In order to combat China's rapid military modernization, which we have been documenting over and over and over for years, the Pentagon says it has developed a "global campaign" to take on Beijing, which it claims is "one of the central challenges" to national security.
"We have a global campaign plan for China. Each one of the combatant commanders addresses China in the context of that global campaign plan," said General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaking to the House Armed Services Committee during a congressional hearing. The new strategy will fall under the coordinating authority of Admiral Harry Harris, Commander of the US Pacific Command.
"But each of the combatant commanders has supporting plans in their respective areas of responsibilities that address specifically Chinese activity and capability in their areas," added Dunford.
Dunford made the comments in response to a question from Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), who noted China's regional expansion into the Indo Pacific region and elsewhere.
"Their activities are present (in) Africa, Europe, Latin America, et cetera. What efforts are you aware of being taken by each of the combatant commands in the different AORs (areas of responsibility) to counter the China challenge?" she asked Dunford, who described China as one of the central challenges to national security.
"China is very focused. They have multiple lanes of effort, from espionage, to the military to counter-intelligence, to propaganda arm, et cetera," Hartzler added, joined by several other lawmakers who expressed concern over the rise of China.
"China has made a clear commitment to meet US capability in artificial intelligence by 2020 and then exceed it by 2030," said Congressman Seth Wilbur Moulton.
Defense Secretary Mattis added to the discussion, noting that there are certain defensive technologies that he doesn't want to see in China's possession.
"I think you saw on the 5G effort here some weeks ago, that we move swiftly even in advance of what the process requires in order to make certain that we did not naively watch a business link up that was not in our best interest," he said. "But that was a one-shot effort. We need to look at the entire penetration of our society, and what we need to protect, and CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the US) is a key part of this."
China's Military Buildup
China's rapid military modernization is "remarkable," and is no longer merely "catching up" with the West, reported the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in their annual report on global military capabilities, released in February.
Since 2000, China has built more submarines, destroyers, frigates and corvettes than Japan, South Korea and India combined. To put this further into perspective, the total tonnage of new warships and auxiliaries launched by China in the last four years alone is significantly greater than the total tonnage of the French navy. -IISS
“China’s emerging weapons developments and broader defence-technological progress mean that it has become a global defence innovator” says Dr. John Chipman, Director-General and Chief Executive of the London-based think tank.
Bottom line: China's rapid military buildup, presence in US Universities, and its commitment to becoming a dominant global force will require that the United States either cede power in Asia, or face another Cold War of steadily increasing temperatures. Keep in mind - times are good. The next recession, whenever that might occur, will most certainly push already-strained economic and military relations between Washington and Beijing into uncharted territory
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