade Area Asian Pacific (FTAAP) and the Silk Road economic belt and the 21st century maritime Silk Road (One Belt And One Road).

US leader, however, has found no solution for US economic problems. US President Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is quite a good initiative, but he is unable to make it a win-win partnership as he is unable to obtain Congress approval even if he is willing to make the concessions potential members aspire for.

What the US has been trying hard is but to hinder China’s FTAAP and One Belt And One Road but hitherto without success. APEC members showed their great interest in FTAPP in spite of US opposition. China has instead succeeded in its efforts to set up free trade areas with South Korea and Australia on the background of APEC summit last year.

The One Belt And One Road is the most important part of China’s initiatives of economic expansion abroad. Learning from the lessons of the failures of Western colonialism and the successes of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, China stresses win-win cooperation and harmony in such expansion by the provision of funds, equipment and technology to help the countries involved develop and prosper.

In that way, Xi finds an outlet for China’s surplus funds and industrial capacities and goods and sources of abundant energy and other natural resources from other countries. The poor countries and regions along the proposed Silk Roads will provide huge markets for Chinese goods when they have prospered with Chinese assistance while China will also open its huge market to those countries to get cheap goods from them.

That is the win-win prospects that attract them.

It has already been proved by China’s success in its establishment of a free trade area with ASEAN (FTA). The trade between China and ASEAN has shot up in the very short period since the establishment of the FTA.

Obama simply has no way to Counter Xi’s initiatives. US failure in its attempt to prevent its allies from joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) initiated by China showed how helpless the US was.

US Defense News publishes an article on China’s One Belt And One Road strategy and admits that it is entirely an economic strategy. However, it seems US experts do not worry that the strategy will enable China to surpass the US economically sooner but focus on the indirect military consequence of the strategy. It reflects US military mentality.

Like Obama, they believe that as long as the US remains the strongest militarily, the US will keep its world leadership. They forget that military strength is based on economic strength. When China has surpassed the US in economy, it is not difficult for China to surpass the US in military strength, especially when China is able to allocate more funds and invest more wisely in developing its military.

China has now achieved its strategic goal of acquiring the capabilities of wiping out US force near its coast. US experts admit that.

For example, American military expert Dave Majumdar says in his article “Nuclear Submarines: America’s New Aircraft Carriers?” on US National Interest magazine’s website, “Instead of being able to push in close to shore during the initial stages of a major war, the Navy’s multi-billion dollar floating airfields and their escorting warships might be forced to maintain station as far as a thousand nautical miles offshore to remain outside the range of enemy attack. Further compounding the problem is the fact that the current carrier air wing does not have the necessary reach or ability to penetrate into ever more capable enemy air defenses. Even the belated introduction of the Lockheed Martin F-35C Joint Strike Fighter around 2019 will not solve that problem.”

He suggested using US attack nuclear submarines to attack Chinese homeland with cruise missiles (refer to my post “US Homeland in Danger of China’s Nuke Subs’ Conventional Attack” on April 12).

Therefore, I point out in my book that it is the end of aircraft carrier era now. The US needs carriers as it wants to dominate the oceans. China, however, has no ambition to dominate the oceans. It only wants to protect its trade lifelines; therefore, I believe that China had better build less especially no nuclear aircraft carriers.

As pointed out in my book Space Era Strategy: The Way China Beats The U.S., China now has the capabilities to wipe out US aircraft carrier battle groups near its cost. What it fears is that its trade lifelines may be cut by US navy that dominates the oceans.

China’s strategy now is to develop the integrated space and air capabilities for both attack and defense to prevent its trade lifelines from being cut by US navy.

I said in my book developing aerospace bomber capable to destroy an aircraft carrier battle group in minutes will be a faster and cheaper way than developing enough aircraft carriers to counter US superiority in aircraft carriers.

Even the training of a large number of pilots for carrier-based aircrafts is difficult enough.

However, China is building its homegrown aircraft carriers due to Obama’s stupid strategy of transfer 60% of US military to Asia near Chinese coast.

If 60% of US navy is wiped out by China’s land-based missiles, aircrafts and navy, the 40% US navy left will have difficulty in cutting China’s trade lifelines when China has only built four aircraft carrier battle groups.

On the other hand, if the US maintains all instead of 40% of its aircraft carrier battle groups at high sea, China has to have at least 10 aircraft carrier battle groups to defend its trade lifelines. That will require much greater investment and it is not impossible to train such a large number of pilots in the foreseeable future.

Since US military strategists like Mr. Majardar are so fond of attacking Chinese homeland, I have to point out another scenario that they have never dreamed of: When the remnant 40% US navy is busy cutting Chinese trade lifelines at high sea, as an alternative strategy, instead of sanding Chinese navy to deal with US navy, Chinese attack submarines will conduct conventional attack at US homeland to destroy major US assets. They will be followed by the air raids by aircrafts from China’s four aircraft carriers.

As US military has been obsessed in invading other countries without making preparations for other countries’ attack at US homeland, the US will suffer bitterly from Chinese troops surprise attack.

That is the strategy to attack where the enemy is weak, a military common sense.

Those US experts may argue that China has no such strength now. However, when China has achieved the strategic goal of establishing the capabilities to defend its trade lifelines, it will strive for the next strategic goal of acquiring the capabilities of counterattack at enemy’s homeland when its enemy attacks China’s homeland.

If China has surpassed the US in economy, China will have the financial resources for developing enough navy and airborne troops for counterattack at US homeland. As China has no ambition of world dominance, it can concentrate its resourced on the development of such counterattack capabilities.

The US, however, has to concentrate its resources on maintaining world dominance so that it cannot allocate as much resources for its homeland defense as China does for counterattack at US homeland.

If China persists in its peaceful rise, such development will be the best for China as it will have the deterrence to prevent both nuclear and conventional attack at its homeland.

Source: Chan Kai Yee Space Era Strategy: The Way China Defeats The U.S.

Source: Defense News “China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ Strategy”

Full text of the Defense News article can be found at http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/2015/04/11/taiwan-china-one-belt-one-road-strategy/25353561/