I know that the conservatives love Condi as the kind of young, energetic face of the future, and even some moderates don't have an issue with her, despite her lackluster performance as National Security Advisor and her fawning over the president. Ahem. Obviously I don't like her, I don't like her politics, and I really dislike her talking points when she isn't reading from a prepared speech. Case in point - Condi on China, as per the Washington Times:
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday sought to assure Beijing that Washington's efforts to solidify its alliances with Japan and Australia and to build up India and Indonesia as Asian powers are not aimed at encircling China with pro-U.S. states.
Miss Rice, who began a three-day visit to Australia, also tried to narrow a policy gap with her hosts, who perceive China as a lesser threat than the Bush administration does.
"When we have discussions with Japan and Australia, it's only natural. These are two of our oldest and deepest allies. We share values; we have shared responsibility for defending the Pacific," she said in reference to inaugural trilateral talks tomorrow that Beijing views as a strategy-plotting session against it.
"I would hope that the Chinese would see that these are transparent discussions," she told university students at a town hall meeting in Sydney. "We are democracies. I assure you that it wouldn't be very easy if we wanted to have secret discussions."
------------------
"What we want is China to be a responsible stakeholder in the international system, because a positive and responsible China is going to be terrific for the world. Not just good, terrific," Miss Rice said.But even as she spoke of positive engagement, she voiced concern over Beijing's 14 percent increase of its defense budget this year to an estimated $35 billion.
"That's a lot," she said earlier at a press conference with Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. "China should undertake to be transparent about what that means."
Wow - I had no idea. China has the balls to increase its defense budget to become less than one-tenth of the U.S. military's budget, only part of that for its 2.3 million person army. How dare they? Where do they get the idea that the U.S. military is gunning for them anyway? I might guess from sources like here, here, here, here, and here. Condi needs to stop playing coy, as if the U.S. government hasn't made China the fundamental rationale for pushing its DD(X) destroyer, F-22 and F-35 fighter planes, and next generation bomber programs forward.
Wanna let her know?
http://www.whotohate.com
Posted by: Hank | 10 August 2006 at 09:56 PM