DoD Official Speaks Off the Record to Candidly Address China's Growing Military Threat
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In order that he could speak candidly and openly about what he felt was China’s growing military threat, a senior Department of Defense official spoke on the condition of anonymity before DFF’s Capitol Hill forum. The speaker stressed that national security is the number one priority of the American Constitution and it is the only area of policy that if you make a mistake, you can lose your country. “The stock market can go to zero, twenty hurricanes tragically can run up and down our coasts, but if you make a miscalculation in national security in a thermal, global nuclear age, it could be everything,” he explained.
To provide historical context about China, the official explained that it was important to understand that the Chinese army, the People’s Liberation Army, is a Party Army. It belongs to the Communist Party, not the Chinese people, which is exactly what Hitler did when he took over and made the German military swear allegiance to the Nazi Party. That was the first step in the horror that led to World War II. Their system has proven itself capable of brutal behavior. Even the French credit China’s Mao with being the greatest killer in history.
The DOD official explained that two incidents prompted the Chinese to buildup and modernize their army: their loss of two-hundredthousand in their attack on Vietnam, and the Tianamen massacre where the Regime gunned down students and the parents who came to retrieve their bodies. In fact, there were other unreported uprisings in China that “scared the heck out of them,” he explained which led them not only to work aggressively to modernize their army but also to split it and create the People’s Armed Police.
Their biggest problem was with communications,
so they turned to American communication
technology (satellites) to address it.
During the “Clinton years there was a for-sale
sign down at the White House that enabled
the Chinese to completely modernize their
military” making them very dangerous for
America, the official explained. What scared
him the most during the Clinton years was
the military-to-military exchanges with Chinese
pilots going to our Top Gun school and
with their ship drivers going to our submarine
training bases.
Meanwhile, Taiwan has emerged as the first
Chinese democracy in the history of the world. “Taiwan is the petri dish of Chinese democracy...
and it scares the hell out of Beijing
because most of the historical evolution of
China is change from within,” the official said.
“The Chinese military is now in an offensive, massive buildup posture,” he explained. “They’re buying state-of-the-art aircraft from the Russians Su-27 and the Su- MK30...[pilots] that flew these against our Air Force a couple of months ago showed that they could beat our F15 if flown in capable pilots’ hands.”
The Chinese are focusing their forces in a very capable way to get air dominance, with 650 missiles focused on a moment’s notice, on Taiwan. They are also focusing on landing craft, Kilo subs, black-hole subs, electric subs, which are of great concern to the U.S. Navy because they are cheap and very quiet. Furthermore, the People’s Republic of China Special Forces are very good and are pioneers in amphibious operations.
Finally, the Chinese have realized the importance of computer warfare, cyber warfare with a focus on precision-guided munitions with remote sensors, which has led them to a curriculum for their military officers to earn Ph.D.s in computer warfare – something the United States does not have.
“They’re on the march. They have the missiles; they have the capability...The big unknown is the nuke equation,” he explained, but also how well they can operate and use intelligently the hardware and other equipment they have obtained.
Reviewing the other countries in the region, the official said Taiwan is in jeopardy and Japan is reconsidering its non-military posture because of the growing military threat from China and China’s Japan-bashing plus the unpredictable threat from North Korea’s nukes. For example, just three weeks after General Shelton testified on Capitol Hill that North Korea was five years away from missile technology, and therefore no missile defense was needed, North Korea launched a triplestage missile that went right over Japan. He said we have got to hold China responsible.
Just recently, China tried to buy Chevron, which had a lot of gas and oil leases including drilling rights on various parts of the coastal plain and in Alaska. It was found that if the deal had gone through, a “Chinese military supply intelligence group through the Chinese company, could have built a drilling platform off the American coast, put their spy networks up and take a tax deduction for doing it.” he explained.
He predicted the big fight over oil, with each American using about 23 barrels a year to each Chinese using one. “That ratio is going to change as China comes up the modernization curve, and even if we turn to hybrids or other alternatives, the Chinese are still going to need more and more oil.”
The DOD official said he felt that if China ever attacked us, it would be with nuclear weapons, not a conventional attack. He summarized by stating that the forces of the human heart could be unleashed in China if we deter them from war fighting by building up and deterring their military threat. “If you deter them, you will not have war, but if you accommodate them and trade with them and hope for the best, you are risking war,” he concluded.