Another Katrina and the New Chinese Empire

Chinese dragon awakens�-�Special Report�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper:

"'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."

The link is to part one of a two-part report on Chinese espionage and politicomilitary developments over the last 15 years or so. Read both. Unless you have been following this issue the way I have for years, you will be amazed. And, The Washington Times only scratches the surface. For example, these stories mention that the pace and effectiveness of PRC espionage against the US increased in the mid 1990s - but they don't mention the massive infusion of illegal campaign funds from Red China to Bill Clinton.

The other Katrina is Katrina Leung and FBI informant in Los Angeles. The Justice Department is appealing the dismissal of espionage charges against her. That, and the Wen Ho Lee case at Los Alamos which ended with a guilty plea to only one of 59 counts on which he had been indicted, have put a bit of a crimp in our counterespionage activities aimed at China.

The Washington Times story does address racial profiling in this passage:

"In some cases, so-called political correctness can interfere with FBI counterspying. For example, Chinese-American scientists at U.S. weapons laboratories have accused the FBI of racial profiling.
"But Mr. Szady said that is not the case.
"China uses ethnic Chinese-Americans as a base from which to recruit agents, he said.
"'They don't consider anyone to be American-Chinese,' Mr. Szady said. 'They're all considered overseas Chinese.'
"So the answer he gives to those who accuse the FBI of racial profiling is: 'We're not profiling you. The Chinese are, and they're very good at doing that.'"

This point about there being no such thing as a Chinese-American or Chinese-Canadian, etc. in the view of the PRC government is also made in The New Chinese Empire by Ross Terrell. He goes into some detail citing the various ways China's dynasties over the millenia have addressed the us-them dichotomy. For the PRC it wouldn't matter if you are fifth generation Canadian, if your ancestors were Chinese, you are Chinese. I had a roommate about 25 years ago who was a fifth generation Canadian of Chinese ancestry, and he had a somewhat different view, objecting vehemently to Canadian government policies that passed over persons like him to give university preferences to Chinese newly arrived from Hong Kong.

Another interesting point from The New Chinese Empire that throws light on The Washington Times reporting linked above is the idea that any place or people that were ever ruled by China are still, in some sense, a part of China. This goes far beyond the issue of Taiwan to include people and places that never knew they were under Chinese authority; it is enough that China once claimed authority over them. Thus, Chinese history records delegations bearing gifts to the Emperor who thought they were merely conducting diplomacy as bearing tribute to acknowledge their dependence on the Son of Heaven.

Consider the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa, The Teahouse of the August Moon, The Karate Kid 2), now part of Japan. Less than 200 years ago, the independent Kingdom of the Ryukyu Islands was still carrying on a centuries old tradition of making a formal request to the Son of Heaven to invest each new king. At some point, it may suit the current rulers in Beijing to assert their historic claim to this strategic island chain. At various times, China has ruled all or part of Vietnam, Korea, Japan, etc. These also remain as potential territorial claims for the future.

Against this backdrop, we might take a slightly different view of the PRC's rapid buildup of amphibious forces. While The Washington Times piece focuses on Taiwan, there are also other uses to which China could put such a capability. For example, if North Korea decided to attack South Korea, an amphibious landing in the southern end of the peninsula could capture Pusan and prevent re-inforcements and supplies from reaching allied forces via Japan.