OPINION:
Former Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld is apparently unconcerned about the rise of China (“China vs. America,” Comment & Analysis, Monday) but China’s troubles are exactly why we should fear the country and prepare for the worst.
China is drying up. The Yellow and Yangtze rivers are down, the water table of the Northern Plains breadbasket is low and desertification is on the march as evidenced by the Gobi Desert approaching the outskirts of Beijing itself. More than a billion Chinese are crowded into the eastern part of the country in an area roughly the size of the United States east of the Mississippi River - and this is 32 years after the enforcement of the country’s one-child policy. It is inevitable that China will seek to expand beyond its borders.
It is obvious from China’s furious military build-up over the past 20 years that it is gearing up for something big. And in light of the systemic problems cited, it is no fantasy to conclude that it is readying for a confrontation with us. Indeed, Chinese military doctrine states that we are the main enemy.
Mr. Rumsfeld was wrong on Iraq and he’s even more mistaken here. Dark clouds are on the horizon, so we’d better wake up soon.
D.A. SAMS
West Jefferson, Ohio
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