All time high, page-189

China building offensive, aggressive military, top US Pacific commander says
By CNN
1:28pm Mar 11, 2021

China is assembling an increasingly offensive military and expanding its regional footprint, as Beijing steps up efforts to supplant American military power in Asia, a top US commander warned Congress.
"I cannot for the life of me understand some of the capabilities that they're putting in the field unless it is an aggressive posture," Admiral Philip Davidson, the head of US Indo-Pacific Command, said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"I see them developing systems, capabilities and a posture that would indicate that they're interested in aggression," Davidson said.
Mr Davidson, who in the hearing defended budget requests for billions of dollars of new weaponry in the Pacific, said the increased investment was necessary to deter Chinese military ambition in the region.
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Admiral Philip Davidson, head of US Indo-Pacific Command (CNN)
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Describing China as "the greatest long-term strategic threat to security in the 21st century" Mr Davidson said Beijing has been carrying out increasingly threatening moves, citing Chinese military activity around Taiwan, along its disputed border with India and even around US islands in the Pacific.


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"I'm worried that they're accelerating their ambitions … to supplant the United States and our leadership role in the rules-based international order, which they've long said that they want to do that by 2050. I'm worried about them moving that target closer," Mr Davidson said.
China is adamant its military is defensive
"The development of China's national defence aims to meet its rightful security needs and contribute to the growth of the world's peaceful forces," the country's 2019 defence white paper said.
"China will never threaten any other country or seek any sphere of influence."
Concerning Taiwan, the self-governed democratic island that China claims as its sovereign territory, Mr Davidson said Beijing may make a move to take control of it in the near future.
"I think the threat is manifest during this decade, in fact in the next six years," he said, adding that the threat to Taiwan is increasing while the US' ability to deter Chinese actions is "eroding."

Taiwan has staged a drill designed to oppose an attack from China. (AP)
Asked if it is necessary for the US to defend Taiwan, Mr Davidson said inaction would damage the US' international status and harm its credibility as a defence partner.
Mainland China and Taiwan have been governed separately since the end of a bloody civil war in 1949 but Beijing has vowed to never allow the island to become formally independent and has refused to rule out the use of force if necessary.
"Taiwan is an inalienable part of China," Defense Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Wu Qian said in January.
"The PLA will take all necessary measures to resolutely defeat any attempt by the 'Taiwan independence' separatists, and firmly defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Taiwan will receive 66 new American-made F-16 fighter jets in the biggest arms sale to the self-governing island in years. (Airman 1st Class Adrian Salazar/USAF)
Citing Taiwan and Beijing's territorial disputes with neighbors, Mr Wu on Sunday defended China's just-announced 6.8 per cent increase in military spending for 2021, saying that "the world is not peaceful and our national defense must be strong," according to state media.
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'Guam is a target today'
While China's military has long been upping its presence close to its shores, in places like Taiwan and the South China Sea, Davidson revealed it is becoming more active around the US Pacific Island territories.
"We're seeing Chinese naval deployments of service task groups and submarines that make circumnavigations of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas," he said.
He also cited a Chinese propaganda video that depicted bombers hitting Andersen Air Force Base on Guam as well as Beijing's robust ballistic missile forces, which are well within reach of the Micronesian island from the Chinese mainland.