By Emanuele Scimia, Asia Times: “Chinese military experts cited by China Military, the People's Liberation Army's official English-language website, have emphasized that a recent live-fire test by the country's rocket force has demonstrated the projectile's capability to change direction in mid-flight and hit a moving warship. In their words, this is a response to Western doubts about its ability to strike an aircraft carrier or another type of vessel.”
By Rep. Mike Gallagher, RealClearDefense: “As part of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress required the Secretary of Defense, in concert with the Secretary of State, to “assess the foreign military and non-military activities of the People’s Republic of China that could affect the regional and global national security and defense interests of the United States.” Last month, the Pentagon responded by releasing their “Assessment on U.S. Defense Implications of China’s Expanding Global Access.” The document deserves serious scrutiny, as it involves the fate of the free world.”
This week on the program, we’re going to continue our exploration of the U.S.-China relationship, which we began last week with our investigation into the history of tensions between the U.S. and Chinese navies in and around the South China Sea.
This week we turn our attention to the future.Specifically the how the Chinese Communist Party views its future. Because the more we spoke with analysts and observers about the South China Sea, the more we heard we ought to look not only at that troubled body of water you can spot on a map — but also to the fundamental differences in how China’s leadership views the world, how it views competition with the United States and its allies, and perhaps most importantly, how Chinese leaders view power, control and history.
The Chinese Military Speaks to Itself, Revealing Doubts by Dennis J. Blasko
By Rick Joe, The Diplomat: “Predictions for the Chinese Navy's (People's Liberation Army Navy, or PLAN) growth have often focused on the quantitative number of ships or submarines. Even recent commentary surrounding the PLAN describes it as the “world's largest navy” in terms of the number of ships fielded, rather than using more sensible metrics such as tonnage."