- Joined
- Feb 17, 2007
If we go to war with these people, which is looking more and more likely, I would prefer to have an ambassador who knows which side she's on.
U.S.-China relations
- Thread starter PolymerBob
- Start date
If we go to war with these people, which is looking more and more likely, I would prefer to have an ambassador who knows which side she's on.
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2007
I read The Times, NYT, Le Monde and FAZ every day - and I never got the impression that there is the possibility of a war against China. Nobody would ever be that stupid and start a war against China - it would be impossible to win. That's not some oily sandy little country, it's China! The CIA World Factbook lists in the category "manpower fit for military service" the following "males age 16-49: 313,321,639 - females age 16-49: 295,951,438 (2008 est.)". The word "outnumbered" would be an understatement.
I think Kwan would make a fine ambassador, I certainly admire her diplomatic abilities, her way of being a celebrity without even slipping once - there is also a certain credibility about her, that makes me believe that she believes what she is saying.
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2007
The most common scenario of a war with China I've ever heard discussed is a Chinese attempt to liberate the Taiwanese, 100 miles away. In that case, none of our ground troops are required. Once their troop ships are sunk, their 600,000,000 soldiers can take back-stroke lessons from Michael Phelps.
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
Let's take this discussion over hre to the Politics folder, if anyone wants to comment further.
Actually, with respect to standing firm on disputes that we might have with China, we are kind of in a dilemma of our own making. We can’t criticize too loudly for the simple reason that China owns a pretty good percentage of the U.S. government.
China is the U.S. government’s second largest (after Japan) foreign creditor. China owns about $350,000,000,000 worth of the United States’ national debt. This ties our hands when we want to growl big and bad at the Chinese, for whatever reason. (The overall U.S. national debt is growing at the rate of almost $3 billion per day. Thanks, George.)
Actually, with respect to standing firm on disputes that we might have with China, we are kind of in a dilemma of our own making. We can’t criticize too loudly for the simple reason that China owns a pretty good percentage of the U.S. government.
China is the U.S. government’s second largest (after Japan) foreign creditor. China owns about $350,000,000,000 worth of the United States’ national debt. This ties our hands when we want to growl big and bad at the Chinese, for whatever reason. (The overall U.S. national debt is growing at the rate of almost $3 billion per day. Thanks, George.)
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- Joined
- Feb 7, 2006
I think that if we subtract from that figure the money Americans pay for Chinese-made products that have been found to be toxic due to lead paint, etc., it probably would reduce the national debt to China to about $2.00
