By Judi McLeod
Aloha Hawaiians! If you see what you think are soldiers from the Communist Peoples Republic of China Army wandering about in your neck of the woods Tuesday through Thursday next week, your imagination is not playing tricks on you.
For the first time in history the U.S. Army will host the Communist Peoples Republic of China’s Army on American soil Nov. 12-14, 2013.
But don’t worry while Chinese soldiers will have boots on the ground in Hawaii, they are only really “simulating”. “Simulating humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to a fictional third country”.
You can’t make this stuff up when GridEx 2 is doing it for you.
GridEx 2 (there was already a GridEx 1in November of 2011) is a massive ‘emergency drill’ planned to take place across the whole of North America with thousands of utility workers, business executives, National Guard officers, FBI antiterrorism experts and officials from government agencies, in the United States, Canada and Mexico (who) are preparing for an emergency drill in November that will simulate physical attacks and cyberattacks that could take down large sections of the power grid. (New York Times, Aug. 16, 2013).
The exercise is touted as a unified move “to test the resiliency of the U.S. power grid to withstand major damage causes by a natural disaster or deliberate attack”.
“Fears about the possible detonation of a nuclear warhead in the skies about the United States, for the purposes of creating an electromagnetic pulse aimed at sizzling electronics on the ground, have led a number of public figures to call for significant steps to strengthen the power grid. Ex-CIA head R. James Woolsey is planing a campaign to convince state governments to pass laws requiring utilities to harden their electronics against potential EMP attacks.
“A key objective of GridEx 2 is to learn how governments would handle a loss of electrical power that is large enough to drastically affect the delivery of common and essential goods and services.” (NYT)
Hoping that the U.S., Canada or Mexico aren’t GridEx 2’s “fictional third country” and that the soldiers out on reconnaissance in Blue Hawaii don’t stamp ‘Made in China’ on it.
The New York Times reported on GridEx 2’s massive, Nov. 13-14 drill on August 16, but never mentioned the participation of the Peoples Republic of China’s Army.
China’s Xinhua Agencies kicked in on November 6 reporting that American and Chinese soldiers will train together in the November exercise.
“The US military Pacific Commander, Samuel Locklear, said here Tuesday that a joint humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise to be held this month helps improve the relationship between the United States and China.” (Xinhua Agencies, Nov. 6, 2013)
”Locklear told a news briefing that the Pacific Command’s Army component commander in Hawaii has been looking forward to the Nov. 12-14 exercises “for some time”, as the Army will host the People’s Liberation Army soldiers of China to train together in a field environment, simulating humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to a fictional third country.
“Summing up his expectations for the joint exercise, Locklear said both militaries can learn something in disaster management and “better prepare tomorrow than yesterday”.
“In relation to our ability to do this with our Chinese counterparts”, he said, “this kind of exercise gives us a place to start, and get into the rhythm of understanding and trusting each other.”
“The joint exercise was announced during an August visit to Washington by Chinese Minister of National Defense Chang Wanquan, as China and the United States expand their military-to-military relationship and explore cooperation opportunities in non-traditional security areas.”