Just over a month ago I examined
the impact of the one child policy on the willingness of China's leaders to send troops to die in battle. I wrote that for China's military leaders:
Your enormous army is staffed almost exclusively with men who are what we call "only children," because the official one child policy was in effect in China for decades until recently.
Do you dare undertake elective military activities which put tens of thousands at risk of death or dismemberment? Each who is killed leaves his family with no progeny, no future.
China's leaders militarily feel their hands are tied by the unintended consequences of the one child policy.
I've been wondering when this would occur to one of the more visible pundits, and it has.
Writing for
The Week, Kyle Mizokami sees an impending conflict between Vietnam and neighbor China and notes the unlikelihood of ground conflict.
Any future war would likely be confined to air and sea. China, which in 1979 lost 9,000 ground troops in a month invading Vietnam, has little interest in a repeat scenario. China’s One Child Policy means that in the modern era, 9,000 Chinese killed in war produce 9,000 angry, childless families.
Kyle, I'm glad you agree.
