Analysts Warn Lawmakers of China’s Growing Military

China has plans to become the world’s superpower by 2050, retired US Navy Captain James Fanell told lawmakers on Thursday. 

At its current pace, the Chinese Navy will be double the size of the US Navy by 2030 – and could have better tech. “The quality of China’s warships already presents a credible threat across the Asia-Pacific today,” said Fanell, and while the US currently has better tech, China is quickly closing the gap.

China debuted its first home-built aircraft carrier in April. In recent weeks, China has conducted drills with bomber aircraft in the contested South China Sea region and has installed anti-ship and air-to-air defense outposts on islands claimed by Vietnam and the Philippines.

China has also been accused of using “debt trap diplomacy” to seize control of ports in poor countries when those countries fail to repay China for infrastructure investments. These ports could later be used for military use, said Fanell. 

China in 2017 built is very fist overseas military base in Djibouti less than 10 miles from a key American base there. The Pentagon last month accused China of directing lasers from that base to harm American pilots flying over the region. 

“It’s not their words, but their actions and enormous expenditures that point to [China’s] expanding capability to use their maritime forces to coerce, intimidate, and use force globally, as it is already doing regionally,” said Fanell, who urged lawmakers to do more to confront China and to protect Taiwan from Beijing. 

“The United States has about a decade to prepare to deter a China well on its way to global power projection,” said Fanell. “We have the ability to maintain military superiority if we commit to that goal. We can organize and lead our allies to higher levels of political coordination and economic security.” 

Author’s Note: It’s time to take our heads out of the sand and admit that China is not a friendly country nor an ally. We need to take this warning seriously and make sure that our military will always be superior. Right now China’s technology isn’t quite as good as ours, but if they keep stealing our tech it will be soon.