A bit of sabre rattling

From Yahoo News/AFP:

China's Hu urges navy to prepare for combat
Chinese President Hu Jintao Tuesday urged the navy to prepare for military combat amid growing regional tensions over maritime disputes and a US campaign to assert itself as a Pacific power.

The navy should "accelerate its transformation and modernisation in a sturdy way, and make extended preparations for military combat in order to make greater contributions to safeguard national security," he said.

Addressing the powerful Central Military Commission, Hu said: "Our work must closely encircle the main theme of national defence and military building."

A bit more:

China claims all of the maritime area, as does Taiwan, while four Southeast Asian countries declare ownership of parts of it, with Vietnam and the Philippines accusing Chinese forces of increasing aggression there.

China has lusted after Taiwan for years -- their industrial base is excellent. When buying imported tools, I much prefer Taiwanese manufacture to Chinese -- the quality is much better and less tweaking is needed (or none) to get it running.