A high-ranking general in the United States warned on Thursday that the Chinese regime is increasing its military capacity at a “very serious and sustained rate”, which could pose a threat to stability and world peace.
Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the United States needs to “maintain our competitive and technological advantage” over the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). His remarks came after President Joe Biden and Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin raised similar concerns in recent days about rhetoric from the CCP, and while the United States and China remain intransigent on Taiwan, violations of the CCP human rights and land disputes.
Austin told senators Thursday that Biden’s $ 715 billion defense request is necessary to meet the challenge posed by the “increasingly assertive” regime.
“The request is because we recognize that our competitors – especially China – continue to expand their capabilities,” Austin said during a hearing with the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We must stay ahead of these developments to remain a credible deterrent in conflicts around the world,” he added.
During the hearing, Milley also indicated that the combined total defense spending of China and Russia is higher than that of the United States, although he did not say how he had come to that conclusion. Other than that, China represents the “number one” military threat to the United States, he added.
Earlier this month, a bipartisan group of senators visited Taiwan and said the United States would provide 750,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to the island nation. This prompted a series of bellicose statements by Chinese officials, such as Wu Qian, a spokesman for China’s National Defense Ministry, who noted that the United States is “seriously undermining” the stability of the region.
Below Wu threatened that anyone – without naming names – who dared to “separate Taiwan from China” would suffer a “determined frontal attack” from the Chinese army. The CCP has long claimed that Taiwan belongs to it, even though Taiwan claims it is a sovereign and democratic nation. As the regime believes that Taiwan is part of its territory, it is opposed to any government or world body forging ties with the island nation.
Milley’s comment came months after another senior American commander, Admiral Philip Davidson, head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, warned before the same Senate panel that China’s military is threatening US dominance in the Pacific.
“The military balance in the Indo-Pacific is increasingly unfavorable for the United States and our allies,” Davidson said. “Our deterrence posture in the Indo-Pacific must demonstrate the ability, skill and willingness to convince Beijing unequivocally that the costs of achieving its objectives through the use of military force are simply too high.”
The Senate on Tuesday passed a nearly $ 250 billion bill to invest in manufacturing and technology to overtake Beijing, which includes about $ 190 billion of spending. Much of that money will go to research and development at universities and other institutions.
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