New Silk Road Ruins US Military Plans to Impose Blockade of China

[TaiShang]

OK, I admit, it is Stratfor, not your best source of information. They are mostly war-mongering and fear-mongering type. Take the analysis as another fear-mongering drive to probably scare the bloody hell out of the US regime and encourage to further militarize its diplomacy.

New Silk Road Ruins US Military Plans to Impose Blockade of China / Sputnik International


Beijing's One Belt, One Road initiative, a viable alternative to China's vulnerable sea routes through the South China Sea, is aimed at bolstering China's economy and preventing the US from imposing a distant blockade of the country, Stratfor notes.

China's Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative is not just a "sum of infrastructural projects," but rather a carefully thought-out strategy aimed at pursuing China's geopolitical objectives in Eurasia, Stratfor's analysts pointed out.

Beijing's "Belt and Road" will be in fact a sum of six transport corridors across Eurasia, comprising of both land and maritime components, the analysts elaborated.

"The strategy behind the Belt and Road Initiative is to diversify transit lines, thereby mitigating China's vulnerability to external economic disruption and reinvigorating China's slowing economy. Ideally, China would like to link its inland cities to global markets with a diversified network of transit routes and energy pipelines, many of which would take inland routes and serve as alternatives to existing sea-lanes," the Stratfor report stated.

US Seeks Confrontation With China, Fuels Tensions Worldwide – German Media


Since China's economy is heavily reliant on foreign trade and energy supplies through the country's "vulnerable" sea routes, it would be "relatively easy" for a potential adversary to disrupt China's trade and block the country.


"US war planners have certainly not ignored China's geographic vulnerability… In the case of a war between the United States and China, many US strategists favor imposing a distant blockade of Chinese waters," the analysts pointed out.


Thus far, by launching the Belt and Road initiative Beijing is seeking to mitigate such a risk, constructing a network of transit routes across Eurasia in order to avoid a "single point of failure."

Beijing is planning to improve existing transportation networks, build new ones and construct new energy pipelines and transport hubs. Remarkably, China has already built a number of such hubs in Eurasia and now it will have to simply link existing segments of infrastructure into a comprehensive network.

"The Belt and Road investments will also serve to build political support for China. Many countries along the proposed transportation corridors face huge budget shortfalls in the area of infrastructure development, together totaling trillions of dollars between 2010 and 2020," the Stratfor report read, adding that "with its large financial resources, China is well poised to fill some of these gaps."

Eurasian Heartland: Silk Road and EEU to Solidify Sino-Russian Relations

The analysts underscored that China may face certain security and political obstacles while accomplishing its ambitious project. For instance, Beijing will have to build a number of transport routes through undeveloped and troublesome regions. Furthermore, China is also facing a substantial threat posed by Xinjiang separatist insurgents, the analysts noted.


However, if China succeeds in implementing the Belt and Road project it will obtain several alternatives to its vulnerable South China Sea-lanes that "would greatly complicate potential US plans to impose a distant blockade" in an instance of war.

"Inland transit routes would naturally be insulated against naval interdiction, and the proliferation of short maritime transit legs would force the US Navy to spread its assets over a large expanse rather than concentrate on a small number of chokepoints. In peacetime, these options would enhance China's political leverage by preventing any individual country from threatening to disrupt China's economic lifelines," Stratfor's analysts concluded.



Read more: New Silk Road Ruins US Military Plans to Impose Blockade of China / Sputnik International

 

[TheFlyingPretzel]

OK, I admit, it is Stratfor, not your best source of information. They are mostly war-mongering and fear-mongering type. Take the analysis as another fear-mongering drive to probably scare the bloody hell out of the US regime and encourage to further militarize its diplomacy.

New Silk Road Ruins US Military Plans to Impose Blockade of China / Sputnik International


Beijing's One Belt, One Road initiative, a viable alternative to China's vulnerable sea routes through the South China Sea, is aimed at bolstering China's economy and preventing the US from imposing a distant blockade of the country, Stratfor notes.

China's Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative is not just a "sum of infrastructural projects," but rather a carefully thought-out strategy aimed at pursuing China's geopolitical objectives in Eurasia, Stratfor's analysts pointed out.

Beijing's "Belt and Road" will be in fact a sum of six transport corridors across Eurasia, comprising of both land and maritime components, the analysts elaborated.

"The strategy behind the Belt and Road Initiative is to diversify transit lines, thereby mitigating China's vulnerability to external economic disruption and reinvigorating China's slowing economy. Ideally, China would like to link its inland cities to global markets with a diversified network of transit routes and energy pipelines, many of which would take inland routes and serve as alternatives to existing sea-lanes," the Stratfor report stated.

US Seeks Confrontation With China, Fuels Tensions Worldwide – German Media


Since China's economy is heavily reliant on foreign trade and energy supplies through the country's "vulnerable" sea routes, it would be "relatively easy" for a potential adversary to disrupt China's trade and block the country.


"US war planners have certainly not ignored China's geographic vulnerability… In the case of a war between the United States and China, many US strategists favor imposing a distant blockade of Chinese waters," the analysts pointed out.


Thus far, by launching the Belt and Road initiative Beijing is seeking to mitigate such a risk, constructing a network of transit routes across Eurasia in order to avoid a "single point of failure."

Beijing is planning to improve existing transportation networks, build new ones and construct new energy pipelines and transport hubs. Remarkably, China has already built a number of such hubs in Eurasia and now it will have to simply link existing segments of infrastructure into a comprehensive network.

"The Belt and Road investments will also serve to build political support for China. Many countries along the proposed transportation corridors face huge budget shortfalls in the area of infrastructure development, together totaling trillions of dollars between 2010 and 2020," the Stratfor report read, adding that "with its large financial resources, China is well poised to fill some of these gaps."

Eurasian Heartland: Silk Road and EEU to Solidify Sino-Russian Relations

The analysts underscored that China may face certain security and political obstacles while accomplishing its ambitious project. For instance, Beijing will have to build a number of transport routes through undeveloped and troublesome regions. Furthermore, China is also facing a substantial threat posed by Xinjiang separatist insurgents, the analysts noted.


However, if China succeeds in implementing the Belt and Road project it will obtain several alternatives to its vulnerable South China Sea-lanes that "would greatly complicate potential US plans to impose a distant blockade" in an instance of war.

"Inland transit routes would naturally be insulated against naval interdiction, and the proliferation of short maritime transit legs would force the US Navy to spread its assets over a large expanse rather than concentrate on a small number of chokepoints. In peacetime, these options would enhance China's political leverage by preventing any individual country from threatening to disrupt China's economic lifelines," Stratfor's analysts concluded.



Read more: New Silk Road Ruins US Military Plans to Impose Blockade of China / Sputnik International

All America wants to do is go to war with the world and watch it burn. Hopefully it's superpower days are behind us as Asian and South American economies rise to balance the economic tilt of the world. Interesting century ahead.

 

[TaiShang]

All America wants to do is go to war with the world and watch it burn. Hopefully it's superpower days are behind us as Asian and South American economies rise to balance the economic tilt of the world. Interesting century ahead.

Well, military is the only viable tool they have to remain relevant in global geopolitics.

As nations re-discover the importance and viability of developmentalist diplomacy, they will choose what is rational and prudent: As they did with the AIIB.

This is just the beginning.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Why are people thinking this is the 19th century?

Are there ships around North Korea or Iran blockading them?

These days everything is by phone. You call up countries and have access denied.

 

[TaiShang]

Taoist takes down US official’s statement on South China Sea
By Zhang Yu -- 2015-6-26 5:03:01

Liang Xingyang practices with a sword in the Temple of the Golden Immortal in Xi'an. Photo: Courtesy of Liang Xingyang

The Temple of the Golden Immortal in Xi'an. Photo: Courtesy of Liang Xingyang


For centuries, Taoists were known for shunning worldly pursuits, wandering around free of care according to their own will and practicing the art of non-action. Some even lived in solitude in the mountains in a quest for inner clarity.Not so for Liang Xingyang. The 36-year-old Taoist priest, who lives in the Temple of the Golden Immortal in the Zhongnan Mountains, Shaanxi Province, is extremely active on Weibo, China's largest social media site, even though this sometimes places him at the center of controversy.

He recently became an online celebrity after he skewered a US official's statement that China's recent land reclamation efforts in the South China Sea violated the area's feng shui. That episode earned him the nickname "the patriotic Taoist" by netizens.

He has also confounded people's general impressions of Taoist priests with his wacky pictures, often featuring him holding a teddy bear and a lollipop while clad in a traditional blue robe, his hair tied up in a bun.

Feng shui debate

Last month, in an article in the Washington Post, Daniel Russel, US assistant secretary of state for East Asia, was quoted as saying, "Reclamation isn't necessarily a violation of international law, but it's certainly violating the harmony, the feng shui, of Southeast Asia, and it's certainly violating China's claim to be a good neighbor and a benign and non-threatening power."

Although just a brief reference, the American politician's mention of feng shui, an ancient Taoist tradition, in his criticism of China soon grabbed Liang's attention. "An American, and also a Christian, talking about feng shui - doesn't he fear that it violates his religion? … It's like me asking a Christian to follow God," he said in a television interview.

He soon came up with a long post on Weibo to rebut Russel's claim, using elements of yin and yang, tai chi and the earth and moon system to prove that the reclamation actually improves the feng shui not just in the South China Sea, but also in the entire solar system. Written in a sarcastic and sometimes hysterical tone full of emotion and adorned with angry memes, the post was a home run on Weibo, the crowded marketplace of opinions in China, and was reposted over 6,000 times, with most of the comments supporting Liang.

"I didn't expect the post to go viral," Liang said later, "It made me realize that patriotism is still in me, and I'm happy that it met a warm response from netizens."

Liang's interest in current affairs can be traced back to college, years before he converted to Taoism, he said. Back then, he used to be what many Chinese call an "angry youth," leftist young Chinese who are vocal with their nationalism.

In 2001, when a US reconnaissance plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea, resulting in the death of a Chinese pilot, Liang, then a sophomore in Yunnan University, said he was so outraged that he made posters condemning the US and stuck them on his university's bulletin board. When international disputes involving China broke out, he would discuss politics with enthusiasts in online bulletin boards.

After he graduated with a chemistry degree in 2003, Liang engaged in the jade business at the border of Myanmar for several years, until he decided to become a Taoist in 2009. Talking about his decision, he dismissed it as a spontaneous choice, made after years of interest in Taoism.

After his conversion to Taoism, Liang thought that the "angry youth" in him had disappeared. But Russel's latest comment on the South China Sea reignited it. "It made me realize that I'm still patriotic," he said.

Spreading TaoismCompared with Buddhism, which has devout monks spreading its creeds systematically over thousands of years and which often garners support from high government officials, Taoism lags behind, mainly due to its association with folklore traditions such as fortune-telling. It has a comparative lack of intellectual following, partly because its philosophy advocates withdrawal from worldly affairs.

Starting from 2010, Liang began to use Weibo as a way to promote Taoism. He now has over 150 disciples, most of whom got to know him online. On Weibo, he has over 110,000 followers, who subscribe to his posts with contents ranging from his understanding of Taoism, comments on current affairs, and cartoon depictions of him created by his followers. He also owns a popular Taobao shop, where he sells Taoist talismans and other souvenirs.

While Liang's patriotic statement and social media presence won him the support of online patriots and amused others, some remained skeptical. In an online Q&A with netizens held by a news website, some questioned if it was against Taoist philosophy to raise his profile so high in public. Others questioned his motives behind his patriotic remarks.

Liang said, "Every person has his own life choices. If every Taoist hides in the mountains, how can Taoism be promoted? How can people understand traditional culture?"

"Our country has flaws, but why not look on the bright side? Everyone likes positive energy, rather than making complaints all day long," he said.

While solitude has long been a characteristic of the Taoist belief, Liang said being a hermit isn't his pursuit. "Ancient sages have pointed out that great hermits enjoy their solitude in noisy places. There is no point living in seclusion if a man does it as a way to escape reality and doesn't know his life purpose," he said.

Talking about the changes brought to him by his online fame, he said, "After the incident, the biggest change is that more and more people got to know or showed their interest in Taoism. We managed to promote Taoism to more people," Liang said.

He said he now spends hours a day to chat with netizens, answering their questions about Taoism.