China's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, throwing diplomatic language to the wind, has told the United States in no uncertain terms to "shut up and keep quiet" on the subject of Beijing's growing military spending.
Shut up? How nice. He should be thankful he doesn't have to face a United States Senate confirmation hearing. The Neanderthal wouldn't even get a committee vote.
And on another topic strangely linked to China's military preparations, the good ambassador opined:
Interviewed for a BBC radio programme on the topic Thursday, Sha Zukang also said China would "do the business" and sacrifice its own people's lives if any nation supported a declaration of independence by Taiwan.
Funny how that subject came up, too, in a discussion of Chinese military power.
China is building up its military for a reason and that reason is to get every square inch of territory now controlled by the Republic of China on Taiwan back within the loving embrace of the People's Republic of China. So don't fool yourself into believing that the thought of losing sales to WalMart will stop Peking from attacking Taiwan if they think they can win. The Chinese keep telling us they will pay whatever price they have to bear to absorb Taiwan and yet we keep thinking up reasons why they really don't mean it.
And this is what their top diplomat is saying in public. Imagine what the communists say in private to each other.
So yes, we can shut up about the whole thing. So long as our soft speech is accompanied by wielding a big stick. You know, just in case China actually believes what it constantly tells us.
