Funny the things you back away from ...

I'll have a post on my big takeaway from the West2014 China Panel a bit later this week, but when you get a chance - watch the video below in full.

Here is the other side of the argument from the official "China Shop" - this is the clear eyed realist's position across the entire panel. That isn't what many want discussed.

As you can often tell a lot about a person by not so much their friends, but by those who are not - many times you can tell how close someone is to the uncomfortable truth by who reacts to them and why.

Case in point:

U.S. Navy Captain James Fanell, deputy chief of staff intelligence and information systems for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, was quoted as saying China is training its forces for a “short, sharp war” with Japan in remarks at a gathering in California earlier this month.

At a briefing Thursday, Pentagon spokesman U.S. Navy Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters those are not the department's views.

“As I understand it, he was answering a question at a conference he was attending and that those were his views to express,” said Kirby.

U.S. officials have long complained that China has not been transparent about its goals as it continues an unprecedented expansion of its military. Kirby, using careful, diplomatic terms, repeated the calls the Pentagon has been making for years.

“What I can tell you about what Secretary Hagel believes is that we all continue to believe that the peaceful prosperous rise of China is a good thing for the region, for the world. We continue to want to improve our bilateral military relations with China and that we also think that a major component of that is increased transparency on their part about the investments they're making and the operations they're conducting, and that's where I leave it,” said Kirby.

You can hear CAPT Fanell's comments starting at the 18:55 point.