Battleland

The iPhone Foe

  • Share
  • Read Later

The independent U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings journal has long been one of the best at asking questions some of its readers might prefer not be asked. In its just-released July issue, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Harper grapples with the Navy’s biggest bogeyman: China. Military relations are fundamentally altered, he argues, when the prospective foe is making 90 iPhones a minute for the U.S. and world markets, and American Walmarts are crammed with its goods:

…fear of China’s perceived martial intentions is both overblown and unproductive for the United States and its military. Focusing solely on Chinese military capabilities clouds the critical challenge of preventing a catastrophic Sino-American conflict. Furthermore, this distraction obscures the real work of guiding China’s rise as an open, self-confident, fully integrated member of the world community…Providing specific recommendations for this delicate and long-term task is beyond the scope of this article, but as a minimum, the U.S. military needs to ensure it does not stand as an impediment to this crucial task.

Here’s hoping the admirals’ subscriptions are up-to-date.

(Of course, Proceedings doesn’t march in lockstep. The next article in the July issue carries a headline warning of the requirement to “prepare for a possible military conflict with China…”)