Is China Becoming a Fascist State?

Bill Gertz has been writing on China for years. Today he gives an ominous view of that country's military intentions.

Chinese dragon awakens

China is building its military forces faster than U.S. intelligence and military analysts expected, prompting fears that Beijing will attack Taiwan in the next two years, according to Pentagon officials.

I predicted ten, but who knows.

U.S. defense and intelligence officials say all the signs point in one troubling direction: Beijing then will be forced to go to war with the United States, which has vowed to defend Taiwan against a Chinese attack.

That's assuming we have the guts to face them. Considering the weak knees of some in the government, press and population of the United States, I have to wonder.

Recent intelligence reports also show that China has stepped up military exercises involving amphibious assaults, viewed as another sign that it is preparing for an attack on Taiwan.

Ten years ago China had almost no amphibious assault capability.

China's economy has been growing at a rate of at least 10 percent for each of the past 10 years, providing the country's military with the needed funds for modernization.

The Chinese economy has been subsidized by the United States for the most part.

Here comes the scary part…

The combination of a vibrant centralized economy, growing military and increasingly fervent nationalism has transformed China into what many defense officials view as a fascist state.

"We may be seeing in China the first true fascist society on the model of Nazi Germany, where you have this incredible resource base in a commercial economy with strong nationalism, which the military was able to reach into and ramp up incredible production," a senior defense official said.

That’s the first comparison to the Nazis that I have seen, and it seems a bit alarmist. The possibility certainly exists though.

The release of an official Chinese government report in December called the situation on the Taiwan Strait "grim" and said the country's military could "crush" Taiwan.

Any document released by the Chinese government is most likely for propaganda purposes, but it is still a bit disconcerting.

"We left the million-man swim behind in about 1998, 1999," the senior Pentagon official said. "And in fact, what people are saying now, whether or not that construct was ever useful, is that it's a moot point, because in just amphibious lift alone, the Chinese are doubling or even quadrupling their capability on an annual basis."

And still we have our heads in the sand.

Beijing also is facing a major energy shortage that, according to one Pentagon study, could lead it to use military force to seize territory with oil and gas resources.

China could knock out two birds with one stone.

"Let's all wake up. The post-Cold War peace is over," Mr. Fisher said. "We are now in an arms race with a new superpower whose goal is to contain and overtake the United States." -- Richard Fisher, vice president of the International Assessment and Strategy Center

I am glad I am not the only one saying this. At least if I am crazy, that makes two of us.

Other Stuff: Yesterday we pondered what the heck John Kerry was doing following Lance Armstrong around. John Fund had some of the same questions.

What Will He Pedal Next?

Mr. Kerry noted that the cyclist had come to Boston on Election Night last year with Sheryl Crow, his rock and roll singer girlfriend, to show his support.

I love this quote:

"I think war is never the answer to solving any problems. The best way to solve problems is not to have enemies." --Sheryl Crow

Now that is deep. Deep in what, I can’t mention on a family friendly blog.

If it is true that Lance wants to run for Texas Governor, how far off could the White House be? Perhaps Kerry wants a running mate in 2008. If that is the case, one must then ponder the possibility of President Armstrong. Imagine First Lady Sheryl Crow-Armstrong! (Surely she would hyphenate her name.) Imagine a Chinese invasion of Taiwan with that bunch in the White House. I may have trouble sleeping tonight.

Note: I thought about linking to Foxnews just to complete the cycle, but I don’t know if my lefty friends could handle all three at once.

Note #2: Go to Yahoo and type 'hillary's vast right wing conspiracy' and look what comes up. It seems I have cornered the conspiracy market for today.

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