Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, speaking at a forum on December 8, said the Communist Party of China (CPC), which is economically strong, is investing heavily in upgrading its military capabilities in an attempt to catch up with the United States by 2035 and aims to defeat the United States in a military conflict by mid-century.
Milley participated in the Wall Street Journal CEO Summit that day by video. He spoke about Beijing’s military ambitions and said that the Chinese Communist Party is on the path to trying to do so. He said, “This is undoubtedly a major security challenge for the United States right now and for years to come.” To defend itself against the rising Communist Party, the U.S. must develop its own economic and military power, Milley said. He warned, “We don’t want the great power rivalry to turn into a great power war. If it did, it would be a disaster.”
Forty years ago, Milley said, the Chinese Communist Party was no match for the United States in terms of military power. As China’s economy has grown, he said, Beijing has invested heavily in building an ocean-going navy, developing new fighter jets, strengthening its A2/AD capabilities, and expanding its military reach into space and the Internet. He argues that the Chinese Communist Party’s military power is now so impressive that it will one day be on a par with the United States. The U.S. military must be prepared to launch offensive and defensive operations in space and cyberspace, especially against adversaries like the CCP and Russia, both of which are developing military capabilities in these areas, Milley said.
According to official documents, the 19th CPC National Congress made a strategic arrangement for the modernization of national defense and the military, emphasizing the need to ensure the basic realization of mechanization by 2020, significant progress in the construction of information technology, a major improvement in strategic capabilities, and strive to achieve the basic modernization of national defense and the military by 2035, and by the middle of this century, the people’s army will be fully built into a world-class army.
In addition, Milley said at a U.S. Naval Institute online symposium on September 3 that China is rapidly improving its robotic weapons strength, “they not only want to catch up with us, but also want to surpass us, dominate us, and want to beat us in armed conflict by the middle of this century. According to the U.S. Department of Defense’s annual assessment of China’s military capabilities, released in September, China currently has more than 200 nuclear bombs, is expected to at least double that number over the next 10 years, and is close to achieving a “nuclear trinity” capability to launch nuclear attacks from land, sea, and air.
Last week, U.S. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe accused the Communist Party of stealing U.S. defense technology for military modernization, saying, “The People’s Republic of China poses the greatest threat to the United States today, and the greatest threat to democracy and freedom around the world since World War II. He said, “The intelligence is clear: Beijing intends to dominate the United States and the rest of the planet economically, militarily, and technologically.”
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