The world could be on the brink of the next global conflict as top U.S. officials sound the alarm that China is readying to make a move that will undoubtedly result in war.
Rear Adm. Mike Studeman, the top intelligence officer, or J-2, for the East Asian command, that they are warning that “it’s danger on all fronts” in regards to Chinese military aggression and concern among U.S. officials stretches far beyond their potential invasion of Taiwan.
“This idea that it’s only a Taiwan scenario vs. many other areas where the Chinese are being highly assertive, coercive, is a failure in understanding complexity, because it’s not that simple,” he said, adding that the scenario may not even be the most likely as China is currently pressuring “lots of its neighbors.”
Speaking on China launching a military invasion of Taiwan, Studeman said, “To us, it’s only a matter of time, not a matter of ‘if,’ because if you understand the problem set, you understand that Taiwan will unlikely fold based on economic, and informational and diplomatic influence alone.”
Studeman said that U.S. officials are describing the current warpath with China the same way that Gen. Douglas McArthur described the lead up to World War II.
“’Too late,’” Studeman said. “Too late in comprehending the deadly purpose of a potential enemy. Too late in realizing the mortal danger. Too late in preparedness. Too late in uniting all possible forces for resistance.”
Studeman also said something that China themselves have made very clear publically. The communist country plans to surpass the U.S. to become the world’s top super power, adding that “Machiavellian” Chinese dictator Xi Jinping has led China’s rise “through lying, cheating and stealing.”
He further stated that China wants to have “effective control” over entire populations and that “what China is doing in Hong Kong right now is a foreshadowing of what Chinese effective control will look like in other places.”
While concern has been building for a long time that China and their malicious actions would result in the next major conflict, China’s Xi Jinping recently gave a speech commemorating the Chinese Communist Party, in which he said that China is working to “accelerate their modernization programs to develop capabilities to seize Taiwan.”
Ambassador Robert Wood, the U.S. envoy to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, said this last week that China is looking at developing advanced nuclear weapons systems that the U.S. does not have.
Examples of the “exotic nukes” that China is looking at include “nuclear-powered underwater drones and nuclear-powered cruise missiles.”
“This is something they are looking at,” Wood said. “If they were to develop … these kinds of weapons and aerial systems, this has the potential to change the strategic stability environment in a dynamic way.”
Recent satellite images have also shown that China is building hundreds of what experts believe are nuclear missile silos designed to fire intercontinental ballistic missiles from deep inside China.
Author: Brayden Polk