Photos puts China’s ‘galloping military buildup’ on vivid display

Aerial image of the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai

 

China’s military spending for 2019 will increase by 7.5 percent to about $177.61 billion, as revealed on March 3, 2019 by an official at Chinese Communist Party’s annual National People’s Consultative Congress.

U.S. hits back against Chinese cyberattacks

The Chinese military hacker unit has conducted operations since at least 2013 in support of China’s naval modernization effort. (U.S. Navy) (Photo by: Samuel Shavers)

 

American intelligence and military cyberwarriors have begun conducting counter-cyberattacks against Chinese intelligence and military targets, according to a U.S. official.

The counterattacks are part of a new Trump administration policy designed to retaliate for rampant cybertheft of American technology by the Chinese that has caused estimated losses ranging from $200 billion to $600 billion a year. Details of the U.S. cyberoperations were not disclosed, and the activities remain classified.

The hacking is likely to include theft of Chinese advanced military know-how, such as hypersonic missile technology — an area of military research where China is believed to be ahead of the United States. Another possible target would be technology related to China’s anti-ship ballistic missile technology like that deployed in the DF-21D ship-killing missile. Such technology requires maneuvering warheads and special guidance.

China Significantly Boosts Size of Navy and Air Force, Downsizes Army

An airman of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force operates an aircraft during a drill on the second flight training day of the New Year at Liaodong Peninsula on January 3, in Liaoning province, China. (Getty Images)

 

‘Transformational changes’ in military priorities are enhancing Beijing’s ability to flex its muscles far beyond China’s borders.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (pla) is undergoing “transformational changes” to greatly boost the size of its navy and air force and to downsize its land-based army by nearly half, the nation’s official Xinhua news agency said on January 20.

“This new data is unprecedented in the history of the pla,” the agency wrote. As a result of the changes, it said, “the Army now accounts for less than 50 percent of the total number of pla troops; almost half of our noncombatant units have been made redundant.”

Pentagon: Chinese Military Units Training With ASAT missiles

 

China, Russia militarizing space to challenge U.S.

Chinese military forces have deployed multiple units armed with anti-satellite (ASAT) missiles that can destroy scores of American satellites, according to a Pentagon intelligence report.

The new report by the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, known as NASIC, revealed that People’s Liberation Army units have begun training with the satellite-killing missiles.

The report warns that China, along with Russia, has developed an array of space arms designed to challenge U.S. space superiority. The report was made public last month.

Pentagon: ‘Rising Chinese Military Has Taiwan in Its Crosshairs’

Always remember a Chinese war with Taiwan goes beyond the scope of simple reunification via force. As per the quotes page:

“The central committee believes, as long as we resolve the United States problem at one blow, our domestic problems will all be readily solved. Therefore, our military battle preparation appears to aim at Taiwan, but in fact is aimed at the United States, and the preparation is far beyond the scope of attacking aircraft carriers or satellites.”

– Chi Haotian, Minster of Defense and vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission

 

Soldiers attend the state memorial ceremony for China’s National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims at the Nanjing massacre memorial hall on December 13, 2018 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province of China. (Getty Images)

 

China is ‘on the verge of fielding some of the most modern weapon systems in the world. In some areas, it already leads the world.’

China has made major military advancements and developed new weapons technologies as it works to boost its ability to wage war over places such as Taiwan, according to a January 15 report from the United States Defense Intelligence Agency.

“Beijing’s long-standing interest to eventually compel Taiwan’s reunification with the mainland and deter any attempt by Taiwan to declare independence has served as the primary driver for China’s military modernization,” the report said.

Satellite Images Reveal China Is Building Secret War Bunkers Near Indian Border

 

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has constructed a new, underground facility (UGF) about 31 miles from the India-China border, and 37 miles from the Indian Army’s forward posts at Demchok in Ladakh.

According to The Print, satellite imagery identified a deeply buried hardened target (DBHT) under construction outside the town of Ngari, also known as Shiquanhe in Mandarin.

New US Intelligence Study: China “Already Leads The World” In Key Weapons Technologies

 

A newly released Pentagon unclassified intelligence report authored by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) comes to some shocking and alarming conclusions concerning China’s rapid advances in advanced military technology in answer to the question: “What are Beijing’s strategic intentions?”

The report finds that as a result of “acquiring technology by any means available” — especially in the areas of naval and missile systems, including intermediate range missiles and hypersonic weapons, capable of allowing missiles to travel at many times the speed of sound — China’s defense tech is not only at the cutting edge but “In some areas, it already leads the world.”

Pentagon Reports: Chinese Engaged in Global Power Play

(Photo Credit: Petty Officer 1st Class Chad McNeeley/U.S. Navy)

 

Defense Department warns One Belt One Road favors military and civilian projects that are a direct challenge to U.S. strategic interests.

A pair of reports this week from the Pentagon have sounded alarm bells for Washington, D.C., over China’s use of its ever-growing military, trade, and infrastructure networks, which they assert are being used to pursue a goal of global domination and direct confrontation with American interests around the world.

China Mobilizes DF-26 Missiles in Response to Warship Passage

 

Nuclear, intermediate-range anti-ship missiles shown on television after Navy warship sails S. China Sea

China has mobilized nuclear-capable intermediate-range missiles in response to the passage of a Navy warship near disputed islands in the South China Sea this week, according to state-run Chinese media.

The long-range, anti-ship ballistic missile known as the DF-26—dubbed the “Guam-killer” because of its ability to strike targets on the U.S. western Pacific island—was moved in northwestern China, China Central Television reported Wednesday.

President Xi Orders Chinese Army To “Prepare For War”

 

In just a few short days, China has proved that investors who have been underestimating the geopolitical risks stemming from the simmering tensions between the US and China over the latter’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and paranoia over the fate of Taiwan – a de facto independent state that President Xi Jinping is aggressively seeking to bring under the heel of Beijing – have done so at their own peril.

Earlier this week Xi Jinping, the Chinese emperor for life president provoked an angry rebuke from Taiwan’s pro-independence president when he demanded during a landmark speech earlier this week that Taiwan submit to “reunification” with Beijing.

And as if tensions between China and the international community weren’t already high enough amid a worsening economic slowdown that’s hurting global economic growth and a tenuous trade “truce” with the US,  in another speech delivered on Friday during a meeting of top officials from China’s Central Military Commission which he leads, Xi took his belligerent rhetoric one step further by issuing his first military command of 2019: that “all military units must correctly understand major national security and development trends, and strengthen their sense of unexpected hardship, crisis and battle.”

‘Sink two aircraft carriers’: Chinese Admiral’s chilling recipe to dominate the South China Sea

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is silhouetted during a sunset. The ability of such ships to survive a modern battlefield is being questioned. Picture: USNSource: Supplied

 

Beijing has a devastating plan to force the world out of the East and South China Seas — and it could cost the US 10,000 lives.

They’re the pride of the US fleet: enormous 100,000 tonne, 333m long nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. But Beijing thinks they’re Washington’s achilles heel.

Rear Admiral Lou Yuan has told an audience in Shenzhen that the ongoing disputes over the ownership of the East and South China Seas could be resolved by sinking two US super carriers.

GAME CHANGER: China tests sub-launched nuclear missile that can strike America from thousands of miles away

The People’s Liberation Army is developing a formidable submarine force which can be used to nuke America

 

Beijing is spending billions on creating a submarine force which is capable of wiping out American cities and military bases. Previously its sea launched nukes were not powerful enough to reach the US mainland

CHINA has successfully tested a submarine launched missile which can unleash a nuclear holocaust anywhere in the United States, sources have revealed.

The game-changing Chinese military flight tested the Julong-3 missile that will be deployed with the next generation of ballistic missile submarines which are in the pipeline.

Is U.S. Geopolitical Strategy Experiencing a Monumental Shift?

 

The defining question about global order for this generation is whether China and the United States can escape Thucydides’s Trap. The Greek historian’s metaphor reminds us of the attendant dangers when a rising power rivals a ruling power—as Athens challenged Sparta in ancient Greece, or as Germany did Britain a century ago. Most such contests have ended badly, often for both nations, a team of mine at the Harvard Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs has concluded after analyzing the historical record. In 12 of 16 cases over the past 500 years, the result was war. When the parties avoided war, it required huge, painful adjustments in attitudes and actions on the part not just of the challenger but also the challenged.

– From Graham Allison’s article: The Thucydides Trap: Are the U.S. and China Headed for War?

For the past two years, my geopolitical assumption has been that the Trump administration would more or less continue along with the reckless, shortsighted, and disastrous neocon/neoliberal interventionist foreign policy of the past two decades focused on undeclared regime change and proxy wars across the world, especially the Middle East. Given his strange obsession with Iran, I figured he’d start a conflict there and that this conflict would end up a bigger disaster than Iraq.

China Accused Of “Huge Hack” Of Thousands Of European Diplomatic Cables

Step side Russia: the new global hacking bogeyman is now officially China.

Just days after the US accused Beijing of hacking hundreds of millions of Marriott accounts and extracting the private data of countless Americans, even as the ongoing diplomatic feud over Chinese “intermediation” in western communications via the likes of Huawei escalates, moments ago the EU unveiled that China was now also the new Wikileaks, accusing hacker tied to China’s People’s Liberation Army of a “huge hack” of its diplomatic cables and reviving fears about vulnerabilities in the 28-country bloc’s data systems.

Report Details China’s ‘Informatized’ Military Expansion

Chinese People’s Liberation Army troops practice marching as they arrive at Tiananmen Gate for a military parade on Sept. 3, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Andy Wong/Getty Images)

 

China’s economic advancement is allowing it to develop a powerful, and threatening military force

China’s People Liberation Army (PLA) has expanded significantly under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who demands for the Chinese military to be “accelerating toward informatization.” The annual Department of Defense report regarding China detailed the PLA’s recent developments.

Xi says that now is a “period of strategic opportunity,” while military officials set the objective of winning “informatized local wars.” The word “informatize” is similar to the word “industrialize,” means that all aspects of warfare must be computerized.