Natch, Lou Dobbs is ready to declare war, but seriously, this is a stupid and indefensible breach of protocol for an emerging great power like China. These acts make it look clueless and immature.
But no, it ain't exactly cause for WWIII. Still, Beijing needs to fix its decision-making system in its military (the real culprit, I expect) to avoid having it embarrass Beijing like that.
Comments (4)
Tom,
I think this episode actually says alot about how the US-China relationship has advanced. 10-12 years ago we would be putting the military on alert, and tensions would be rising. Today, we basically make some phone calls to management asking what's the deal. I think that's a big improvement.
Posted by Mike Anglin | November 29, 2007 5:53 AM
It looks like China has rival foreign policy teams, which goes along with what you said.
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November 29, 2007 7:35 AM
Lou Dobbs is overreacting then, although it is something not to be dismissed. Makes you wonder what the heck Gates thinks he accomplished his visit a few weeks ago.
The whole story will come out soon, now that Vietnam has filed thier protest over the exercise and reporters are starting to ask the right questions about travel routes and other things happening.
The weather was a factor.
Posted by Galrahn | November 29, 2007 9:28 AM
The rival foreign policy teams in China go back at least as far as Nixon era. My favorite was the early 1990s 'leak' of a Chinese military document on how many opponents of U.S. around the world were adopting asymmetric warfare strategies and techniques to offset our military power, and speculated on how China should react. I think that was a key factor in getting Pentagon and Presidents thinking about the 'New Rules.' So who was our leaky friend?
Posted by Louis Heberlein | November 29, 2007 2:07 PM