China and Their War on Terrorism.

It hasn't made too many headlines, but the Chinese people are having their own struggles with terrorism. Its struggles stem from a minority in their country, the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uyghurs, and their supposed ties to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. From 2013 to 2014 (or within a span of 8 months), in the cities of Urumqi, Kunming, and Beijing, 72 were killed and 356 were injured. The attackers utilized suicide car bombs, blades, and/or explosives. The situation described arises from sectarian grievances and angst of the Uyghurs, who perceive their region as being increasingly influenced and invaded by a Chinese Han majority. Although they have been able to live side-by-side for some time, rather recent developments have sparked a need for action to counter the instability. As a result, China has been prodded off of the sidelines and into the action. This is why the Chinese are set to engage with the Taliban and Afghanistan concerning matters like these. By dealing with these issues in both Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan (al-Qaeda and the Taliban's safe havens), it theoretically keeps the riff-raff from entering their country. Although there seems to be no clear, centralized terrorist authority (rather a loose collection of cells), they aim to tackle the subject at the root, before it crosses their border.

And that my friends is the game plan. The U.S. is on its way out of Afghanistan, and the Chinese are set to pick up the slack. It's a sound policy of you ask me: we clean our hands of the situation and let the Chinese dirty theirs. It's much more of an immediate Chinese problem than it is an American problem, so why not open a dialogue with China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan concerning this? How can we start? First, by co-ordinating our withdrawal with the incoming arrival of Chinese units on the ground. How else? We can share with the Chinese government pertinent intelligence matters concerning al-Qaeda, The Islamic State, and the Taliban in the country that we have gathered. This should prove rather handy. It's a start. It's also a welcome changing of the guard in Afghanistan, and it's all in the name of working more closely together to create a different world order than we have been accustomed to in decades past. Speaking of China. the situation in the South China Sea has been intensifying lately. What has been going on? The Chinese have been dredging sand from the bottom of the sea and dumping it onto coral reefs, to form new, man-made islands. The aim here seems to be to extend the nation's territorial reach and influence, rather than to plunder the sea for resources such as fish or oil and gas. The main contention here seems to be based around the Spratly Islands group, which mainly the Philippines has had a historical claim to. The islands would allow for air patrols of the region, as China has installed an airstrip on one island thus far. Seeing as we are not about to go to war over this sea route, nor are we about to stop them from building any more islands, we need to see the following from China: 1) A respect for freedom of the seas. That is, they must not obstruct sea traffic and commerce for any reason. It must continue on unimpeded. 2) A respect for each nation's territorial sovereignty in the area. With what leverage do I seek this arrangement? Co-operation on Afghanistan and my proposed deal with Japan to split the proceeds from the Senkaku Islands dispute.

Here's an important reality check: All of this being said, a war with China would have disastrous consequences (from both militaristic and economic standpoints) for both nations, so we both know that we aren't going to go there.

We do, in fact, need each other. We must recognize that China's rise and expansion (however temporal it may possibly be...can they keep it up?) poses no imminent threat to the United States. Even if their military buildup does continue, it will prove fruitless in the end. It would all end up getting destroyed in Armageddon anyway, and I foresee no major conflicts for them until that day comes. Let them build away.