China has
officially put the United States on notice that Washington’s planned attack
on Pakistan will be interpreted as an act of aggression against Beijing. This
blunt warning represents the first known strategic ultimatum received by the
United States in half a century, going back to Soviet warnings during the
Berlin crisis of 1958-1961, and indicates the grave danger of general war
growing out of the US-Pakistan confrontation.
This is not the
first Mumbai-style attack in Pakistan. Pakistani military is not an easy
target for bandits based on the Afghan border. The sophisticated attacks
inside Pakistan after 2005 reveal formal training and superior equipment for
fighting and communication. Pakistani military is under attack by several
powers in the region since 2002.