“US Department of Defense Readies for Potential Conflict with China”

WASHINGTON – Military United States of America (US) must be prepared for a possible confrontation with China , Pentagon leaders said Thursday (23/3/2023). The Pentagon is pushing Congress to approve the Defense Department’s proposed $842 billion budget.

“This is a strategy-driven budget – and one driven by the seriousness of our strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in testimony before the House defense subcommittee.

“The growing alliance between China and Russia, the two nuclear powers, and Xi’s offer to Putin during the Ukraine war are “disturbing,” Austin continued.

He added that the US has yet to see China providing weapons to Russia, but if it did, “it would prolong the conflict and certainly expand the potential for conflict not only in the region but globally.”

Pointing to new technological advances, such as hypersonics, Austin said the budget proposes to spend more than $9 billion, a 40 percent increase from last year, to build military capabilities in the Pacific and defend allies.

The testimony came after Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow, which added to fears that China would increase its support for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine and further threaten the West.

“China’s actions are moving it down a path towards confrontation and potential conflict with its neighbors and possibly the United States,” said General Mark Milley, chairman of the US military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He said prevention and preparation for war were very expensive, but not as expensive as fighting. “And, this budget prevents war and prepares us to go to war if necessary,” he continued.