‘Shrewd Strategies That China’s Military Is Using To Surpass US’

BY CAMI EZENWA

Certainly, the last has not been heard of the United States of America and China trading blames over the origin and grand design of the coronavirus pandemic which has literary got the world on its knees.

Beyond the open altercations however, and bellying other behind-the-scene maneuvers, the question of what happens next is critically important, given the position and importance of these two countries in global politics.

Recall that after US president, Donald Trump called it the Chinese virus, China also replied with its embassy in France referring to the “surprise closing last July of the largest American biochemical weapons research centre at the Fort Detrick base in Maryland as the source of pneumonia disease outbreak. “After the closure, a series of pneumonia or similar cases appeared in the United States,” China said in its response.

According to one analysis, these have strengthened hard-liners in both countries, and political pressures stemming from the pandemic are making it harder for leaders to back away from escalation.

Chinese military on a drill –courtesy of Business Insider

In fact, fresh analyses are beginning to point at what it regarded as shrewd strategies by Beijing to make the military surpass that of Washington either for immediate or long-term purposes.

Information pieced together by The Eagle for example refer to basic natural endowment/material that China has amassed overtime as key background. And what is meant by this is China’s ebullient economy that is now classed second largest in the world, close on the heels of that of the US.

It can only mean potential and real power with effective harnessing. In fact, the estimation is that it is on its way to overtaking in absolute Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that of the US in the next decade.

What then are the other critical factors that may make China overtake, the world’s reputed policeman? According to Business Insider analyst, Ellen Joanes, China’s military is key, and it is well on its way to besting the US’s technologic edge. This it is pursuing through rapid and strategic development. The rest of the submissions are excerpted below:

• By stealing already-extant weapons technology, China is believed to be developing advanced weapons at a rapid pace, figuring out how to disrupt the US’s battlefield systems while working on long-range weapons, and leading the way on artificial intelligence.

• China is also developing highly secretive weapons which might include, “directed energy weapons, advanced space weapons, electromagnetic railguns, high-powered microwave weapons, or even more exotic arms,” according to former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert O. Work.

• The analysis cites a June report from the Center for a New American Security, co-authored by former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert O. Work, which outlined the ways China’s strategy and technology threaten to surpass the US in a great power struggle and what the US can do to maintain its military primacy.

• By employing cyber-attacks and hacking to steal US military technology, China is circumventing the long, painstaking research and development phase of weapons manufacturing.

• Reference is usually made to January and February of 2018, when hackers working for the Chinese government were able to steal 614 gigabytes of information from a military contractor about a secretive US Navy project called Sea Dragon, intended to upgrade and improve current US weapons systems by introducing a “disruptive offensive capability,” The Washington Post reported.

• China also works to break down US battlefield defenses. The US high-technology battlefield system the so-called “kill chain” is comprised of four grids that, working in concert, “find, fix, and finish intended targets,” according to the report.The battlefield grids have to communicate with each other and that’s where China’s strategy is focused on finding and exploiting vulnerabilities to jam the communication system, degrading an adversary’s ability to strike in concert and, hopefully, make those strikes less effective.

• China’s strategy to offset US dominance and gain tactical advantages also depends on its ability to strike early in a conflict, and strike hard. China’s focus on developing long-range ballistic and cruise missiles that match US weapons like the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM, which has a range of 100 nautical miles. In some cases, it is said Chinese weapons outmatch US weapons ranges.
• This strategy is cost-effective and exploits the US’s previous decision to forgo missiles with a range longer than 500 km under a recent treaty; Plus, China can call massive mobile, land-based missile strikes with relative ease, exploiting the US’s dependence on air-based bombardments, which take longer to coordinate.

• China has so focused on its missile strategy that it has created a branch of its military entirely devoted to it the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF), which is now developing “some of the most advanced cruise and ballistic missiles of any force,” including hypersonic missile s and the DF-21D “carrier killer,” which has a nearly 1,000-mile range, according to the report.

• China is believed to be a leader in artificial intelligence, and this enables the authorities to track and put under control certain aspects of its domestic sectors and then, posture effectively, internationally.

As a discerning reader, what is your take on this evolving matter?