Frank Kendall – the Pentagon’s undersecretary of defense for acquisitions, technology, and logistics – has [8] repeatedly [9] warned [10] that America’s military advantage over China is evaporating.
The Weekly Standard reports [10]:
While the U.S. military’s budget is being cut, China’s budget has been growing at about 12 percent annually, Kendall said, and may soon be as large as the U.S.’s. China is of particular concern according to the under secretary because “no one’s studied us more — including immediately after the first Gulf War — than the Chinese. And they have been building systems since then designed to counteract some of the things that we have.”
Last month, the Washington Free Beacon reported [11] on a draft of the annual report of the congressional, bipartisan U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission which found:
China’s rapid military modernization is altering the military balance of power in the Asia Pacific in ways that could engender destabilizing security competition between other major nearby countries, such as Japan and India, and exacerbate regional hotspots such as Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea.
And Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel noted [12] in August:
China and Russia have been trying to close the technology gap by pursuing and funding long-term, comprehensive military modernization programs.
***
They are also developing anti-ship, anti-air, counter-space, cyber, electronic warfare and special operations capabilities that appear designed to counter traditional U.S. military advantages.
(The defense contractors are of course saying that we need to increase military spending. But America's military would be much further ahead if we hadn't squandered trillions of dollars [13] on staggering idiocy, pursued a foreign policy [14] which has weakened our national security, and allowed rampant and unchecked [15] fraud to plunge [16] our economy into disarming levels of debt [17].)
Offensive … Or Defensive?
I was born and raised in the U.S., and lived here all my life. So America’s national security is my number one concern.
And as an American, I simply don’t want any other country to match U.S. military superiority. I want “my team” to be top dog.
But blaming China for being bellicose and militaristic may be a little one-sided. From another perspective, China is just acting defensively.
For example, historians say that declining empires tend to attack their rising rivals … so the risk of world war is rising because the U.S. feels threatened by the rising empire of China [18].
Indeed, the U.S. government considers economic rivalry to be a basis for war [19]. And (according to one measure) China’s economy is already bigger [20] than America’s.
The U.S. is in fact systematically using its military to contain China’s growing economic influence [21].
We warned in 2012 [22] that the U.S. had re-started the Cold War with Russia. Indeed, the U.S. has been encircling Russia for [23] decades [24], and may be attempting to carry out regime change [25] in that country. China may not sit idly by [26] while Russia – its close ally and economic partner [27] – is challenged.
China has also warned against an attack on Iran [28]. This is relevant because the U.S. made the decision to threaten to bomb Iran before 9/11 [29], has been actively planning regime change in Iran for 20 years [30], and actually carried out regime change 60 years ago [31].
Indeed, the U.S. may be attempting to carry out regime change in China itself [32].
In addition, we’re in the middle of a currency war, and China is eroding the dollar’s status as world reserve currency. Currency wars often lead to shooting wars [33].
And numerous top financial experts warn [34] that the U.S. may launch World War 3 to distract the public from our failing economy.
So while China’s military build-up is troubling, it’s not entirely surprising.