Topic: Extending the "China Threat" and Exposing the Motives of the US Army Expansion and War
Text/Pang Yan
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Defense released the annual "China's Military and Security Development Report", once again picking up the "old script" of the "China Threat Theory" and exaggerating its most important nuclear and naval power. It is an attempt to "build" China into a "evenly matched" opponent with the United States out of thin air.
However, the excessive exaggeration under such changes has precisely exposed the United States' own motives for military expansion and war.
The US Department of Defense report on China's military power began in 2000, and this year's report has more than 200 pages.
The focus of media attention was focused on the eye-catching assertions that "China's nuclear warhead will double in 10 years" and "China has the world's largest navy."
Even the conservative media Fox News questioned the fictitious "moisture" of the report, saying that even so, the number of nuclear weapons in China is still far less than the 3,800 currently in the United States.
As everyone knows, the United States, which respects its two oceans, has always been proud of its naval strength.
The 500,000 navy, 7 fleets, and 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are unimpeded globally.
It's clear at a glance who the Chinese and American navies are strong, and China has no ability and no will to challenge the United States.
The report exaggerated the "ambition" of China's military construction, but in the past few months, the U.S. military has continuously strengthened its military deployment operations in key areas around the world, and its motives have become more intriguing.
Since July, the US military has continuously dispatched dual aircraft carrier battle groups in the direction of the Indo-Pacific to conduct exercises with India, Japan, and Australia; it has led military exercises in Europe and Ukraine; in addition, it has deployed bombers in Guam, deployed main battle tanks in Europe, and warplanes. Simulated air strikes on the Russian border; not to mention frequent actions on China’s southeast coast... No wonder there are public opinions questioning the US military action "face-slap" report: Chinese military power is really threatening, as if it were exaggerated, the US military still dare to "contend" and provoke at the door of the other side?
In fact, looking at the development of the United States, it seems that it is hard to escape the vicious circle of finding "imaginary enemies."
The predecessor of China's military report was the report of the United States on the military development of the former Soviet Union during the "Cold War" period. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, its "imaginative" and "plastic enemy" objects became China again.
But if the world really wants to worry about the threat of another outbreak of the hot war, the source may only be the United States, not China.
National Public Radio reported that in 2019, former President Jimmy Carter stated that the United States is the most combative country in world history because the United States wants to impose its values on other countries.
In the entire history of the United States, there are only 16 years of peace.
And China did not waste a penny in the war.
The author believes that in the current global changes, the United States is trying to exaggerate the purpose of China's military threat, but there are three points.
One is to increase regional tensions and try to provoke local military frictions and even conflicts to create an "October Surprise" for the US election in November.
At present, the outcome of the general election is unpredictable, and the relevant agenda is the overriding priority of the White House.
Whether it is sending dual aircraft carriers to the South China Sea, or trying to intervene in the Sino-Indian dispute, or supporting the DPP authorities in the Taiwan Strait, Washington has tried to create troubles around China to fuel the election.
The second is to convey benefits for arms dealers and find excuses for military expansion.
The report was submitted to Congress by the US Department of Defense.
On the one hand, the Ministry of National Defense has a realistic need for military expansion and strives for higher military expenditures; on the other hand, it is also a move that caters to the large number of military industry lobby groups in Congress to convey benefits to military industry enterprises.
The US "Defense News" website recently reported that the Pentagon is about to submit a proposal on the future development of the US Navy, which will require a substantial increase in the number of warships, or 530 ships.
This coincides with the exaggeration of the Chinese naval power in the Chinese military report.
The third is to weaken the strategic strength of competitors and maintain the global hegemony of the United States.
The United States unilaterally exaggerates China's military expenditures, but statistics from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute show that the total value of the U.S. military expenditure of $732 billion in 2019 exceeds the sum of the 10 highest military expenditure countries in the world.
With a huge gap in the number of nuclear weapons, the United States has continuously tried to draw China into the "New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty" in order to weaken China's nuclear deterrence capabilities.
However, it unilaterally withdrew from arms control treaties such as the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the Intermediate-Range Missile Treaty.
With the democratization of international relations and the continuous emergence of multilateralism, the unilateral and hegemonic military policy pursued by the United States has become an infringement and harm to the world and itself.
David Dodwell, executive director of the Hong Kong-APEC Trade Policy Group, recently wrote an article that the United States is the undisputed "top war monger" in the 21st century.
According to a report issued by the Brown University Research Institute, since "9.11", the "war on terrorism" in the United States has not only caused millions of casualties, but also forced at least 37 million people in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, and Syria. Displacement has caused a huge humanitarian disaster.
The two lowest points of the United States’ international image in the past 20 years were precisely when it invaded Iraq in 2003.
In fact, war and arms mobilization do not necessarily bring economic and strategic benefits. Especially in modern society, it is more likely to cause huge self-harm.
Analysis has pointed out that the current frequent deployment exercises of the U.S. military are not only detrimental to the overall epidemic prevention situation, but also disrupt the army's rotation and maintenance of weapons and equipment, increase the risk of safety accidents, etc., not to mention the anti-war movement and political internal friction after each war. .
The United States does not need to keep its eyes on China.
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China last year, China released the white paper "China's National Defense in a New Era", which clearly pointed out for the first time that insisting on never seeking hegemony, never expanding, and never seeking sphere of influence are the distinctive features of China's national defense in the new era.
The white paper also provides the most authoritative, transparent, and credible observation window for the outside world concerned about the direction and path of China's defense reform and development.
What is completely different from the development path of the United States is that the national rejuvenation of New China was built from scratch through continuous reform and opening up and hard work, rather than relying on foreign military expansion and colonial plunder.
China has benefited from the theme of the era of peaceful development. It is also its firm defender and contributor, and it is also an important participant and builder of the global and regional security order.
Chinese culture has always admired harmony and respect for harmony but difference. China does not agree with the logic that a strong country must hegemony.
The brutal muscles of the army cannot transfer the contradictions, nor can it restore the confidence of the people in the United States.
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