Chinese militarism | The Foreigner in Formosa

The Wolf and the Lamb(s)

Ran across some commenters at Michael Turton's site asking for the original link to a piece by a Chinese Communist Party militarist. (Fella by the handle of Long Tao demands that the People's "Liberation" Army Navy initiate a bloody war-for-oil against Vietnam and the Philippines in the South China Sea.)

Anyways, here's the original:

Time to teach those around the South China Sea a lesson

Which reminds one of the Aesop's fable:

A Wolf, meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, decided not to attack the lamb, but to find some reason to justify to the Lamb why the Wolf had the right to eat him. So the Wolf said:

“Sir Lamb, last year you greatly insulted me.”

“But,” bleated the Lamb mournfully, “I was not born last year!”

Then the Wolf said, “You feed in my pasture.”

“No, good sir,” replied the Lamb, “I have not yet tasted grass.”

Again the Wolf said, “You drink water from my well.”

“No,” exclaimed the Lamb, “I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother’s milk is both food and drink to me.”

Upon which the Wolf seized the Lamb and ate him up, saying, “Well! I won’t remain supper-less, even though you refute every one of my accusations.”

Moral: The tyrant will always find an excuse for his tyranny.

Panda holding two guns

(Wolf-in-Panda's-clothing image from Nelson Minar)

UPDATE: Here's a blast from the not-so-distant past. Taiwan's Chinese Communist-funded newspaper, the China Post, argues that Vietnam is solely to blame for tensions in the South China Sea.

Yeah, you heard me: Vietnam. Not China. (Please don't ask the paper to speak ill of Communist governments that lavish it with heaps of advertorial money…)

It's true that Vietnam is trying to manufacture a war scare over the Spratly Islands, a large archipelago that rides atop very rich oil reserves in the South China Sea.

The way the paper makes common cause with their ultra-nationalist brethren across the Taiwan Strait should raise a few eyebrows, too:

We are positive that no armed conflict will occur over the Spratlys. Despite the hollow saber-rattling, Vietnam and the Philippines have no stomach for a war against Taiwan and China. [emphasis added]

Taiwan AND China. Interesting proposal for a military alliance there.

Yet another reason why Taiwan will never be offered F-16C/D fighters…

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Give Chinese Ultranationalists An Inch, And They’ll Take An Isle

Japan prevents Taiwanese fishing boat under R.O.C. coast guard protection from laying claim to Japan's Senkaku Islands.

There's Taiwan's revanchist president, Ma Ying-jeou, still trying to stir the pot. Not for him, the blessings of peace. Or a once-a-year attempt to join the U.N.

Instead, a once-a-year provocation of Japan (almost like clockwork) over a few specks in the ocean is more his style.

Funny though, how we never hear of Taiwanese fishing boats trying to lay claim to islands owned by the P.R.C. No, just Japan. That, despite the Chinese Nationalist Party's insistence that ALL of China belongs to the R.O.C…

Why is that, I wonder?

More Senkaku Fallout

1) China finds the excuse it needed to avoid signing a gas field treaty with Japan.

2) What's your's is mine: Beijing orders a Japanese coast guard ship to stop surveying — in Japan's own Exclusive Economic Zone.

3) War & rumors of war: Chinese dispatch quasi-military ship to the Senkaku islands. At the same time a Hong Kong group will charter a Taiwanese fishing vessel to also make a trip to the Japanese-owned islands. Convenient timing.

[That last story also mentions that Captain Ramboat's grandmother passed away in China during his incarceration for violating Japanese waters. Which is sure to calm the passions of Chinese jingoists.]

4) Taiwanese KMT legislator fans the flames: "“Without government support on both sides of the Strait, efforts by civilian associations of [Taiwan, China and Hong Kong] alone will not be enough and will be to no avail [for Taiwan to help seize the Senkaku Islands from Japan]."

Er, just what are the odds that that "civilian association" [Hong Kong's "Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands"] is actually a Chinese Communist Party front group? Leading everybody down the garden path to war?

Chinese Militarist Troublemakers Provoke Japan

Apparently, Taiwan's Chinese ultranationalist "Supreme Leader" isn't the only one who believes that Japan's Senkaku islands belong to China:

A tense maritime incident Tuesday in which two Japanese patrol vessels and a Chinese fishing boat collided near a disputed island chain triggered a diplomatic spat between the Asian giants.

[…]

The Chinese boat's bow then hit the Yonakuni's stern and also collided with another Japanese patrol boat, the Mizuki, some 40 minutes later, Kyodo reported citing the coast guard.

All the more reason for America to participate in joint exercises with ally Japan to exert sovereignty over the islands. Because contrary to the assertions made by Taiwan's China Post, Peking's Pekinese Ma Ying-jeou in Taipei simply cannot be counted on if Beijing makes a land-grab.

Fish Quietly And Send A Big Gunboat

Chinese militarists direct a fleet of 10 fishing trawlers to intentionally violate Indonesia's Exclusive Economic Zone, then train gunboat weapons on the Indonesian Coast Guard ship that attempts to detain one of them.

The Klingons don't take prisoners, Mr. Saavik.

Chinese dictator Hu Jintao holding a dead cartoon fish. Caption: Your Natural Resources Are All Belong To Us.

UPDATE: Related analysis by Gordon Chang here.

UPDATE #2: Heh. Daniel Drezner describes events such as these as part of China's shrewd "Pissing Off As Many Countries As Possible" grand strategy.

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‘Coz Every Girl’s Crazy ‘Bout A Sharp-Dressed Man

From the fashion houses of Beijing, the hottest designers bring you the very latest styles. And no self-respecting Chinese stormtrooper would be caught dead without these chic ensembles.

Head straight, eyes forward, maggots!

People's Liberation Army soldier standing at attention, head not drooping down because of needles in his collar.

Close-up of People's Liberation Army soldier with needles in his collar.

PLA soldiers in formation, each with needles in their collars.

Chairman Hu TOLD you not to slouch…

People's Liberation Soldiers kept ramrod straight by crosses held behind their backs.

"They immediately put irons on his legs and took him to a regiment. He was taught how to make right and left turns, raise and lower the ramrod, take aim, fire, and march double time, and he was beaten thirty times with a stick. The next day he performed his drills a little less badly and was given only twenty strokes; the following day he was given only ten, and his fellow soldiers regarded him as a prodigy."

–Voltaire, Candide

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