China

In the defining geopolitical contest of this century, the U.S. is a superpower without a plan. The last two presidents have declared that our country is engaged in a historic competition with China—one that will shape the world order and the fate of human freedom. But neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden has publicly explained… Read More

Beijing is adding warheads, missiles and subs at an alarming rate. The goal is global dominance. The military threat from Beijing is accelerating at a pace few anticipated. Recently released satellite imagery shows that China is rapidly constructing nearly 300 hardened underground silos in its western desert to house intercontinental ballistic missiles. Also unexpected was… Read More

The U.S. Navy is at sea, figuratively as well as literally. It has 101 ships deployed around the world—the same number as during the Cold War—yet the entire fleet is only 297 vessels strong. That’s about half the Reagan-era level of nearly 600…

The figurative sense in which the Navy is at sea is more important and more dangerous. The fleet doesn’t have enough ships to meet global commitments, even as the U.S. faces growing naval competition from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. Each of these potential adversaries possesses missiles and aircraft whose sole purpose is to keep U.S. naval forces at bay. Sixty-four percent of China’s maritime trade and 40% of its overall trade flows through the South China Sea, through which U.S. naval ships sail regularly.

Were hostilities to break out between China and the U.S., the conflict would be a naval one. It would test the U.S. ability to move naval and amphibious forces across the 7,000-mile Pacific moat in time to assist American allies and partners, deny China’s use of the shipping lanes between it and the Middle East, and operate effectively to command the South China, East China and Yellow seas. The Chinese Navy would be a formidable foe. It has long-range missiles, a nascent aircraft-carrier force and increasingly modern ships and weapons of all categories, as well as cyber and space capabilities…. Read More

China may invade Taiwan within six years, admirals warn. Is the U.S. ready? The Chinese military will likely attack Taiwan within six years, Adm. Phil Davidson, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, told Congress in March, just before retiring from the Navy. More generally, he said, Beijing’s long-term objective—supplanting the U.S. and remaking the global order… Read More

 Editor’s Note:  Writing in The National Interest, Michael O’Hanlon warns that “a promise by America to defend Taiwan does not mean that it could defend it…The most promising strategy would center on all-out economic warfare against China. The United States should cut off all trade with China at the outset of any such war, and pressure U.S…. Read More

To change Beijing’s calculus, arm Taipei with missiles and turn the island into a ‘porcupine.’ The fall of Afghanistan and the chaotic American withdrawal have been a propaganda windfall for autocrats across the world. Nowhere has the perception of American weakness been more trumpeted than in China, where state media outlets run predictions of American… Read More

In his quest for personal power, he’s rejected Deng Xiaoping’s economic reform path and turned the Communist Party into an assemblage of yes-men.   Xi Jinping, the ruler of China, suffers from several internal inconsistencies which greatly reduce the cohesion and effectiveness of his leadership. There is a conflict between his beliefs and his actions… Read More

Beijing will push for more sway in Pakistan; Moscow will try in Central Asia’s former Soviet republics. America’s retreat from Afghanistan is ending tragically—and that has sweeping strategic implications. One major misjudgment underlying the “ending endless wars” mantra was that withdrawing affected only Afghanistan. To the contrary, the departure constitutes a major, and deeply regrettable,… Read More

Yet both the economic vulnerability and geopolitical risk are more acute than that picture makes it appear. A single company in Taiwan, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. , makes almost all of the world’s most sophisticated chips. It is the world’s most important semiconductor company, and its 11th most valuable one.

And what if that Taiwanese company becomes a Chinese company? Chinese President Xi Jinping this month repeated his intention to complete “reunification” with Taiwan, and the head of U.S. forces in the Pacific recently warned China could invade Taiwan by 2027 to do exactly that. While other military leaders don’t think the Chinese timetable for action is that aggressive, a takeover of Taiwan would put China in an overwhelmingly dominant position in the semiconductor business, at a time when computer chips are becoming a strategic commodity just as important as oil became in the 1970s and 1980s.

In short, the specter of semiconductor dominance could provide China an added incentive to move on Taiwan, and the U.S. an added incentive to stop China from doing so. It’s no exaggeration to say that semiconductors have the potential to cause international tension and turmoil—and even, in an extreme scenario, war. Read More

China’s large-scale military buildup, regional coercion, and economic aggression are part of plan for global domination, experts told Congress on Thursday.

The nuclear and conventional weapons buildup, militarization of islets in the South China Sea and global infrastructure investments aimed at controlling nations are signs Beijing has emerged as America’s most significant national security challenge, a panel of specialists told a hearing of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

“The Chinese Communist Party is engaged in a total, protracted struggle for regional and global supremacy,” retired Navy Capt. Jim Fanell, a former Pacific Fleet intelligence chief told the committee. Read More