The China Threat

Rating:
Summary: The Next Rival of the U.S.-- So far
Review: Although I am not political in any way, shape, or form, this book, among many others is well written and very informative with cold, hard FACTS. China is well on its way to becoming the next rival of the USA in place of the former Soviet Union. In fact, according to a number of reliable sources, the next enemy of the U.S. is panning out to be China as the main ring-leader in connection with North Korea and Iran and what's left of the former Soviet Union. And what makes the situation far more frightening than any other period in history is that these nations are far more trigger happy with nukes than any other nation that has rivaled the U.S. or any other for that matter. People need to understand that China itself is not the problem. The problem with China is the PLA that controls China and they run the country like the Taliban did Afganistan, except with far superior military technology. But don't take my word for it, read all the pro and con arguments about China and judge for yourself.

P.S. -- KEEP YOUR THINKING CAP ON!!!!

Rating:
Summary: A DEFINITE WAKE-UP CALL FROM THE CLINTON-GORE SLUMBER
Review: Bill Clinton was the PRC leadership's favorite president--they got eveything they wanted and then some!

This book accruately portrays China as a threat to peace and stability, in direct opposition to the Clinton-Gore dogma of China being a partner and competitor.

The Chinese military build-up is to challenge the U.S. to not interfere on behalf of Taiwan and for the U.S. to leave East Asia altogether. The PLA has and will, in the future, supply missile technology to rogue states in a strategy to put the U.S. on the defensive so as to allow China room to dominate Asia.

So the next time you purchase that little Chinese electronic item or trinket, remember, the PLA thanks you for all your support and urges you to vote Democratic.

Rating:
Summary: Fianlly China is EXPOSED!!!
Review: For too long the liberally-biased media has ignored the true ramifications of a country like China in the world, and its relation to America's future. After all, their own left-wing interests are used to hide the truth -- that China is an incredible threat to America, and any other democratically-elected country. Why else did the communist-Chinese military give money to the Bill Clinton via the Democratic party? What was their real long-term agenda? Why was this issue never really talked about in the media?

Gertz stays away from the liberal rhetoric to expose the dark- side of China with relentless evidence from both de-classified government material to his own in-depth research and analysis. It is this intense research, and personal arguements based on FACTS, that gives Gertz the intellectual credibility that has so many liberals in the media crying foul. One just needs to look at the reviews on Amazon that find the truth being exposed as "unfair" and disliked greatly. It is exactly this reason why The China Threat will be a valuable read to anyone interested in protecting America from historical Chinese aggression, ethno-centric arrogance, and corruption of the human spirit.

Given that this book is a fairly easy read for most, and gets to the major points fast with a tremendous amount of supporting evidence, will make it a best seller...And a GREAT WEAPON in destroying all the left-wing, liberally-biased media propaganda that is displayed on our televisions and newspapers through the likes of CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.

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Rating:
Summary: Go see for yourself how China has been changing
Review: There are two contradictory themes put forward in this book. The first is that the leadership of the People's Republic of China (PRC) is a very patient one, thinking in terms of decades and sometimes even in centuries, and the overwhelming majority of people who study the country hold this view. Many experts have argued that the greatest weakness of the American political and economic system is that there is little long-term vision. Therefore, from that perspective the PRC has a distinct advantage over the United States.
The second theme is that the PRC leadership is willing to risk nuclear war with the United States in order to regain control over Taiwan. This position is diametrically in opposition to the first, as only the most short sighted (psychotic) of people risk nuclear war when not directly threatened. While some of the leaders of the PRC make noise, there is no real evidence that the PRC would ever launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike to retake what they believe they will eventually win back anyway.
While the PRC is still a repressive communist state and is certainly a long-term threat to the United States, it is a threat that must be met with facts and reason, rather than misstatements and partial truths. On page xiv, there is the comment, "But the evidence from trade with Beijing over the past two decades shows that China today is less free and more threatening than it was before the United States established formal government-to-government relations in 1979." This is nonsense, in the last two decades the PRC has gone from a Stalinist style centrally planned economy to a very dynamic one that is rapidly converting to capitalism. The freedom to pursue entrepreneurial ventures is greater now than it has ever been in China.
On page 108, there is the statement, ". . . . China is also trading with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, building a gas turbine electrical power generating plant worth $160 million. Any enemy of America is a possible customer of China." China having non-military commercial ties with Iraq hardly poses a threat to the Unites States, and this point is quite a stretch looking for one. Many of our allies, such as the Russians, have commercial ties to Iraq.
On page 173, PRC leader Jiang Zemin is quoted as saying, "President Clinton and I have decided that China and the United States will not target the strategic nuclear weapons under their respective control at each other." Gertz then argues that Zemin lied because it was later discovered that the PRC military conducted exercises that included simulated nuclear attacks on Taiwan and US military forces in the region. Once again, he twists the facts. By definition, strategic nuclear missiles are those used to threaten the fundamental infrastructure of a country and tactical weapons those used to defeat opposing military forces. Therefore, the statement by Zemin is in no way a lie.
Finally, on page 202, there is the statement, "India's turn toward reliance on nuclear weapons is a direct result of the pro-China policies adopted by the Clinton administration." This is absolute nonsense, and shows two things. A complete lack of understanding of the geopolitical realities of south Asia and a fervent desire to blame the Clinton administration for everything. India is constructing nuclear weapons as a counterweight against traditional enemy Pakistan, a country that it is also building nuclear weapons.
There is no question that the PRC has embarked on an aggressive course that puts it at odds with the United States in the western Pacific. However, twisting the facts and in some cases making them up is no way to face the threat, which is what Gertz often does.

Rating:
Summary: Sinophobia + Ignorance = [Money]
Review: They say the empty can rattles the most. This can, despite the dire and ominous rattling, is quite empty. Bill Gertz has successfully written a book that says nothing. No substance, no point, nothing. And the knee-jerk sinophobes are ecstatic.

Mr. Gertz fancies himself an expert on "Red" China. For most pop culture China "experts" this means they eat Chinese carry-out once a month. Unfortunately, Mr. Gertz got some Kung Pao Chicken that was a bit spicy for his tastes. This book is the result. In this book he spews forth his bile and sprinkles in some "facts" along the way. His source seems mostly to be his incredibly fertile imagination. In his zeal to condemn the world's oldest continuing civilization, he fails to look at the other 99% of its history. Had he taken an even cursory look at the other 4550 years, he would have noticed that it is a history of the CONQUERED, not the history of the CONQUERORS. Almost everyone has invaded and/or ruled China (Monguls, Manchus, Japanese, Europeans, Americans) at some point or another. The Chinese have never been interested in world conquest. Aside from Tibet (arguably culturally linked with China) Mongolia (themselves former conquerors) and Taiwan (addressed below), China has never attacked anyone before! How quickly we forget that China was once a hermit nation, closed to foreigners and uninterested in world politics outside of its immediate vicinity. This history does not fit Mr. Gertz's "facts", but he does not let this get in his way.

He makes a big "to-do" about China and Taiwan. This is quite interesting. He fails to explain WHY Taiwan is not a part of China. He fails to explain the history of the Kuomintang. He fails to point out that they, under Chiang Kai-Shek, were the most corrupt regime in recent memory. He fails to talk about the fact that China, under the KMT, was ruled only by repressive regional warlords who took great joy in looting the civilian populace. He fails to mention the fact that this illustrious group of thugs turned tail and fled in the face of the Imperial Japanese army, leaving it open to atrocities like the Rape of Nanjing. He fails to see that the KMT is merely a gang of thugs with little more integrity than has he (I am not here to sing the praises of the CCP, but it is at least fair to point out that the KMT was no better then than the CCP is now). He fails to realize that Taiwan is little different from the Confederate States of America, a state that the US fought a bloody war to reassimilate. Apparently it was okay then but not now. Or was it okay for Americans but not Chinese? He fails to explain why it is in the US's best interests to waste American lives and resources in defending Taiwan. Above all, he fails to explain how the current Chinese government, which is scarcely able to control the people and territory over which it exercises soverignty, will be able, or even willing, to enter into conflict with the US. His sources, sadly, are not that extensive.

Mr. Gertz has made a cottage industry of peddling his sinophobic rants. He has found a niche, a vacuum left by the collapse of the Soviet Union, and has filled it. Is he racist? Possibly. Is he a xenophobe? Most probably. Is he ignorant? In this department, most certainly yes. However, it is quite clear what is his motive. When it was fashionable to impugn Clinton (a far more worthy target) he cranked out a book. Now that it is fashionable to muse on September 11, he has cranked out his third book. Connect the dots and you find this little gem of fiction. He makes his money on right-wing reflexes. Too many conservatives, unfortunately, are not willing or able to update their conceptions of China from those of the 1970s. If one's conception of China is thirty years out of date and punctuated with vast patches of ignorance, this book is quite astonishing! Mr. Gertz appeals to these groundlings and, *cha-ching*, laughs all the way to the bank.

If you are truly interested in learning of China, do not rely on this book. There is vastly more to learn about China from its philosophers, musicians and artists. If you spend some time getting to know Chinese literature, Chinese people, Chinese history or even journeying to China itself, you have already done FAR more than Mr. Gertz. And you will have learned much more about China and its motivations than his petty rants will ever teach you.

Rating:
Summary: Just the Facts
Review: This book is investigative journalism at its best. Gertz's thesis is a well-supported air tight argument that methodically presents the Clinton-Gore's policy of "engagement" with China and how that policy ran counter to the National Security of the United States. As a moderate myself I was pleased that Gertz backed up his suppositions with facts: well researched, thoroughly investigated, journalistic facts with legitimate sources. Although one can sense the firebrand conservatism in Gertz's tone, at no one point does his argument veer from the high journalistic standards. Just as Peter Dale Scott condemns American drug and oil dealings on the right with hard facts, Gertz is equally deft in dismantling the Clinton Administration. The fact that I found most interesting was the chapter on the Panama Canal and how Clinton basically gave away the most key strategic waterway to the Chinese. I have since checked Gertz's facts because they seemed too outlandish to be true but they all check out. Truly, our ability to move our eastern fleet and supply our Pacific fleet has been completely compromised. Also, the fact that China continues to woo Cuba with trade partnerships as well as the fact that they can now deliver the same nuclear warhead technology that they stole from us to Cuban shores is quite frightening. Let's hope Bush reads this book and has Ms. Rice address many of the issues that have put the people of our democracy in harm's way, all to satiate Clinton's left leaning brand which proved more loyal to Communistic China than democratic Taiwan. I don't even want to think about the fact that the coffers of the DNC were supposedly lined with Chinese Gold.

Rating:
Summary: Some complaints are valid. Others are not.
Review: This book is loaded with facts that would be very, very difficult to dispute even by the smartest liberals out there. Yes, dispite what anyone thinks, China is a dangerous future threat to the United States that we should pay very close attention to and take very seriously. And yes, China is more of a threat now than it used to be because of idiotic decisions of both Democrat and Republican administrations.

But no, China is not the menancing monster that Mr. Gertz thinks it is. He does try to puff up his findings to make them more threatening than they really are. When I bought this book, I expected to find some shocking and frightning revelations. What I read was thought-provoking and startling, but I certainly don't expect to be at war with China at any time in the next 20 years.

A good book. Read with an open mind, but don't let your prior political leanings influence what you do read.

Rating:
Summary: Go see for yourself how China has been changing
Review: This book is one of the garden variety of books that exploit the general ignorance of the American public about China. If you stoke rabid nationalism and xenophobia at a time when the U.S. feels vulnerable, you will have the cash register ringing. I wonder how many of those who have given a postive review of this book have ever been or lived in China--or that part of the world, for that matter. The world is already fraught with strife and violence without this kind of stuff. A responsible intellectual should not publish this kind of material without thinking about the ramifications of his or her actions. Well, that's freedom of speech. What can we say? And we sacrifice a few trees along the way for publishing it.....

Rating:
Summary: Poor facts.
Review: This book twists facts around to make them interesting and dramatic. Definitely not a history book nor even a realistic novel, this book can be considered tabloid-esque. Please don't buy this book, it's pretty blatant in its effort to appear startling and intense.

Rating:
Summary: Makes for an interesting read......
Review: Whether or not China does participate in global subversion of the Unites States I'm not certain. What can't be denied is that China has been fairly successful in recetn years in its intelligence operations in the U.S. Gertz writes of what he believes is a larger Chinese strategy to undermine the U.S. and often blames the Clinton administration for China's success at doing this. Chronicaling such actions as attempted Chinese business take over of the Panama Canal, Gertz makes an interesting argument that should probably be further researched. he does provide interesting documents in the apendix that are worth looking over.