Analysts and allies are growing concerned about America’s military capabilities in the Pacific.
In a report released Friday, researchers at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Center claim Chinese forces could wipe out US forces in the Indo-Pacific region in a matter of hours.
The shocking report is in line with findings by the National Defense Strategy Commission, which in November 2018 warned lawmakers that the US military “might struggle to win or perhaps lose a war against China or Russia.”
In recent years, the Pentagon’s Indo-Pacific strategy has focused on limiting Chinese expansion and strengthening partnerships with allies – but it has not prepared us for a full-scale military attack.
Other factors contributing to our weakened position in the Pacific:
- Continued military focus in Middle East
- Budget cuts
- Underinvestment in advanced military technology
- China’s counter-intervention systems and investments in military tech
Making matters worse is the “outdated superpower mindset” in Washington as well as the “growing partisanship and ideological polarization” in Congress, explains the report.
Nearly all US military facilities in the Indo-Pacific region “could be rendered useless by precision strikes in the opening hours of a conflict.”
The Chinese military has upwards of 2,000 missiles and has built roughly 470 missile launchers since 2014.
“Asymmetries in power, time, distance, and interest would all work against an effective American response…Under present-day US posture in the region, most American and allied bases and forward-deployed ships, troops, and aircraft would struggle to survive a PLA salvo attack, and would be initially forced to focus on damage limitation rather than blunting the thrust of a Chinese offensive.”
The report comes amid increasing tension with China in relation to trade and the South China Sea.
Last week, Beijing condemned the Trump Administration’s $8 billion sale of fighter jets to Taiwan and accused members of Congress of exacerbating the protests in Hong Kong.
Despite a massive increase in defense spending, Chinese officials say they are following a “path of peaceful development” in the Pacific.
Editor’s note: Everyone knows that the Chinese goal is to be the greatest world power. They have managed to build an economy based on stealing U.S. intellectual property and developing a very cheap workforce, and they have invested massive quantities of those stolen dollars on military technology.
Yes, a surprise attack might indeed be devastating for the U.S. Don’t count us out, we have overall more military strength than China and can certainly beat them. But China knows that incremental victories may be difficult and time consuming to push back, and that America’s political will to kick them back out might flag in the face of thousands of potential casualties.