US Tries to Contain an Asian Giant

http://watchingamerica.com/News/230051/us-tries-to-contain-an-asian-giant/



Today’s China, revitalized and militarized, constitutes a threat not only to Japan, but also to the positions of Western powers in the Asian Mediterranean.

US Tries to Contain an Asian Giant
El Nuevo Diario, Nicaragua
By Gustavo-Adolfo Vargas
Translated By Catriona McDermid
12 January 2014
Edited by Brent Landon

The U.S. is developing programs in multiple areas, including aviation, space, the navy, communications, intelligence and electronic combat, to try to close access routes to China through the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. During the next decade, the Pentagon has a budget of $524.5 billion to create two air-sea combat blockades aimed at controlling China.

In the strategic context of air-sea warfare, the aviation program will be the most expensive and will include long-range combat aircraft. The second most expensive will be the naval program, and it is hoped that both will be up and running by 2018.

According to the Washington Post, “Washington is concerned about Beijing’s growing power, which is why it is aiming to apply certain containment policies.”* The paper also reported that the U.S. has signed an agreement with Singapore that will allow it to set up a new military base there, home to the newest state-of-the-art American warships.

The project, which will be completed by 2023, will include two barriers that would block Chinese forces in the case of conflict between Washington and Beijing, one in the East China Sea and the other in the Pacific Ocean.