• US Adm. John Aquilino said China’s military is building up at a rate not seen since World War II.
  • That puts it on the path to meeting its goal of being ready to invade Taiwan by 2027, he said.
  • Aquilino, the outgoing head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, urged Washington to accelerate military development.

China’s rapid military build-up is more expansive than anything seen since World War II, which means it’s on track with its 2027 goal to be ready for a Taiwan invasion, said US Navy Adm. John Aquilino.

“All indications point to the PLA meeting President Xi Jinping’s directive to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027,” Aquilino wrote in a testimony to the US Armed Services House Committee.

“Furthermore, the PLA’s actions indicate their ability to meet Xi’s preferred timeline to unify Taiwan with mainland China by force if directed,” added the admiral, the outgoing head of the US Indo-Pacific Command.

    • maynarkh@feddit.nl
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      7 months ago

      To be honest, that graph is a bit worrying especially if you look at PPP. I’m not saying “China will build more aircraft carriers than the US” or some such nonsense. I’m saying there is no point going to 300 bil if you don’t want to fight the US. India is their other closest rival.

      I’m not sure they would succeed, but I’m worried they might try.

    • mlg@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      KSA being on this chart is an imposter because they can’t even defeat the Houthis by themselves lmao.

      All that funding is to buy and bribe the US military to maintain their own bases in the country to keep themselves secure.

      • Moonrise2473@feddit.it
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        7 months ago

        The graph says “expenditure”, not “quality”

        Which seems appropriate

        Like they are doing for the sports, spend billions to be still irrelevant

    • Siegfried@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I’m all against populist and authoritarian regimes, but taking them out of the table, fuck USA.

        • somethingchameleon@lemmy.ca
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          7 months ago

          Errr, Taiwan people should fight their own battles.

          Just like Haitians and Africans.

          Or, let me guess: it’s okay for the West to defend Whites. It’s okay for the West to defend Asians. But it’s not okay for the West to defend Blacks.

          Actions do speak louder than words, after all. Better to fight China’s armies than Haiti’s gangs.

          (This is why I never take popular sentiment seriously anymore. Too many useful idiots incapable of critical thinking.)

          • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            Downvoted? The people don’t like it when you remind them that the capitalist class only interferes in geopolitics when it serves their interests. There’s 2 genocides going on in Africa. Crickets. But Palestine? We must defend Israel. The hypocrisy is obvious.

    • somethingchameleon@lemmy.ca
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      7 months ago

      All that money isn’t going to mean much without experience to back it up.

      The US military could crumble once people start dying and plans/equipment start failing.

      We could find out that the US has just been taken for a ride by military contractors. Western equipment certainly didn’t turn the tides in the Ukraine war like people on these forums thought it would.

      • FarceOfWill@infosec.pub
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        7 months ago

        The us military is constantly experiencing warfare.
        If anyone in that pic turns out to have been swimming naked it’ll be the chinese

        • somethingchameleon@lemmy.ca
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          7 months ago

          The us military is constantly experiencing warfare.

          Bombing brown people who can’t fight back isn’t “warfare.” It’s bullying.

        • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Korea. Afghanistan. Vietnam. The USA military is having difficulties recruiting. Million dollar equipment is useless when the people operating it aren’t there, or undertrained.

      • AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Idk why ppl are hating on this. We haven’t seen a large scale war in quite a while. And it’s not unheard of that companies cut corners in the US in the name of profits. Or that someone gives a bid to their friend/relative instead of the best company.