The Secretary of Defense office released a report detailing their concerns about China. The report reveals China is ahead of us when it comes to its military strength in numerous ways and the report also states China’s goal is to surpass us by 2049. This is especially concerning when you consider we are likely going to be in conflict with China soon, because, according to Biden, we have committed to defending Taiwan.
“China has already achieved parity with—or even exceeded—the United States in several military modernization areas, including:
– Shipbuilding: The PRC has the largest navy in the world, with an overall battle force of approximately 350 ships and submarines including over 130 major surface combatants. In comparison, the U.S. Navy’s battle force is approximately 293 ships as of early 2020. China is the top ship-producing nation in the world by tonnage and is increasing its shipbuilding capacity and capability for all naval classes.
– Land-based conventional ballistic and cruise missiles: The PRC has developed its conventional missile forces unrestrained by any international agreements. The PRC has more than 1,250 ground-launched ballistic missiles (GLBMs) and ground-launched cruise missiles (GLCMs) with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. The United States currently fields one type of conventional GLBM with a range of 70 to 300 kilometers and no GLCMs.
– Integrated air defense systems: The PRC has one of the world’s largest forces of advanced long-range surface-to-air systems—including Russian-built S-400s, S-300s, and domestically produced systems—that constitute part of its rob
– The People’s Liberation Army Army (PLAA) is the largest standing ground force in the world.” The PLAA “has approximately 975,000 active-duty personnel in combat units. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, border clashes with
India, and other significant events in 2020, the PLAA accelerated its training and fielding of equipment from the already fast pace of recent years. The PLAA also strove to increase the realism of its training and the effectiveness of Opposition Force (OPFOR) units.”
China’s current goal:
“The PRC’s strategy aims to achieve “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” by 2049 to match or surpass U.S. global influence and power, displace U.S. alliances and security partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region, and revise the international order to be more advantageous to Beijing’s authoritarian system and national interests. This strategy can be characterized as a determined pursuit of far-ranging efforts to expand the PRC’s national power.”
You can read more here.
You’d think with a report like this, Biden would be putting more into beefing up our military, but I guess that would make sense and that’s just not what this Administration is about. So hopefully we can play catch-up in 2022 when the GOP hopefully takes back the House.