China Looks To Take Advantage Of Declining American Power

China Looks To Take Advantage Of Declining American Power

February 24, 2014 | Darrell Gleason

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China, sensing growing weakness in American military might, is building up its missile defense systems and flexing its naval muscles in the South China Sea.

China has been developing a new missile system for its People’s Liberation Army, specifically designed to overwhelm strike American missile defenses so strikes can be launched against aircraft carriers, military installations and cities in the U.S.

The Chinese are seeking to capitalize on America’s vulnerability, which has heightened it recent years due to defense cutbacks and the release of secret information by Edward Snowden, a former CIA computer specialist and contractor with the NSA.

In addition, James Fanell, deputy chief of staff for Intelligence and Information Operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, is warning that China’s PLA Navy has developed into fighting force that poses a significant threat to U.S. interests.

At a recent forum, Fanell said an example of China’s growing military presence came in 2012, when it sent seven surface actions groups and a large number of submarines in its history, to the Philippine Sea. Reports indicate that China is focused on carrying out a war at sea and sinking enemy fleets.

Furthermore, since 2008, the PLA Navy’s civil proxy, called China Marine Surveillance, has been waging a focused campaign to gain control of nearby seas. Currently, China Marine Surveillance is using its cutters to challenge exclusive economic zone recourse rights that South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and Vietnam once thought were guaranteed to them by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Reports also indicate that China may be in the process of training for a “short, sharp war” with Japan.

Chinese forces have long trained for an amphibious invasion of Taiwan. They have now expanded their training exercises to include a similar attack on the Senkaku Islands and other Japanese holdings in the East China Sea.

“This concept of a ‘short, sharp attack’ is quite credible, as the Chinese people widely believe that America has become weak because of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and that, particularly under President Barack Obama, Americans have little will to oppose China. Thus, they could quickly overwhelm Japan's forces, America would do nothing, and Chinese ownership of the Japanese islands would be part of the new status quo,” wrote John Xnakis in a report posted on Breitbart.com.

In response to Fanell’s assessment of the Chinese naval buildup, The Pentagon issued a statement saying: “… What Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel believes is that we all continue to believe that the peaceful prosperous rise of China is a good thing for the region, for the world. We continue to want to improve our bilateral military relations with China and that we also think that a major component of that is increased transparency on their part about the investments they're making and the operations they're conducting …,”

Xnakis says a world war with the Chinese may be sparked by a a massive missile attack by the Chinese on America's aircraft carriers, cities, and military installations.

Interestingly, a recent story in USA Today says Americans now feel that China has supplanted Iran as the United States’ top enemy.

The story, citing a Gallop poll, said a slight majority of American’s surveyed (52 percent), sees China's growing economic power as a "critical threat" to "the vital interests" of the United States in the next decade, while 46 percent cite such a threat from the country's military.

A recent New York Times report says China will spend $148 billion on its military this year, up from $139.2 billion in 2013, according to IHS Jane’s, a British defense industry consulting and analysis company. The United States spends far more – a forecast $574.9 billion this year – but that is down from $664.3 billion in 2012 after budget cuts slashed spending. By next year China will spend more on defense than Britain, Germany and France combined, according to IHS. By 2024, it will spend more than all of Western Europe, it estimates.