Commentary: China Signals War

At least some people aren't asleep at the helm.

China really wants Taiwan "back"(it never really had it in the first place, but that's a different discussion) and they appear to be willing to uncork the nuclear Genie. This is not news to folks here, but it is to just about everyone else.

-Mal
http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-11-2/33984.html

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Will the world learn from history?

By Michael Scroccaro Special to The Epoch Times

Nov 02, 2005

http://english.epochtimes.com/news_i...1-55747403.jpg
Chinese soldiers during a military drill on September 23, 2005 in Chongqing Municipality, China. (China Photos/Getty Images)

High-resolution image http://english.epochtimes.com/images/highresimage.png (594 x 384 px, 300 dpi)

“In the 1930s, Hitler told us what he was going to do and we ignored it for years and years and years. In the 1990s, the terrorists told us what they were going to do and we ignored it.” – Rudolph Giuliani, January 27, 2002
If those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, then the West may be doomed yet again to face another brutal and well-armed tyranny that is strategically aligned with Russia, persecutes its own people, and threatens its neighbors under the guise of “reunification.”
In communist China, people by the thousands are persecuted and jailed for their religious beliefs, their ethnicity, their words, and their deeds. In recent years, China has twice declared the United States its “main enemy.” In 1994, a top Chinese general said: “Facing blatant interference from the American hegemonists in our internal affairs… and subverting our socialist system, we must reinforce our armed forces more intensively.” And, in 1998, a Chinese Defense White Paper boldly stated that China should “lead the world into the twenty-first century.”
In the 1930s and ’40s, Americans learned about the world through movie house newsreels. It is understandable that the Nazi regime’s true nature could remain a mystery until it was too late and the world found itself at war. Today, anybody can find out what is happening inside of communist China with a handful of keystrokes on a home computer, and every journalist and network news agency has instant access to world events within seconds.
So, why is the West ignoring the signs and lessons of history yet again? Could it be that the news out of China is not clear or compelling enough to grasp our attention?
On July 14, 2005, a top Chinese general threatened nuclear war against the United States, noting that China would destroy “hundreds of cities” in America if the U.S. honors its commitment to defend Taiwan against a Chinese attack:
“… we will have to respond [to the U.S. defense of Taiwan] with nuclear weapons.” “… the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds of [their] cities will be destroyed by the Chinese.”
That was not the first time China threatened the U.S. with nuclear war, nor the second. It was the third.
On July 4, 2005, China and Russia unveiled their joint plan for a “New World Order,” detailing their intention to re-shape everything from the world’s economy to the rule of law to individual countries’ military structures. This new agreement represents the most significant Sino-Russian alliance since before the days of Khrushchev and Mao Zedong.
In August of 2005, China and Russia held their first-ever joint military exercises, signaling a profound strengthening of their military relationship. China used diplomatic doublespeak to explain the exercises, saying their purpose was to train China’s military to counter “terrorism.” China failed to clarify whether its anti-submarine warship or its amphibious landing exercises were designed to deal with the naval forces of Islamic Jihad, Al Qa’ida, or any other land-locked terrorist group.
Earlier this year, a Pentagon report estimated that China’s military spending is actually triple its declared US$30 billion, prompting U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to ask aloud, “Since no nation threatens China, one must wonder: Why this growing investment? Why these continuing large and expanding arms purchases?”
The answer to Mr. Rumsfeld’s wry question can be found in China’s clear language and unmistakable actions over the past number of years. China has:

• Twice declared America its main enemy
• Cited America’s implied threat to Chinese socialism as the rationale for “intensively” reinforced armament
• Stated that China should “lead the world”
• Threatened nuclear war against the United States three times
• Joined Russia in declaring a “New World Order”
• Held its first-ever joint military exercises with Russia, and
• Covertly ratcheted up its defense spending, without having a single natural enemy in the world

Did the West have this clear a warning from the Third Reich before 50 million people died in World War II?
In 1946, Winston Churchill said, “There was never a war [WWII] in all history easier to prevent by timely action… but no one would listen… we surely must not let that happen again.”
If the West fails to heed Churchill’s warning yet again, history may not just repeat itself, it may very well outdo itself.

Ohmygosh... those Chicom soldiers are mostly women! The AA guns in the background tell me these soldiers are part of a battlefield air defense unit.