The dispensable warfare

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BOTH RUSSIA and China feel themselves under threat from the US and their people are clearly behind their governments on this.
The dispensable warfare

The dispensable warfare
Jonathan Power (Power’s World) / 6 April 2014

Not without reason. Nato has pushed itself up to Russia’s borders. China feels encircled by US naval deployments armed with nuclear weapons in the East China and South China seas together with the US’s wide network of defence relationships with China’s neighbours. If it came to war the US could incinerate many Chinese cities before China realised it was under attack and could launch its own modest armoury of nuclear missiles.

China may be a capitalist state now but many of its views are still hostage to old time Marxist views, which leads many to think that the West seeks to exploit the rest of the world. This leads them to conclude that as China rises the US will feel compelled to resist — ironically a conclusion which many conservative Western analysts share.

The balance of power is beginning to shift in China’s favour. It has been able to redeploy forces, once in the north aimed at Russia, to other parts of China. It is increasing its defence budget rapidly, albeit from a low base. However, it spends only two per cent of its national income on defence as against the US’s 4.7 per cent and its spending is only one fifth of America’s.

China may not be able to project much long distance naval power but it can nearer home with its growing fleet of quiet submarines and surface ships. These will stymie some of America’s power at a time of a fall in US military spending. In the jargon this means “sea denial” rather than “sea control”.