Tango01 | 09 Mar 2021 1:33 p.m. PST |
"China's top general has called for increased military spending to prepare for a war with the United States. General Xu Qilian, who is second in command of the country's armed forces after President Xi, said China needs to ready itself for the 'Thucydides Trap'. The term refers to the inevitability of war when a new global power displaces an existing one…" Main page link Imho ….General Xu Qilian is repeating the same thing that President Xi has been saying these past few years.
!Xi tells China's military ‘be prepared to respond' in unstable times (SCMP)."
link Armand |
USAFpilot | 09 Mar 2021 2:02 p.m. PST |
If any superpowers go to war with another, it means the world is instantly plunged into a global depression. |
JMcCarroll | 09 Mar 2021 4:39 p.m. PST |
Or we could wait until the Chinese master the genetic code for round two of Covid-19. |
pmwalt | 09 Mar 2021 5:01 p.m. PST |
War between China and others (India, the US and allies or other Indo/Pac countries would be ruinous). That said, China has been expanding steadily for the past 20-30 years (and increasing its offensive firepower ala Japan in the 20s/early 30s). |
Legion 4 | 09 Mar 2021 5:33 p.m. PST |
Yes … the PRC/CCP are in it for the long game. They won't stop until they get what they want … world domination is at the top of the list. |
arealdeadone | 09 Mar 2021 5:57 p.m. PST |
Well at some point something has to give. Either the western world acknowledges Chinese supremacy (most likely) or the western world fights back (most unlikely). There is nothing in between. Chinese initiatives such as One Belt, One Road are nothing short of global in their scope and ambition. The goal is for literally all roads, railways and maritime routes to lead to China. The Chinese won't compromise on their ambitions just like no other ascendant power has ever compromised its ambitions. In fact the only powers that willingly give anything up are the western democracies whose emphasis on consumerism means they are willing to sacrifice power (industrial, military, economic, diplomatic) to ensure consumers' insatiable hunger for physical largess is met. Personally I suspect that by 2050 China will be the dominant world power. I don't think democracy will survive much past 2100 at the latest – it's already declining across the world including in the west. |
pzivh43 | 09 Mar 2021 7:20 p.m. PST |
A dark worldview, arealdeadone. Not saying I disagree, just a grim, dark view. Sort of a Chinese Warhammer 40K world. I think at some point the US and allies will fight back. If the Chinese make a mistake and go too far somehow, it will wake us up. Maybe it won't go nuke, but a lot of people die. |
Striker | 09 Mar 2021 11:57 p.m. PST |
Agree with arealdeadone. Nothing done in the last 20 years indicates any desire or even competent planning to deal with China, and it's gotten worse in the last decade. The West has lost any desire for discomfort to challenge China, cheap goods keep goobers happy. By the time the powers that run the west feel a threat it will be far too late to even try to do anything about it. |
McKinstry | 10 Mar 2021 5:02 p.m. PST |
Even taking into account the ability of the PRC to hide some spending, the US is easily spending two to three times the PRC's military investment yet at the moment, their A2/AD strategy appears to be well founded and funded. What is the US doing wrong for all that investment? |
arealdeadone | 10 Mar 2021 9:26 p.m. PST |
McKinstry, the other issue with spending are: - western countries often include military pensions, veteran welfare and civil defence projects in defence figures. - China's military has purchasing power due to lower cost of labour and inputs. - China's defence industry is also mainly government owned so there are price efficiencies there. It's impossible to have efficient government defence acquisitions when the main purpose of the vendors is profits and share price. Goal of Raytheon or Lockmart or Boeing is maximising profits and share price (ie return on owner's equity). Goal of Norinco or AVIC is production of weapons for the Chinese military. Now given that US defence procurement is concentrated in a few mega-corporations, the US loses any potential benefit of competition and becomes dependent on the whims of defence contractors. |
Tango01 | 11 Mar 2021 12:37 p.m. PST |
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