Posted on 05/18/2011 8:59:11 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
China has no intention to match US military power, a top Chinese general has said.
Speaking in Washington, Gen Chen Bingde said America's armed forces remained far more advanced than China's despite considerable progress by China in recent years.
But Gen Chen warned that further US arms sales to Taiwan could damage US-China military relations.
China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that must be reunited. 'Gaping gap'
"China never intends to challenge the US," Gen Chen, chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army, said at the National Defense University during his week-long visit to the US.
"Although China's defence and military development has come a long way in recent years, a gaping gap between you and us remains."
But Gen Chen warned that US-Chinese relations would suffer if Washington again sold weapons to Taiwan.
"As to how bad the impact will be, it will depend on the nature of the weapons sold to Taiwan," he said.
Last year, Beijing cut off most military-to-military contacts with the US after Washington announced more than $6bn (£4bn) arms sales to Taipei.
Gen Chen's visit to the US has drawn a strongly favourable press in China - a signal of the importance that the Chinese authorities are now placing on better military ties, the BBC's defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus says.
But there should be no illusions, our correspondent says, as superficial harmony inevitably masks significant underlying tensions.
The aim of China's extensive military modernisation, he adds, is to extend its military reach well beyond its own shores and to potentially neutralise weapons systems where the US has a dominant advantage.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
I call shenanigans.
OK, I call BS. I read a book written by the Chinese General Staff on their plan to dominate us. Gee military was a big part of that.
Sun Tzu would be proud. Ahem, some of us have read him here.
Missing tanks, small arms, artillery, mortars and Reserves on that chart. I thibj the balance would tip to China when those are factored in. Taking ground and holding it is important than air and sea weapons systems.
Not for a while.
Naw. China can’t really project their force beyond their sphere of influence in Asia.
U.S. Military power is Chinese military power. They are paying for it. We are using their dollars to fund it. We don’t own anything. We are bankrupt. We own our military might the same way a mortgage holder ‘owns’ his home.
Of course they will never attack us. They would be blowing up their own stuff.
Trying to match the US will mean ending up like the USSR. Having enough capability to deter US influence is good enough for them.
Yep. It's in China's interest when the Americans intervene in the Middle East in order to secure that oil is being supplied to oil-thirsty nations.
A general from Communist China? Why of course I believe him.
Of course their goal is not to match our power. Their goal is to exceed our power.
If they decide to walk troops over to the Middle East for oil and establish a presence there, the US would be hard pressed to dislodge them.
I don’t ever see a Chinese invasion of the USA, but I expect they will want us out of Asia and would like to be the hegemon of their part of the world. Then they certainly would have the potential to make things unpleasant for Japan and Russia.
Why should they try to match us when they can literally wait for the US economic implosion in the form of a national/sovereign default and then come in and take what they want? /s =.=
The Chinese making things unpleasant for Japan would have a particular historical significance, which I am most certain the Chinese would relish.
That's why you are only Colonel Kangaroo.
General Kangaroo would know better.
The Chinese mindset is not 10 or 15 years, but hundreds.
They don’t want to match us, they want to surpass us, both militarily and economically.
A Chinese invasion of the USA would have to overcome the stopping power of water, distance and the general tendency for the offense-defense military balance to significantly favor defense. The country that has the most to fear from China is Russia.
Nah, when it comes to all out war between superpowers, it’s that staggering 240 nukes vs 9,400 nukes that China is no position to equal or neutralize any time soon.
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