On Strategic Weaknesses

I find it quite remarkably how clumsy China can be.

What does this New York Times article suggest to you? The answer is many things - including a reminder how ridiculous Thomas Friedman is when he opines with China worship.

I think it lists a number of examples how the United States has successfully dominated the strategic narrative in the Pacific over the past decade - and by leveraging caution and concern the whole of government unity approach to China has positioned the United States in a way that every time China attempts to exercise any power on a regional neighbor - it ultimately benefits the interests of the United States by contributing to the narrative we have already established as the foundation.

In many ways, the single party system of China continues to be an enormous strategic weakness ripe to be exploited in diplomatic disputes. The lack of genuine political debate services as a remarkably predictable system for those China gets in a dispute with - indeed it gives considerable leverage for escalation to China's diplomatic opponents while putting all of the burden for escalation control on the leadership in Beijing.

Think about it. In the ongoing dispute between China and Japan - it is Japan who can afford to keep pushing China - because China's reaction of stirring up nationalism is a double edged sword. Over time, only China suffers from diminishing returns of escalation with a regional neighbor.

The Rare Earth mineral trade embargo is a perfect example of how China faces diminishing returns with escalation. How exactly does China win with an embargo on rare earth minerals - where they currently enjoy a near monopoly. The House Armed Services Committee has had a hearing scheduled for October 5th on the topic of rare earth minerals.

I would like to personally thank China for taking this timely and remarkably stupid action - because by doing so you have forced our Congress to take action towards reconstitution of rare earth mining in the United States - something we very much need to do to insure we aren't dependent upon China for those minerals our nation requires for our defense programs.