- US Adm. John Aquilino said China’s military is building up at a rate not seen since World War II.
- That puts it on the path to meeting its goal of being ready to invade Taiwan by 2027, he said.
- Aquilino, the outgoing head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, urged Washington to accelerate military development.
China’s rapid military build-up is more expansive than anything seen since World War II, which means it’s on track with its 2027 goal to be ready for a Taiwan invasion, said US Navy Adm. John Aquilino.
“All indications point to the PLA meeting President Xi Jinping’s directive to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027,” Aquilino wrote in a testimony to the US Armed Services House Committee.
“Furthermore, the PLA’s actions indicate their ability to meet Xi’s preferred timeline to unify Taiwan with mainland China by force if directed,” added the admiral, the outgoing head of the US Indo-Pacific Command.
To be honest, that graph is a bit worrying especially if you look at PPP. I’m not saying “China will build more aircraft carriers than the US” or some such nonsense. I’m saying there is no point going to 300 bil if you don’t want to fight the US. India is their other closest rival.
I’m not sure they would succeed, but I’m worried they might try.
The thing that’s always so misleading about these numbers is that everything costs more in the US to begin with. A lot of that expense is just for US labor, which costs more per person than at least most countries. The graph is a lot more reasonable when you do [% of gdp] (https://www.statista.com/statistics/266892/military-expenditure-as-percentage-of-gdp-in-highest-spending-countries/)
I think they’re probably more worried about the us invading them. We’re the ones who’ve been invading countries most in the past 100 years, not china.
Their own rhetoric says otherwise. The whole saber-rattling thing brings people closer to war, not peace.