Taleban 'getting Chinese arms'

In a recent article on the BBC homepage, Paul Danahar writes of the recent findings by British and US forces that the Taliban have been aquiring sophisticated arms from the PRC. These arms inslude surface to air missiles, anti tank guns and a plethora of other munitions that are more than capable of matching the US and Britian in technological sophistication. While the article represents a ralling cry against Chinese interfernce in others affairs, maybe it might be best to take a step back historically and better understand the Chinese, since they are not the only arms dealers of the world (the top five in arms sales world wide are the US, Britian, France, Russia and the PRC). As such, an understanding of the Chinese culturally will appear as they often revert to previous policies of balancing the power of those around them or those who can have an affect on them. The first example is the Sino-Soviet Split, which reached its apex with the Uusuri River border clashes between Soviet and PRC forces in Northeastern MAnchuria in 1969. The reasons for this clash are long and begin as early as 1955 with Nikita Krushchev's refusal to propigate the fledgling PRC nuclear arms program. Yet the US involvement in Vietnam and that countries decline in world eyes led to the stunning reconciliation betwen the PRC and the USA in 1971. Mao was joined in this shift of power by then conservative president Richard Nixon, a long time anti-communist. Why these two idealogically antagonistic leaders found common ground at this time depends on whom we are analyzing, but Mao and the PRC were actually playing a very old game that can be analyzed as early as the Han Dynasty! This refers to the understanding of the traditional Chinese belief that one "barbarian" should be played off the other to achieve the sought after balance of power that the Middle Kingdom required at the time. This changing of support is a time honored traditon in China so much so that Nurhaci, the founder of the Manchurian tribal unification, learned these lessons well enough to create what would later be the Qing Dynasty, who would rule over the native Han Chinese from 1636 until 1911. As such, there is a long cultural history for the Chinese of using other groups against one another for their own ends. Accodingly, with this understanding of Chinese thought we should attempt new roads if the US plans to bring some type of manipulated peace to the region of Afghanistan. This should include the possibility of full involvement of the Chinese in this region as peace keepers. We , as Americans, must reconcile our current foriegn policies to include the major players of the world instead of attempting to bear the brunt of all of our endeavors alone. As is always the case, a better cultural understanding of other peoples explains their actions, whether they be complimentary or antagonistic to our own goals and allows us to situate our own actions to build allies for the support of our affairs instead of fostering traditional paranoias and fears.