Let's speak plainly; China's not our friend

I've long been perplexed by the headlong zeal with which American business wants to increase its ties to China.

As I've noted here before, there are abundant examples of it in the city where I live.  The world's premier diesel engine maker is headquartered here (actually, it now defines itself as being in the power-generation business), and it has all kinds of plants and joint ventures in China, and hires ample numbers of young Chinese engineers, which has given our community a more international flavor in the last few years. There is also a spinoff from that corporation which is in the embedded-software business, and it has a Chinese makeup all the way to top management.

But the People's Republic is well known for its intellectual property theft, deal-negotiating chicanery, ambiguity about private-sector and governmental distinctions, and overall military ambitions.

The latest example of all this quite an attention-getter:

Designs for many of the nation’s most sensitive advanced weapons systems have been compromised by Chinese hackers, according to a report prepared for the Pentagon and to officials from government and the defense industry.

Among more than two dozen major weapons systems whose designs were breached were programs critical to U.S. missile defenses and combat aircraft and ships, according to a previously undisclosed section of a confidential report prepared for Pentagon leaders by the Defense Science Board.

There's that ambiguity.  Who are these hackers and in what capacity are they operating?

We know what systems have been compromised: the V-22 Osprey, the Patriot missile, and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, among others.

I think the Most Equal Comrade's remark a while back about how the US is not out to thwart China's rise sums up the overarching view of international relations that permeates not only government under this regime, but the office suites of economic development boards across the nation, as well as the market-expansion departments of various corporations.   There persists this notion that the technologies and business models of the last couple of centuries will enable us to transcend aspects of human nature that have characterized the entire history of the species.

It ain't so.  Some states will always have imperialistic agendas, and they're usually fairly upfront about it.