A Note to all China Sniffers

There’s more to becoming a superpower than the media saying so. Yes, that means you Tom Friedman, and the university dons and foreign policy hacks who’ve already conceded both economic and arms races to the Chi Coms.

China’s Hubris

Back to blogging after supporting a military exercise in Japan. Working as a defense contractor with our allies provides insight you don’t get from the media or foreign policy journals. Most of us, however, do it to reconnect with our armed forces, active and retired.

Discussing China, Tom S., a retired Marine colonel, related his war college trip to Peking in 2000. The soldiers in the elite, palace guard unit in the capital, set up static displays of weapons and equipment for the class. Being a light armored vehicle guy, Tom snuck around the guard and looked inside an armored personnel carrier. He was amazed at how primitive and lacking were the internals. So bad, in fact, he concluded the thing was probably towed to the site. A classmate and Navy captain, the CAG of an aircraft carrier, had similar observations about the Chicoms’ answer to the F-16. Looking at the controls, he found seventies era avionics and a disjointed cockpit layout.