What's a Little Espionage Between Friends?

Once upon a time, 1987 in fact, there was a case which at the time seemed to largely disappear among the revelations of the criminal actions of numerous Reagan administration officials, and quite probably Reagan himself, in what is quaintly remembered as the "Iran-Contra" scandal. A retrospective on I/C is certainly called for, but not here and now. Current events to which we will refer momentarily force a reappraisal of that "other" case, a case involving US nuclear submarine technology, espionage, and the ultimate loyalty of business to profit over loyalty or patriotism.
The case to which I refer involved the Toshiba Corporation, and its illegal sale of the machinery necessary to produce the nearly-silent propellors of the US nuclear submarine fleet to the Soviets.
From wiki:

"...illegally selling CNC milling machines used to produce very quiet submarine
propellers to the Soviet Union in violation of the CoCom agreement, an international embargo on Western exports to East Bloc countries. The Toshiba-Kongsberg scandal involved a subsidiary of Toshiba and the Norwegian company Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk. The incident strained relations between the United States and Japan, and resulted in the arrest and prosecution of two senior executives, as well as the imposition of sanctions on the company by both countries.[1] The US had always relied on the fact that the Soviets had noisy boats, so technology that would make the USSR's submarines harder to detect created a significant threat to America's security. Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania said "What Toshiba and Kongsberg did was ransom the security of the United States for $517 million."

Yep. Japanese industry selling US propellor-machining technology, to the Soviets, during the Cold War, with immediately-observable results: the Soviet Akula-class submarines immediately afterward became much quieter.

So why should this come to mind now, twenty years later?
Headlines, and stories, like this one from the Cleveland Leader, are the reason why:

"Chinese Sub Pops Up Undetected in U.S. Navy Exercise"

So, evidently what happened is, a Chinese submarine recently surfaced in the middle of a US carrier battle group during fleet exercises. From the Leader:

"...when a Chinese submarine popped up undetected in the middle of a Pacific Ocean exercise, dangerously close to the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, American military chiefs were left dumbfounded and red-faced...At least a dozen warships are used to provide a physical guard, and using advanced technology... By the time the Chinese sub surfaced, the 160ft Song Class diesel-electric attack submarine sailed within viable range for launching torpedoes or missles at the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, a 1,000ft. supercarrier with 4,500 military personnel onboard."

So we're clear on what happened here, correct? A Chinese submarine, a diesel-electric boat of the type America phased out in the late '50's-early 60's, successfully evaded all surveillance aircraft, all destroyer, cruiser, and attack-sub screens, all of the combined, integrated sonar technology of the most advanced anti-submarine technology ever, penetrated the perimeter of a carrier task force, and then revealed itself by surfacing in the middle of the battle group.

Okay, I will grant that as yet I know of no ironclad linkage between the Toshiba Corporation's treachery and the appearance of a Chinese sub which is quiet enough to compromise a US Navy battle group-any statistician will tell you that correlation is not causation-but the converse is certainly true: the Chinese sub could not have done what it did without that technology, either stolen or developed independently. Therefore, it is reasonable to ask, "Would it have been quicker and cheaper for the Chinese to simply buy this technology, or pay in both money and time to develop it independently?"

Of course they bought it. The only question is from whom.

First, General van Riper shows how an assymmetric battle plan could put a carrier task force on the bottom. Now we have the Chinese announcing to the world, through a stunning demonstration, their ability to defeat state-of-the-art US Navy anti-submarine technology.
That the US Navy is losing the overwhelming technological superiority it has enjoyed for thirty years seems obvious: the question and debate will be what to do about it. Technology is the force-multplier that enables the US to project power across and essentially dominate the oceans of the world, and without that advantage, those US aircraft carriers are suddenly converted from symbols of pride and power into the world's largest mobile targets.
Another calculation to consider is, what is the strategic goal of the Chinese in carrying out this mission? No Chinese submarine skipper is going to throw away his career and very likely his life by doing such a thing on his own authority-therefore it can be safely assumed that this mission was conceived and ordered at the highest levels of the Chinese government. Why? I believe a correct analysis of this event will identify it as a psyop. A psychological operation-to demoralize the US, to bolster China's international standing, and through embarrassing the US Navy, to claim a certain practical equivalence. It may also function as an advertisement for Chinese military hardware, as China could possibly gain an increased share of the world's military-hardware market by providing effective, cheaper alternatives to US and Western hardware. It also serves as a warning to the US, phrased something like this: You cannot protect those carriers. Think about that before you decide to interfere in Chinese affairs.
Other than technology and protection of trade routes, what is the intersection point of the interests of China and the US Navy?

Taiwan, of course.

A couple other points-1), it should be obvious at this point why it is dangerous to let corporations make policy, and 2), excepting Taiwan, no nation on Earth should fear the Chinese as much as Japan, as a result of Japanese conduct of the war against China from 1933-1945 and their subsequent whitewash of the history. In light of these facts and the ongoing decline of American power in the region, it would amaze me at this point if Japan were NOT working on a nuclear-weapons program.

This does not bode well for the future of the Empire.

Update: After the Toshiba case became public and the Congress voted to ban Toshiba's sales in the US, who do you suppose was the spin doctor the Reagan Administration sent out to suddenly reverse course and claim the case was no big deal?

Give up?

Richard Armitage.

That's right-the same Richard Armitage who would go on to infamy as the original source for Robert Novak's leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity and status. I guess one just can't keep a good traitor down.