Ghost of a flea: Strategy

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August 14, 2009

Strategy

Most Americans have yet to notice, still less the European "powers", still less minor dependencies such as Canada. To a large part of the world, history has moved on and the contest lies elsewhere.

Indian academics are up in arms over what they regard as provocative incitement of the country’s demise by a Chinese essayist.

“China can dismember the so-called ‘Indian Union’ with one little move!” claimed the essay posted last week on China International Strategy Net, a patriotic website focused on strategic issues. The writer, under the pseudonym Zhanlue (strategy in Chinese), argued that India’s sense of national unity was weak and Beijing’s best option to remove an emerging rival and security threat would be to support separatist forces, like those in Assam, to bring about a collapse of the Indian federal state.

“There cannot be two suns in the sky,” wrote Zhanlue. “China and India cannot really deal with each other harmoniously.” The article suggested that India should be divided into 20 to 30 sovereign states.

This via Danwei who reports the email has been floating around since at least 2005. So much for the West. What is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy and consequently we must support a strong, democratic India.

Related: StrategyPage argues mainland China has given up on its North Korean client.

August 13, 2009: China has changed its policy and agreed to enforce UN sanctions on North Korea. Fed up with the infighting among senior officials in North Korea, and continued inability to do anything about their mismanaged economy (and inability to feed its citizens), the Chinese are now stopping illegal goods (like materials for building missiles and nuclear weapons) from entering via China.

Yet more related: The Peoples Liberation Army Air Force is practicing with its Su-30s amd a ski ramp, presumably in preparation for carrier operations. This is the first I have heard of the Varyag rechristening.

Earlier this year, the Russian aircraft carrier Varyag was renamed the Shi Lang (after the Chinese general who took possession of Taiwan in 1681, the first time China ever paid any attention to the island) and given the pennant number 83. The Chinese have been refurbishing the Varyag, one of the Kuznetsov class that Russia began building in the 1980s, for several years now. It is expected to be ready for sea trials by the end of the year.

This is what we call a clue.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at August 14, 2009 03:22 AM

Comments

I'm rooting for India.

Posted by: cm at August 15, 2009 09:06 AM