The real threat

China Military Marks 80th Anniversary:

"Much has yet to change, however. People's Liberation Army leaders took the opportunity of the anniversary to recommit to their role as the ruling Communist Party's house army, rejecting any notion of shifting loyalty to the government."

The complexity of China is neatly captured here. The government of the Peoples Republic of China may claim to be, in some senses, the successor to the governments that came before it - certainly so as the rightful government of every place that ever was under the control of some government of China. Yet the Peoples Liberation Army still sees itself as the servant of the Chinese Communist Party rather than the government. Thus, the role of the army is not. in the usual sense, the defense of the homeland, but the instrument by which the power of the party is extended.

Take Taiwan, for example. It was not a part of China when the Communist Party was formed, nor was it a part of China when the PLA was formed. It was part of Japan. It passed to the control of the government of the Republic of China as a result of the ROC's role as an ally of the US and Britain in WW2. That government continues to exist although its capital is at Taipei rather than Nanking. For those who haven't been paying attention, the ROC is the one with a vibrant, if sometimes unruly, multi-party democracy while the PRC is the one with a one-party dictatorship.

Defending Taiwan is not on the same order as the ill-advised attempt to create a democratic regime in Iraq. Kowtowing to the dictators in Beijing is both undignified and self-defeating. War with the PRC is not necessary unless the PRC forces the issue. Keeping the lid on its own people is becoming an increasingly difficult challenge for the Chinese Communist Party. That lid might have already been blown sky high if our own government had not been so anxious to please that regime, even at the risk of other vital national interests.