Friday, November 10, 2017

I Say Maintain the Mystery in Our Relationship

The Chinese say they love military-to-military ties with America. That should worry America.

You don't say?

Military relations between China and the United States are a positive force in ties, and China wants to deepen mutual trust and cooperation, China’s Defense Ministry said on Thursday ahead of a visit to Beijing by U.S. President Donald Trump.

I wish we would limit those mil-to-mil ties with China because I don't think they are learning what we want to teach:

We are officially in favor of these missions because we believe that if the Chinese see how powerful we are, they won't try to fight us.

This is a crock. The Chinese know we are technically more advanced. What they think is that we are too pampered to fight them. And seeing our nice barracks and PXs with Chanel No. 5 won't convince them that we are hard warriors able to absorb high casualties. Seeing our military up close will simply give them insights into fighting us or at least cause them to believe that they have insights into fighting us[.] ...

I think seeing [USS Arizona] on the bottom of [Pearl Harbor] taught the PLA officers that if they can achieve surprise, they too can put key elements of our fleet on the bottom.

As for what they learned from the Missouri [where the surrender of Japan was signed in 1945]? Well, if those stupid Japanese had possessed nuclear weapons capable of reaching Los Angeles, we'd never have dared approach Japan let alone conquer them.

We are the ones who have miscalculated. The Chinese won't learn what we are teaching. And if it comes to war, we will find out what they learned.

And since I wrote that, China has closed the technology gap a great deal even if they have yet to match the Navy in experience and overall training.

Does China value the lesson in the futility of fighting America or does China value the insights in how to fight and defeat America's military?

I'm fine with lines of communication to avoid incidents that could escalate to war if not tamped down.

But tours of our military units close up should be off limits. Let them fear the worst.

Or is giving the Chinese the opportunity to see lapses in our training a good idea?