China - growing threat

Recently it was announced that "Russia and China will hold unprecedented joint military maneuvers on Chinese territory next year involving both nations' air forces and navies...".

The article goes on to note this:

After decades of bitter rivalry, Moscow and Beijing have developed what they describe as a strategic partnership in the years since the Soviet collapse. China has become the No. 1 customer for Russia's struggling defense industry, purchasing billions of dollars worth of fighters, missiles, submarines and destroyers.

Officials with Russia's state arms-trading company, Rosoboronexport, said last week that China is expected to sign new contracts for the purchase of Russia's most advanced fighter jets.

Both nations have frequently spoken about their adherence to a "multi-polar world," a term that refers to their opposition to a perceived U.S. domination in global affairs.

So, whose side is the EU on in all of this?

Well it seems they want to lift the arms embargo against China.

Why? According to the Telegraph, as quoted by EU Referendum, the EU shares Russian and China's fears of America.

Human rights and regional stability have been sacrificed to the draw of China's huge market and the desire to weaken American hegemony by creating a multipolar world. Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schröder have long pushed for such a decision.

Russia, China and the EU all seem to speak the same language.

All right, what's all the fuss about?

As for regional stability, the Taiwan Strait remains one of the world's flashpoints because of Beijing's outrageous claim that the island is part of China and its refusal to rule out the use of force to make that fiction reality. Indeed, the National People's Congress has upped the propaganda war against Taiwan by placing an "anti-secession law" on the agenda for its next session.

The Americans are naturally worried that European arms could be used by Beijing to invade the island, which they have pledged to defend. Such a conflict could also draw in Japan, where most American forces in East Asia are based.

How worried are the Japanese?

Instapundit has some links to some troubling news.

The Japan Times reports on Japan's preparations to defend itself.

The Defense Agency has prepared a plan to defend the southern remote islands off Kyushu and Okinawa from possible invasion amid rising security concerns about China, according to documents obtained Saturday by Kyodo News.

The agency compiled the plan in November on the assumption of an invasion of the islands located within a 1,000-km zone between the southern end of Kyushu and Taiwan.

The report also notes that Japan has good reason to be worried.

"China has been expanding its scope of activities as seen in the case of an incursion of Japanese territorial waters (by a Chinese nuclear submarine) in November. We need to monitor its moves," the official said.

Kind of puts into context that label, "made in China".
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