Rapid Fire September 18, 2012: Chinese Diplomacy

* As US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta meets with Chinese leaders to urge them to solve their differences with Japan through diplomatic channels, protests in China appear to involve a mix of underlying official support and genuine grassroots anger. Real or staged, who in their right mind would long for the good old days when Chairman Mao – whose portrait was waved by demonstrators – starved tens of millions of his countrymen to death? China needs to grow up if they want to be taken as a responsible actor. * Panetta tells Foreign Policy that there’s still some tough fighting ahead in Afghanistan. With the suspension of joint NATO-Afghan ground operations in the wake of continued “green on blue” attacks, this sounds like a sensible warning. * His predecessor Robert Gates made a call for “whatever adults remain in the two political parties [to] make the compromises necessary to put this country back in order” during a panel [PDF transcript] hosted by CSIS. * The Pentagon won’t factor in sequestration while it works on the FY14 budget in the months to come. * The US Air Force’s fleet of Block 30 Global Hawks may be supported for another year, […]