U.S. President Barack Obama (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands at the end of their news conference in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing November 12, 2014 (Reuters / Kevin Lamarque)
Zachary Keck, National Interest: Most Chinese Say Their Military Can Crush America in Battle
The vast majority of Chinese citizens believe the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could seize islands in the East and South China Seas, even if the U.S. military were to intervene in the conflicts.
No less than 87 percent of respondents said that the Chinese military already possessed the capability to take back the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands from Japan, according to a recent public opinion poll. When asked whether they still believed the PLA could achieve this objective if the U.S. intervened in the conflict, 74 percent said yes.
WNU Editor: My last trip to China was over two years ago .... so I am a little bit "out of touch". But at that time the Chinese did not only have the confidence to defeat a country like Japan, but they also felt confident that they could hold back any conventional military reprisal from the U.S. .... but they were still worried and unsure. Fast forward to today .... this Chinese sentiment of being able to defeat the U.S. in a conflict is a frightening development because deterrence has always been a lynchpin to U.S. national security .... especially against countries like China. If that is failing .... this will then change the dynamics profoundly not only against China, but elsewhere.
2 comments:
The US has seemed somewhat ineffectual from a military perspective. Extremely poor returns at enormous costs. My dad, who died twenty years ago would often say that "the Chinese could bury the US with their hats."
Bob ... your dad definitely had a sense of humor .... and who would probably be smiling right now that we are talking about him 20 years later.
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