The competition between China and the United States is no longer a secret, and the United States and its allies have repeatedly deployed and discussed the issue of land power in the Indo-Pacific region, with the goal of seizing China's space and time in the region to ensure US hegemony in the Indo-Pacific region.
Charles Flynn, commander of the U.S. Army Pacific and a four-star general in the army, said: If a hot war breaks out between China and the United States, the Chinese military will have three things that the U.S. military and its regional allies and partners do not have. What are the three things?
First, three advantages
Army Gen. Flynn, commander of U.S. Army Pacific, speaks at the U.S. Army Association Annual Conference & Exposition in Washington on Oct. 11, 2023, about land power in the Indo-Pacific region. Some of the views on the Chinese military are highlighted. He noted that the Chinese military has three major advantages that the United States and all its allies do not have.
The first major advantage is to fight on the inside.
Flynn noted that the Chinese military is only 100 miles from Taiwan Province and has anti-access, area-denial means that can keep enemy forces at a distance — such as missiles, planes and ships, as well as cyber and space capabilities.
The PLA's coastal defense system began to emerge as early as 2010, and now it is even more technologically perfect, and has formed a maritime defense pattern.
According to Taiwan media reports, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has focused on surface fighters, submarines, aviation equipment and shore-based firepower units, and each firepower has also been supported by satellites, maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles. The main weapons are anti-ship missiles of different ranges, including the YJ-62 with a range of 280 km, the YJ-75 with a range of 140 km, and the YJ-82 with a range of 120 km, forming a multi-layer anti-ship firepower network.
According to Russian media reports, the PLA's shore-based coastal defense can completely cover most of the waters west of the first island chain, even if it does not take into account operational factors such as aircraft carriers and ocean-going ships. Even the advanced ships of the United States and all its allies may not be able to withstand such a powerful "anti-access, area denial" combat force.
As China's unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have also begun to be incorporated into the coastal defense system, the formation of diversified operations to improve combat capabilities, China's coastal defense system and even the defense confrontation system are based on C41SR technology, with "missile precision strike" as the core, with the support of radar, UAV and other reconnaissance and surveillance means, the air, sea, and ground strike means are organically combined, forming an integrated defense system with both offense and defense, which can achieve operational objectives with multi-level and multi-wave strikes.
The second advantage, scale.
The Chinese military has a very large military force, in terms of the development of naval aircraft carriers, China has had its own aircraft carriers since 2012, and the "Shandong", "Liaoning" and "Fujian" have been incorporated into the naval combat sequence.
At present, China has the second largest number of aircraft carriers in the world, after the United States, and has surpassed other maritime powers, including the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.
From the perspective of air force equipment, with the complete assembly sequence of the J-20 fighter, the J-20 has integrated a number of cutting-edge technologies, including stealth technology and advanced phased array radar systems. These technologies have enabled the Chinese Air Force to form a large air force that determines its right to speak.
Judging from the level of weaponry, the weapons and equipment of the PLA Air Force, Navy, Army, and Rocket Force have almost reached the world's first-class or even top-notch level, and they already have the technical strength to win large-scale wars.
The third advantage, "magazine depth".
China has a large number of stand-off munitions. Stand-off munitions, on the other hand, are like "cluster bombs" that can be used against targets over a larger area. At present, the distribution of domestically produced stealth defense area ammunition is similar to the US AGM-154 "JSOW" defense outside the defense area attack system, which has some characteristics such as good stealth performance, long delivery distance, high precision, and wide range of use, and its development has effectively improved the mainland air force's defense zone strike capability.
And this alone puts us on an equal footing with the United States.
Second, the goals of the United States
The improvement of China's military strength has not only made the United States fearful, but also made the United States begin to plan ahead for a possible war between China and the United States in the future.
U.S. Army General Flynn said: The goal of the U.S. military and its allies in the Indo-Pacific region is to seize China's time and space and prevent them from entering critical terrain. And by maintaining our physical presence with hard power, wars have been prevented.
"Our goal is not to fight, Europe is already at war, there is another war in the Middle East, we don't need another war in Asia."
Obviously, the United States does not want a direct military conflict with China.
When it comes to the U.S. and its allies' military presence around the Pacific, highlight the importance of focusing on containing China's military. It is not difficult to see that the United States intends to draw the countries surrounding the Indo-Pacific together.
He also noted that to deter Chinese "aggression," bilateral and multilateral training exercises must be strengthened, the U.S. Army must establish training centers in the region, and countries must increase defense spending and work together to improve interoperability.
Previously, the latest analysis of the US think tank said that if the tension between China and the United States escalates into a military conflict, then the battlefield will not be set in the expected South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait, but may be shifted to the Indian Ocean, which is more geopolitically sensitive.
As the US fleet continues to operate in China's coastal waters, US reconnaissance planes have intruded into China's airspace from time to time to challenge the bottom line of national defense, and the international situation is constantly changing.
At present, the Biden administration is constantly trying to build a closer strategic alliance network around China by strengthening military cooperation with India and other regional countries to ensure that the United States has the right to speak in the region.
At that time, China is also reassessing its strategic deployment and foreign policy in the Indian Ocean, which may eventually become a new game arena between China and the United States.
According to US military think tanks, including the RAND Corporation, the results of war games have long been drawn that the military balance in East Asia is tilting in favor of China. Even if the United States uses all its strength, in the event of a conflict with China, the PLA will use its rocket force's missile superiority to destroy the main air power of the American military on the ground in the early stages of the conflict.
This is also a key reason why the United States has turned its attention to the Indian Ocean. Of course, China is also actively expanding its influence in the Indian Ocean to ensure a smart shift in global strategy from offensive to defensive. Although India has a unique geographical location with the United States as the lead, the Chinese military has long foreseen this potential risk under its three major advantages.
As China's strategy continues to adjust, China's future capabilities in the international arena will inevitably cause the United States to reassess its strategic reality.