China has no business being invited to American naval exercises.
Good:
The People's Republic of China's oppression of the Uighur Muslims is one of the most repugnant human rights abuses in modern history. A regime that engages in government-sponsored genocide has no place on the international stage, which is why I have introduced legislation that further strengthens conditions placed on the PRC's participation in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) naval exercise. Until the PRC meets these conditions and Beijing is held accountable for its actions, there is no justification for the nearly two dozen participating nations to allow China's inclusion in the exercise. ...
It is bizarre that the Chinese Navy was ever allowed to participate in an exercise that could showcase assets and platforms that could one day be used against it.
I thought we stopped doing that. Which was good because China loves them.
I have long opposed these kinds of military-to-military contacts:
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.
Am I missing something? Or are we just being stupid and suffering from victory disease?
