China watchChina Speeding Up Plans to Overtake U.S. on World Stage, Says U.S. Commander
The inability of the United States to adequately push back against China’s growing military might is spurring Beijing to accelerate its plans to remake the current international order in its image, a top U.S. military commander told lawmakers Tuesday.
The inability of the United States to adequately push back against China’s growing military might is spurring Beijing to accelerate its plans to remake the current international order in its image, a top U.S. military commander told lawmakers Tuesday.
Concerns about China’s aggressive behavior are not new — U.S. military and intelligence officials repeatedly warned about Chinese military investment, disinformation, and espionage and cyber operations — under former U.S. President Donald Trump. But the admonitions have taken on a renewed urgency under current President Joe Biden, whose defense secretary has repeatedly labeled China a “pacing threat.”
“I worry they’re accelerating their ambitions to supplant the United States and our leadership role in the rules-based international order,” Adm. Philip Davidson, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, testified before members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“They’ve long said that they want to do that by 2050,” he said. “I’m worried about them moving that target closer.”
Davidson, who is set to retire later this year, has spent the past few weeks trying to bring more attention to the danger posed by an ever-bolder China.
On Tuesday, he called China “the greatest long-term strategic threat to security in the 21st century,” and he echoed earlier warnings about an erosion of “conventional deterrence” against Beijing.
“The military balance in the Indo-Pacific is becoming more unfavorable for the United States and our allies,” Davidson said. “With this imbalance, we are accumulating risk that may embolden China to unilaterally change the status quo before our forces may be able to deliver an effective response.”
U.S. officials warn that China’s military is in some cases replacing the combination of economic incentives and coercion that once defined Beijing’s approach to the global power competition.
“You’re going to find a very global, expeditionary Chinese military that will be there to step in anywhere they think China’s interests are jeopardized,” U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s top intelligence officer, Navy Rear Adm. Michael Studeman, told a virtual conference last week.
And officials fear that approach will likely be strengthened as China continues to close the capability gap with the U.S. military.
China is expected to increase its defense spending by 6.8% in the coming fiscal year. Some projections even envision the Chinese navy being able to outgun the U.S. in the Indo-Pacific, from a 3-1 advantage in aircraft carriers up to a 54 to six advantage in modern, multimission combat ships, by 2025.
This article is published courtesy of the Voice of America (VOA).
