PACIFIC The word itself means "peaceful", does it not? Tranquil? Untroubled?
Yet in the Pacific area we have about three hundred thousand soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and other armed forces personnel who are, it seems ,of necessity, to maintain tranquility.
The Pacific Ocean rim is not exactly peaceful and is is a
potential area for trouble in the future. That fact is obvious in the reality which keeps telling us that - in time - each of the two nations, Red China and North Korea - must expand even just to assert being the strong powers we are watching them become.
We are, in some ways, even helping them grow into powerful nations which will, sooner or later, be our competition and,, hence to be viewed as enemies. North Korea and Red China have each made marked progress in recent times when it comes to military readiness and a growth of a new acceptance of their lot by a generation of young people in both lands. We have done very little to dissuade any of them from believing what they are being told to them by leaders of questionable intent. Our military maneuvers and training program are fashioned with the idea that China might well be our advisory but we strive to call such preparations by other names with connote concepts of friendliness and cooperation. That idea has been there in the back of our planning ever since the Chinese came charging across to aid North Korea during the Korean War. It is considered, by many, to be inevitable.
We have around 40,000 marines soldiers and in Asia, in general, 120,000 seaman afloat and they are at about ninety locations, in addition to about 37,000 in Korea. The general public is, perhaps, aware of the "occupational troops" being in Korea but few know about joint exercises we are carrying on in cooperation with the Aussies and the Japanese at Narathinatt, Thailand or at Shoalwater Bay, in Australia. The Thai operation, called "Cobra Gold" and the "Foal Eagle" exercises in Korea both practiced wisely against a possible Oriental aggressor.
In spite of repeated attempts to establish better relations between China and the China and the United States, much suspicion and distrust still exists - and with good reason - on both sides. Sword rattling by Red China concerning Taiwan and the "One China" concept are disconcerting to say the least. They may be major issues at any moment, for their would be no better time than while the Middle East could do the larger portion of any fighting required for them. Since getting Hong Kong back from the British, China has been more confident in the field of international relations,although she might, at the moment continue to take the offshore islands back by less combative methods.
It is not a pleasant prospect -this facing up, once more, against what used to be called "the yellow peril" when I was a kid. We refrain from using that terms now. It seems to sound too direct and cataclysmic but the harsh reality of, potentially, greatly modified tranquility such as we now know, must be questioned if we are to survive. It is my hope that our leadership stability might continue to be the critical core of our policy which maintains our China relationships. Much depends on their readiness to use the North Korean differences as a means of bringing about their own desires. Chinese aggression in the Pacific need not be direct. I have strong memories of the way many people felt in the first quarter of the 20th Century when we spoke with fear and dread of a future "Yellow Peril" danger. Pearl Harbor and all that followed, seemed to have been that to many people, but it may proved to have been only a dress-rehearsal of some kind. The real "Yellow Peril" crisis might be still be in our future.
Could be.
A.L.M. July 3, 2005 [c657wds]
