S.Korea Steps Up Defense Buildup as China's Military Power Grows - Polidicks

[release] The Chinese Academy of Sciences projected in 2008 that China will be able to match the U.S. in terms of military power after 2050 at the earliest, while it will take a further 20 or 30 years to finally catch up -- making it difficult for China to overtake the U.S. in this area within this century. But some experts say Beijing is being excessively humble in making such projections, as the country has made strides in recent years in boosting its naval, air, space and missile capabilities. China's first aircraft carrier, the remodeled 67,000-ton Varyag, which was purchased from Ukraine back in 1998, went on its test voyage last year. The country is also expected to launch its first homegrown aircraft carrier around 2015. The world caught a glimpse of China's naval ambitions through the so-called "island chain" strategy revealed by Navy Commander Liu Huaqing during the 1980s. China's maritime defense boundaries are formed by a primary island chain composed of Okinawa, Taiwan and the South China Sea, and a secondary island chain made up of Saipan, Guam and Indonesia. Liu said at that time, "We will establish control of the primary island chain by 2010 and the second one by 2020, while resisting U.S. domination of the Pacific and Indian oceans by 2040." Over the last two decades, China's military spending has increased 16.2 percent each year on average, and it ranked second in the world in 2010 after forking out US$91.7 billion. Experts in the U.S. and other western countries estimate that China's actual military spending is two to three times larger than official figures. But many experts believe that China will not be able to catch up with the U.S. within the next 30 to 50 years considering the technology of its weapons, size of strategic weapons and defense spending. According to a 2010 report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies of the United Kingdom, the total weight of the U.S. Navy's vessels amounted to 3.12 million tons, which was larger than the combined tonnage of the world's second- to 14th -largest navies. The total tonnage of China's naval vessels amounted to 680,000 tons. In 2008, U.S. defense spending totaled $607 billion, which accounted for 40 percent of the world's defense budget and was greater than the total military spending of the world's second to 10th military powers, including China. Military experts say China is around 30 years behind the U.S. in terms of conventional weapons technology, 20 years behind in nuclear weapons, and 10 to 15 years behind in space technology. "China imported 94 percent of its conventional weapons from Russia between 2002 and 2007," said Lee Chang-hyung, a researcher at the Korea Institute of Defense Analyses. "It will be difficult for China to narrow the gap with the U.S. in the foreseeable future." South Korea's military is working hard to deal with China's growing presence. In preparation for the deployment of China's first aircraft carrier, for example, it is developing a supersonic anti-vessel cruise missile. It is also considering producing small submarines that are difficult to detect in shallow waters like the West Sea. The nation's armed forces have been bolstering their high-tech weapons arsenals since the mid-1990s by developing Aegis destroyers and purchasing early-warning aircraft, not just to deter threats from North Korea, but rather to prepare for the rising military powers of China and Japan. "There are limitations to dealing with China's rising military power merely through defense spending," a military official said. "We need to establish a new security strategy by looking into a wide range of military partnerships with China as well as strengthening our alliance with the U.S."[/release] [URL]http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/01/02/2012010201012.html[/URL]

well ..... fuck

Who cares, as long as China doesn't become an expansionist empire I see no reason to care

[QUOTE=CakeMaster7;34009016]Who cares, as long as China doesn't become an expansionist empire I see no reason to care[/QUOTE] See, I think that's where we might run into a problem. China has obviously been expanding economically across the globe, buying up assets and picking up the bill for projects wherever it can. We should just hope that their economic strength keeps up, because if their economy falters, or missteps in any way that might put their nations future into question, who knows what they might do out of desperation. A Communist state in economic peril is a dangerous state. I'm less worried about the people and military and more worried about what the "inner circles" of the Chinese Communist Party might do to consolidate their power in the face of economic and social upheaval. What happens when no-one can afford to buy cheap Chinese products? What happens when the companies that Chinese manufacturers are doing business with find themselves in bankruptcy, and the nice tidy Socialist state that existed a day ago is now in upheaval? Just a thought.

[QUOTE=ewitwins;34009608] See, I think that's where we might run into a problem. China has obviously been expanding economically across the globe, buying up assets and picking up the bill for projects wherever it can. We should just hope that their economic strength keeps up, because if their economy falters, or missteps in any way that might put their nations future into question, who knows what they might do out of desperation.[/QUOTE] I beg you to differ People have been chanting for years about China making that last fatal "misstep", or economy faltering. China is communist at it's core, but outside? Capitalism all around, and they intend to keep it that way. You have seemingly confused China with Soviet Union because the Communist Party (which is [I]above[/I] the Chinese government itself) doesn't care about anything else but prosperity and staying in Control of the country. They can make compromises, these guys even forced a Oil company to their will. Adapting and exploiting the world's economic situation China has created a giant market that no-one can stay away from anyway. Why you people fantasize about China falling? Seriously. It's creating the balance of power in the world right now.

I just find it hilarious how it can take three decades for them to get where we are now so by the time they get where we are now we'll be already ahead We have a head start already, I don't see China overthrowing the US in military might anytime soon, though it might indeed gain much power

[QUOTE=smeismastger;34009882]I beg you to differ People have been chanting for years about China making that last fatal "misstep", or economy faltering. China is communist at it's core, but outside? Capitalism all around, and they intend to keep it that way. You have seemingly confused China with Soviet Union because the Communist Party (which is [I]above[/I] the Chinese government itself) doesn't care about anything else but prosperity and staying in Control of the country. They can make compromises, these guys even forced a Oil company to their will. Adapting and exploiting the world's economic situation China has created a giant market that no-one can stay away from anyway. Why you people fantasize about China falling? Seriously. It's creating the balance of power in the world right now.[/QUOTE] While this is absolutely true this doesn't mean that they won't fall- there are some very treacherous economic traps they've set themselves to get where they are and where they're heading- the fact that they build shit that's not needed in large quantities to keep employment up and then buy it themselves, in effect not really expanding the economy any but circulating wealth, as well as their currency devaluation that if it should ever be forced to work at market value, would ram the prices of doing business in China through the roof and lose any real incentive they have to do business with over, say, Africa. And there's also growing distaste among the Chinese people. In 2011 there were several major protests at the break of Arab Spring, and even an entire town/city rebelled from government control. I don't think they will fail or falter, but it is a realistic possibility. [editline]2nd January 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=CakeMaster7;34020078]I just find it hilarious how it can take three decades for them to get where we are now so by the time they get where we are now we'll be already ahead We have a head start already, I don't see China overthrowing the US in military might anytime soon, though it might indeed gain much power[/QUOTE] Eh, they already overtake us in some areas and can match some of our technology, and the news story didn't cover that. For instance, they don't need to match our navy, they have the most advance and far-reaching anti-ship torpedo in the world. They're about 10 years off from fully developing, with India and Russia, their own version of the F-35, and of course the J-20, their answer to our F-16 is basically operational at this point. Their electronic/'cyber' warfare technology is also unmatched, they've been in the Pentagon's systems several times now and who knows how many others. Not to mention that they more than likely had a go with that drone the Iranians brought down (not that they need to, they have similar drones they're working on) and bought what was left of our super-secret stealth helicopter that crashed during the bin Laden raid. They've also been looking towards space-based technology as well, and while we're over here twiddling our thumbs in NASA, they're launching satellites and planning manned missions to the moon, and testing ground-to-space missiles.

[QUOTE='[Seed Eater];34021416']While this is absolutely true this doesn't mean that they won't fall- there are some very treacherous economic traps they've set themselves to get where they are and where they're heading- the fact that they build shit that's not needed in large quantities to keep employment up and then buy it themselves, in effect not really expanding the economy any but circulating wealth, as well as their currency devaluation that if it should ever be forced to work at market value, would ram the prices of doing business in China through the roof and lose any real incentive they have to do business with over, say, Africa. And there's also growing distaste among the Chinese people. In 2011 there were several major protests at the break of Arab Spring, and even an entire town/city rebelled from government control. I don't think they will fail or falter, but it is a realistic possibility. [/QUOTE] I have hard time believing that, there's higher chance for, say, Greece & Portugal faltering than China. Except those two China has greater resources to pull throught should they fall such levels. I suggest you to read Richard McGregor's work on the subject, they give an excellent, and detailed insight on China and how things work.

[QUOTE=Medevilae;34023117]This is a country with a few cracks that will begin to be stressed during the shift in leader ship of the flagship Communist Party of China.[/QUOTE] You're kidding right? The main reason why the Chinese Communist Party has survived so long is because it's relatively progressive (lol) and internally democratic, and has been for a long time.

Despite the fact that china is ruled by the "communist" party, it actually almost american in terms of business. I went there last summer, free market is everywhere. You just need a little more bribery to get past the red tape. Only part that's communist about china is the fact that the flag is red and you get shot if you talk shit about the government.

[QUOTE=LF9000;34023831]Despite the fact that china is ruled by the "communist" party, it actually almost american in terms of business. I went there last summer, free market is everywhere. You just need a little more bribery to get past the red tape. Only part that's communist about china is the fact that the flag is red and you get shot if you talk shit about the government.[/QUOTE] And that's why they're so successful, the government is Communist in that it controls everything it wants to but by embracing Capitalism they've also become a very successful country

I think it's amazing (appalling) that we actually have a successful authoritarian regime in the 21st century.

On the topic of China not wanting to expand, this is true but they exploit poorer countries in Africa, which people overlook. What Africa and China? Yes, it's true, they own a lot of things there and make a lot of money off of it too. My dad travels allover the world especially for aid, over like 90 countries in the world he's been to. Thats my sawse.

[QUOTE=CakeMaster7;34024514]And that's why they're so successful, the government is Communist in that it controls everything it wants to but by embracing Capitalism they've also become a very successful country[/QUOTE] Actually, the Chinese is a Authoritarian Kleptocracy, it is not Communist in anyway other then the flag, and like all other capitalist countries, is that it is only short term successful, the only long term successful economies are planned (I.E actual communist ones).

Can't let those god damn gook commies grow into a super power. Urah semper fi god bless murica. that's what I read in the replies.

Free market? Nah. It's state capitalism with them controlling the important industries. What's scary about China, and also its huge downfall, is they keep building ghost cities (cities where nobody lives in) creating a property bubble that is bigger than the US tenfold.