An appropriate name I presume for a weapon designed to take to the seas, a weapon that would be designed for conflict close at home, and far from home. And nothing could be more blatant than the name Shi Lang for this weapon. Having first been named the Varyag, and designed by a government that was in decline, she had her keel laid in December 6th of 1985 by the then Soviet Union of Socialist Republics, a union that was on it's last breath of fighting the cold war. Then President Ronald Reagan was going to see to it that if the Soviet Union wanted to compete on the world stage they were going to have to pay dearly for it, so much so that it in essence it prompted the collapse of the Union. The Varyag's construction was never fully completed, in fact construction ceased in 1992, and handed over to the Ukraine were it sat at a pier wasting away. That was until she was purchased at auction in April of 1998 by a company named Chong Lot Travel Agency for entertainment and casino's which were to be placed aboard and then used for tourism. Oh don't bother trying to book a room or a cruise with the Chong Lot agency you see they exist in name only as a shell front for the People's Liberation Army which oversees all of the branches of the Chinese Military. It seems the PLA is quite disturbed that it is the only nation that sits on the UN Security Council and does not have a carrier group to both defend it's coast line, or it's maritime shipping lanes. The PLA is painfully aware that the Western Nations that posses such power are able to demonstrate forward deployment, as well as a forward projection of power, an ability China does not posses. I would question why a peaceful nation ( as the Chinese continue they claim they are ) would need such power. Shi Lang.
Interestingly enough the Varyag was actually designated as a " Heavy Aircraft carrying cruiser Intended to support and defend strategic missile carrying submarines, surface ships, and maritime missile carrying aircraft carriers. Had the Varyag gone operational by the original builders her mission would have been to conduct anti-submarine warfare, as well as carrying anti-ship missiles, pretty hefty lifting for coastline defense don't you think ? Perhaps more cruise lines should consider aircraft and missiles aboard there recreational passenger ships to protect tourists and gamblers from all over the world, there are pirates on the high seas after all. Of course there is another version of what this ship is intended for and these words come right from the English version of the Peoples Daily online. Colonel Geng Yansheng a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense has declared that China is conducting a restoration project on a salvaged aircraft carrier for the purpose of scientific research and training. It was purchased for the expressed desire to " master " the whole process of building an aircraft carrier. From cruise ship, to experiment ship....... no matter how you look at it China is intent on building itself a blue water Navy, and when a country decides on that policy, it is intended to use that power on shores other than it's own.
Our country has just went thru a rather difficult time in the last few weeks over the discussion on the increase of the debt limit debate. All great nations have difficult periods in their history, what we are fighting over today is tame by standards of past conflicts in this country, we are not on the precipice of war with ourselves ( although given the divide in governance style I believe that day may come ) and we still have elections in this country that are free and open, the danger lies in the fact that while we in this country squabble over items that in the long run are inconsequential, and at their rudimentary foundations irrelevant we have taken our eye off the ball on the big picture. China has every ambition of being a superpower in the strictest sense of the word. If you visit the Peoples Daily website there are banners on the page now about the PLA the title on the banner says : PLA ... Going Global Going for Peace. That should be the first wake up call for any one in the world of the ambitions of the Communist government, if you click on that banner and read the message that is a broadcast to the world of the ambition's of Beijing, you will see this sentence : "In the words of a leading advocate of Chinese Sea power, in the long run, China and the United States will be friends; however; Americans will always make friends with unbeatable opponents; no defeated nation can ever be a friend of the United States on an equal footing." You have to hand it to them, at least there is no ambiguity on there intentions, so while we mire ourselves in pointless discussions for the political class and there amusement, the Chinese government plods along on a path that is sure to have us wake up one day, broke, defenseless, and left standing with our private parts in our hands, standing in dazed wonder at how a nation that just 30 years ago couldn't feed it's people to suddenly wake up to be a world superpower, that could rival our military. The threat is real, and we need to pay close attention to what is happening in that country and it's arms build up, and do something before it is too late. Typically though that is not the American way, what we are best at is playing catch up ball, and coming from behind. Let's hope we do not get too far behind in this game.
Ohh and by the way the title for this writing is Shi Ling and if you have not already looked up what that means, I will make it easy. Shi Ling was an admiral for the Ming-Quing dynasty and in 1683 he defeated an opposing dynasty to take in possession for the mainland the Island of the Kingdom of Tungning, today we would know that kingdom and it's island as Taiwan............ Like I said you have to admire just how open and direct the communist government of the Peoples Republic of China can be sometimes.
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