Politico: China could soon outgun the U.S.
Welcome, China Watchers. This week’s guest host is Jacqueline Deal, senior fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, co-founder of the American Academy for Strategic Education and president of LTSG, a defense consultancy. She’s been tracking China’s military buildup for two decades and has testified frequently before the congressional U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission. Over to you, Jackie. — John Yearwood, global news editor.
The People’s Liberation Army is the oft-cited but poorly understood “pacing threat” during U.S. debates about the defense budget, which the White House will release Friday. Though Pentagon officials since the Obama administration have called the Chinese military the U.S.’s most capable rival, data about what China has actually been spending, or what it’s bought, remains scarce. Research into Chinese defense investments since 2000 reveals that, compared with the United States, China has prioritized purchasing weapons and equipment over spending on personnel salaries or on operations and maintenance. As a result, the U.S. military is on track to be outgunned — potentially in quantity and quality of armaments — by the end of President Joe Biden’s first term.
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WNU Editor: My Chinese contacts and friends tell me a different story. They say China needs another 10 or 20 years before they "feel" that they are "equal" to the U.S. military.
If the Chinese focus is to "overtake" the US military then they are making a fundamental mistake.
ReplyDeleteTo all who could comment favorable to China, the chinese needs you now.
ReplyDeleteI think the editor's contacts are pulling his leg. Many Americans "feel" as though China has already militarily surpassed us. Whose right? The only way to "know" for certain is to have an actual military confrontation.
ReplyDeleteWith that said some claims are so patently absurd that they are easily dismissed. The notion that based upon current trends China needs ten to twenty years to catch us is just one of those claims. In fact, if we were to take the exact opposite position, it would be more likely to be correct. Also, in a military confrontation we would not only be facing China. We'd be facing their allies as well.
What are the editor's friends and contacts up to? While I'm not certain, I suspect they study Sun Tzu. One of the things he taught is when you are strong appear weak. Given the propensity of US leaders to both overestimate our abilities while underestimating those of adversaries and potential adversaries, it's not hard to understand why China would pursue such a strategy. Essentially instill a sense of complacency in adversary.
At this point in time, our leadership does not inspire confidence. A number of astute commenters here have figured this out. If we have, I'm sure our "allies" have as well. Should a military conflict come to pass in the interest of survival and hopefully winning barring major and fundamental changes to our leadership I'm pretty sure we will not be allowed to lead it.
Anon (10:14),
ReplyDeleteBased upon current actions I do see a real possibility China could overreach. I'm this case, we prevail not because of our own prowess but because of the extreme hubris of an adversary.
China CCP is working as USSR: copying a lot and producing even more. That said, China will always be behind America... only if America is reacting as at this time. Unfortunately it doesn't looks like that.
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