Remember The Chinese Invented Rockets, Not North Korea

By Major Van Harl

Wisconsin –-(Ammoland.com)- I am sure you know the story of the Chinese invention of gunpowder. Hollywood has done a great job of telling the tales of Europeans journeying to the orient to find and return with the secrets of exploding, death delivering black gun powder.

Gun powder was invented in the 9th century.

One of the early uses by the Chinese of gun powder was to make rockets for ceremonial fireworks displays in the 13th century. At some point a smart Chinese person figured out that you could use these rockets to deliver an exploding charge onto the ranks of invading soldiers. In the beginning the desired death and destruction was minimally effective but it did scare the heck out of the attacking forces.

Long before cannons were introduced into warfare the Chinese were attacking and repelling their enemies with rockets and they got good at this technology. The US military was on the receiving end of very effective Chinese rockets during the Korean War.

As for hostility between China and the two Koreas, here in the west we sometimes forget these Asian nations have been in conflict for thousands of years, long before the new nation of the United States was ever conceived.

Before there was a north and south Korea there was a Goguryeo (let’s call this old time Korea). At some points in Goguryeo history the lands of the Korean people went as far north as Manchuria.

China has tried to control the Koreans for over two thousand years and it has always cost them dearly. In the 16th Century A.D. the Sui dynasty went bankrupt fighting the Goguryeo. The Koreans tend to be tenacious and really bad-ass fighters. Just ask any North Vietnam soldier who had to fight the South Koreans during the Vietnam War and was able to survive.

Kim Jung Un the dear leader of North Korea, is upsetting the Japanese, South Korea and the US with his missile launches.

He is however really jerking the chain of the Chinese. China is the only stable, long term support that North Korea has and they are fixing to blow it.

When I was station in South Korea in 1983 we all joked that the US military was there, not to keep the North Koreans from coming south, but to keep the South Koreans from going north. There is still a lot of truth to that thought process.

China needs a buffer state between South Korea and Japan and they want North Korea to be that buffer. If the two Koreas get into a war and South Korea wins then there will be a pro-western power sitting on the border of China. In the eyes of China that power could let any western nation roll onto Chinese soil unchecked. This has happened before and China wants to prevent another hostile incursion.

Now, if somehow the two Koreas are reunited and then combine their two armies, China would have a two thousand year old enemy on their border every day. The new Korea would be unchecked, and hoping in their Korean old-time logic to settle scores from the past.

Enter U.S. Rockets

The Chinese have really accurate and powerful conventional rockets and missiles, let alone nukes. They can drop these missiles on Japan, eastern Russia or both of the current Koreas. That is however as long as the US keeps its Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-ballistic missiles off of South Korean shores .

We in the US are deploying THAAD because of the missile threat coming from North Korea, but the unintended consequence of these anti-missiles deployed to stop North Korean missiles, is they also can stop Chinese missiles. China does not like this. The other issue is, the Chinese may see that day in the not so distant future, where they will have to take out the North Koreans. Which of course means using missiles.

Those in the west are not the only people with safety concerns when it comes to North Korean nukes. Kim Jung Un is a bit unstable and he is scaring the hell out of the Chinese. At the present he cannot put one of his nukes on a missile and fire it at Beijing. He could however put a nuke on a North Korean passenger aircraft and fly it into the heart of that Chinese city on an authorized flight. I am sure little Kim could find a couple of hard charging North Korean pilots who would be willing to fly in, land in Beijing and then set off a Nuke. It only takes one nuke.

Even a weak, poorly developed North Korean nuke only has to go off once, no matter the low level yield of the blast.

China and Russia will get into a war perhaps even in my lifetime. If Beijing is a smoking hole of ruin no matter how well the rest of that country is holding up, the Russians will move in. Russia has to fight China and they are running out of time to accomplish their objectives. They will seize the opportunity that North Korea will create for them.

As soon as the Chinese start firing back, the South Koreans will seize their opportunity to go north and most likely suck the west into that conflict.

Of course do not forget Japan. The current Japanese leadership can look you right in the eye and tell you that Japan has no nukes and not be lying. Now ask them if they have all the components to build nukes in a hurry and be able to set them on top of one of their current world class ballistic missiles. If they don’t lie to you, you will be shocked. Remember if Japan gets into a punch-up they will expect by written agreement that the US will come to their defense.

Keep in mind that two thousand years of Asian nations fighting Asian nations, well, it will not take much to get yet another war going and the US will be right in the middle of it, even if they don’t want to play.

China has come a long way with their rocket technology and they now have excellent missiles. They have the Russians to deal with, the potential of two unstable Koreas, one Japan that has been spoiling for a fight since 1945 and the US that just wants everyone to get along so we do not get any more American GIs killed in another “old crazy Asian war” (as Kenny Rodgers would say in the song–Ruby.)

And you thought that President Trump’s tweeting was all you had to worry about in life.

Oh Ruby don’t take your love to town–Oh Ruby for God’s sake turn around.

Major Van Harl USAF Ret.
[email protected]

About Major Van Harl USAF Ret.:Major Van E. Harl USAF Ret., a career Police Officer in the U.S. Air Force was born in Burlington, Iowa, USA, in 1955. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Infantry School.  A retired Colorado Ranger and currently is an Auxiliary Police Officer with the Cudahy PD in Milwaukee County, WI.  His efforts now are directed at church campus safely and security training.  He believes “evil hates organization.”  [email protected]