Gong Hey Fat Choy, you monkeys

[CountDeMoney]

May your little red envelopes be chock full of heady lead paint, melamine and counterfeit pharmaceutical goodness.

It's Official: China's Military Has 5 New Theater Commands
China scrapped its seven military regions in favor of five theater commands.
By Shannon Tiezzi, The Diplomat
February 02, 2016

China inaugurated five new theater commands of the People's Liberation Army on Monday, with Chinese President Xi Jinping presenting flags to the new commanders during a ceremony in Beijing. The new theater commands – which replace the seven previously existing military regions – bring another piece of Xi's ambitious plan for PLA reform into reality.

Most of the commanders of the new military regions previously commanded one of China's seven military regions, based at Shenyang, Beijing, Jinan, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Lanzhou. However, many were given command of theaters far from their original base of power, ensuring no one commander can maintain a network of personal loyalty that supersedes Party authority. Liu Yuejun, formerly the commander of the Lanzhou Military Region (MR) in northwest China will now command the Eastern Theater. The former commander of the northern Shenyang MR, Wang Jiaocheng, will take over the Southern Theater Command, while Zhao Zongqi of the eastern Jinan MR move to commander of the Western Theater Command.

The Beijing MR saw the least displacement for its commanders – and, in fact, a double promotion. Former Beijing MR commander Song Puxuan will head up the Northern Theater Command, while his former deputy commander, Han Weiguo, received a promotion to commander of the Central Theater.

On the other end of the scale, three previous MR commanders were left high and dry:  Nanjing MR commander Cai Yingting, Guangzhou MR commander Xu Fenglin, and Chengdu MR commander Li Zhocheng.

According to Defense Ministry spokesperson Yang Yujun, the new military commands are based on the functions and structure of the military regions they will replace, with improved mechanisms for command and logistics. Yang also said the PLA will establish a Transitional Work Office to ensure a smooth transition from the old MRs to the new theater commands.

The move to reorganize China's military commands is a broader part of Xi's military reform agenda. The overall plan is designed to both strengthen Party control over the military, with centralized control now in the hands of the Central Military Commission, of which Xi is chairman. The reforms are also intended to increase China's capability to undertake joint operations, crossing service lines.

Xi stressed both these points in his remarks to the new commanders as reported by Xinhua. The goal, Xi said, is for joint battle command system to be "absolutely loyal, resourceful in fighting, efficient in commanding and courageous and capable of winning wars." He also emphasized the need for enhanced training in joint operations "in order to win the initiative in future wars," as Xinhua put it.

As for the details of their operation, figuring out exactly what to do with the new theaters is apparently a work in progress. Part of the new commanders' jobs will be figuring that out; Xi asked the commanders to "speed up the development of a strategy for theater commands," according to Xinhua. China Military Online reported that the theater commands would be tasked with "responding to security threats from their strategic directions, maintaining peace, deterring wars and winning battles."

Independent U.S. Rebalance to the Pacific Report Calls for Study of Second Carrier Based in 7th Fleet
By: Sam LaGrone and John Grady
February 3, 2016 7:22 PM • USNI News

WASHINGTON, D.C. – An independent review on the U.S. rebalance to the Pacific concluded the U.S. should study forward deploying a second carrier to the Western Pacific, one of the authors said before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. The study from the Center of Strategic and International Studies echoes call to station a second U.S. Navy carrier from SASC chair Sen. John McCain and a second independent review of Navy force from late last year to study forward deploying a second nuclear carrier to U.S. 7th Fleet.

The CSIS report came short of recommending the move but indicated crunching the numbers on what it would take warranted further study.

"We didn't come out with a hard recommendation on this because there are operational questions, cost and infrastructure questions," Michael Green with CSIS said in response to a question from Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii).

The most likely location for a second carrier would be alongside the existing U.S. forward deployed carrier berth in Yokosuka, Japan but while there is space for the carrier questions linger where to put the accompanying airwing.

"If you deploy this new carrier in Yokosuka you have to find a place for the airwing. [Marine Corps Air Base] Iwakuni, could be expanded but that's a political lift for the Japanese government in terms of host nation support," Green said.

When the CSIS report was released last month, the notion of deploying a second carrier to the Western Pacific received press attention in Japan "and there was not a lot of push back. A number of the senior officials and military officers in Japan were quite intrigued because of the signal it sends and the firepower it brings," Green said.
"It addresses a concern our allies have – the 7th Fleet's one carrier is out of [U.S. Pacific Command] a lot. They watch that. They would have constant coverage – what in their view in an increasingly difficult region."

That difficulty is resident primarily in China's People's Liberation Army's (PLA) expansion and increased presence in the South China Sea and the East China Sea with a government in Beijing that is comfortable with taking more risks militarily, Green said.

"We're probably going to be living with this [friction] for five our ten years because its built into the PLA's operational concepts, force structure, their doctrine. The Foreign Ministry and others in the China system are not going to knock them off of that trajectory. In my view: it's if the Chinese economy slows down or not."

The CSIS report also outlined the inconsistent presentation of the goals of the U.S. Pacific rebalance by Washington and how tightening up the message could send a clearer signal to China and U.S. allies.

"The kind of networking cooperation that incentivizes China to play within the rules, the kind of capacity building for the Philippines and for smaller micro states, so they can handle earthquakes and tsunamis in a way where they're not vulnerable strategically and where we have a trade agreement, that's what we should be thinking about," Green said.
"If we do think in those terms it will add some discipline to how the administration and others articulate our strategy... We're not looking to contain China, we're looking for a rules base order and here's how it might look with our relationship with our allies and other partners. "

Retired Marine Lt. Gen. Thomas Conant, former deputy commander of Pacific Command and an advisor on the report, said the United States needs to send "a clear and concise message [on] what rebalance means."

China has become more assertive for a number of reasons, Green said. That includes President Xi Jinping not coming from that part of the Communist Party that holds Deng Xiaoping's more accommodating view of Beijing's role in the world. It also arises from the mistaken conclusion Chinese leaders drew from the 2008-2009 financial crisis impact on the United States that "America's best days are over" as a great power.

To nations such as the Philippines and Vietnam who see an expansionist China, "they want more of us," but "they don't want bases," Green said. He suggested a model might come from the rotational movement of U.S. forces or even patrol vessels from Japan in and out of those countries, similar to that in Australia.

"An elective security arrangement like NATO, almost no one wants that... that would produce a China we don't want, Green said.
"We're not looking to contain China, we're looking for a rules base order and here's how it might look with our relationship with our allies and other partners."

Even with China's economy slowing from 9 percent growth to between 3 to 4 percent annually, Green warned against making the same mistake China made with the United States eight years ago. He said the results could be "a more humble China" or a "more nationalistic and grumpy" nation in five years.

As for the slowdown affecting the Chinese military modernization drive, especially in its maritime forces, Conant added, "I don't see it slowing down."

[Martinus]

What are theatre commands? /applause, /bow, /curtain etc.? 

[Josquius]

Good for them?

[Brazen]

[Liep]

After a minute I could also sort of see a monkey.

[Martinus]

You win the Internets.

[Monoriu]

Gong Hey Fat Choy is Cantonese

[CountDeMoney]

After a minute I could also sort of see a monkey.

You look long enough, you can see a spaceship.

[CountDeMoney]

Gong Hey Fat Choy is Cantonese

Go fuck yourself.  That's Baltimorese.

[Monoriu]

Gong Hey Fat Choy is Cantonese

Go fuck yourself.  That's Baltimorese.

Cantonese is a dialect, or sub-standard Chinese spoken by a small fringe of people who live near the borders, like yours truly.  Cultured people speak Mandarin

[CountDeMoney]

You mean, like the tourists that rip off taxis, let their kids shit in airplane cabins or wash their feet in restaurant bathroom sinks?  That kind of cultured?

[Monoriu]

You mean, like the tourists that rip off taxis, let their kids shit in airplane cabins or wash their feet in restaurant bathroom sinks?  That kind of cultured?

You got me

[Razgovory]

What are theatre commands? /applause, /bow, /curtain etc.? 

New lettering on the office door.

[Eddie Teach]

Gong Hey Fat Choy is Cantonese

Can CDM ever live down the shame of speaking your language? 

[11B4V]

Gong Hey Fat Choy,

Racist