China and the United States are the world's two largest economies, each with its own advantages, but also with some problems.
As a superpower that cannot be ignored on the global stage, the United States has strong strength in many fields, and the mainland is not to be outdone, and its economy has embarked on the road of rapid development, and it is striving to catch up with the United States.
Many people feel that our strength is now on par with United States, or even surpassing United States.
Seeing this, I can't help but think of what Zhang Zhaozhong said back then: United States will do nothing from now on, and China will not be able to catch up in 20 years.
What are the facts? Is the gap between China and the United States really that big?
I. Military Commentators' "Remarks Against the Heavens"
Who is Zhang Zhaozhong? He was a well-known military critic on the mainland and also held the rank of naval lieutenant.
Zhang Zhaozhong has his own unique views on military affairs, and his commentary style is also very interesting, known as the director of the Strategic Fool Bureau, and many people call him "the bureau seat".
During the period when the country was studying the J-20 fighter, there were some rumors from the outside world, and the United States paid close attention to it.
Later, Zhang Zhaozhong participated in a program, and the host asked this question.
Although his answer was only a few short sentences, it was wonderful, and even the United States was fooled, which was also the highlight moment of his victory in World War I.
Zhang Zhaozhong said that the mainland does not even have a fourth-generation fighter, so how can it directly develop the fifth-generation fighter? Besides, it is not easy to create a 4th generation fighter, let alone a 5th generation.
At that time, the well-known fighter in the mainland was the J-10, but it was a third-generation fighter, and the J-20 was a fifth-generation fighter.
Therefore, many people believe Zhang Zhaozhong's remarks, and United States seems to believe them. Because not long after Zhang Zhaozhong's remarks were published, the United States dismantled the F-22 production line.
Although the specific reason is unclear, some netizens believe that it has something to do with his remarks.
It is understood that less than two years after the United States dismantled the production line, our J-20 made its debut.
The birth of this fighter means that the mainland's military industrial strength has been strengthened, and its military strength has also reached a new level, but there is still a gap between China and the United States.
In 2015, Zhang Zhaozhong participated in a talk show, in which he made remarks that seemed to be against the sky.
He said: There is still a big gap between China and United States in terms of military strength, and even if United States completely stagnates, we will not be able to catch up in 20 years.
As soon as these remarks came out, netizens immediately exploded and gradually formed two extremes.
Some netizens believe that Zhang Zhaozhong said this purely to destroy his prestige, and some even said that he was unpatriotic.
But some netizens stood up in support, and these netizens thought that his analysis was very objective.
It is true that the mainland's military strength has increased a lot, but if it is considered that it is already on an equal footing with United States, or that it will surpass United States in less than three or five years, it is really too optimistic, and the gap between China and the United States is not a star and a half.
Second, the gap between China and the United States
Zhang Zhaozhong's remarks came from 9 years ago, and there are still 11 years to go before the 20 years he said, so can the mainland's military strength now be comparable to that of United States?
In the past 10 years, the mainland's military industrial strength has indeed developed very rapidly, and the gap between it and United States has been narrowing.
In particular, the sluggish growth of United States in recent years has further narrowed this gap, but there are still many deficiencies in many aspects, and we need to continue to work hard.
A comparison of information on aircraft carriers between China and United States should give a better understanding of this gap.
Ten years ago, we built our first aircraft carrier--- the Liaoning, but this aircraft carrier was not developed by us, but was rebuilt on the basis of the Varyag.
At that time, the United States had already mastered research and development technology, and the mainland lagged behind the other side by a large margin.
However, this was always a good start, and in the years that followed, mainland researchers worked around the clock.
In 2017, the first aircraft carrier independently developed by the mainland--- Shandong was officially unveiled, attracting attention from all over the world.
Now the third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, has also been launched, compared with the previous aircraft carrier, it is not only larger tonnage, but also more advanced technology, it is expected that it will not be long before it will be officially launched.
Looking at the United States, as of now, there are 11 aircraft carriers, and they are still nuclear-powered.
The aircraft carriers developed by the mainland are all conventional aircraft carriers, and there is indeed a gap between them and nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
Because a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier can obtain energy by using a nuclear reactor, an ordinary aircraft carrier uses fuel to propel it.
From this point of view, the military gap between the mainland and United States is still very large.
But there is one thing to congratulate, that is, it took only 10 years for the mainland to transform the Varyag to independent research and development, while the United States took hundreds of years.
Let's take a look at the comparison in terms of fighters.
I have to admit that the mainland's air force has indeed improved a lot in recent years, especially after the development of new fighters such as the J-20.
However, as a world power, United States has a military production capacity that should not be underestimated.
The total number of his fighters is about 13,000, while the total number of fighters on the mainland is only more than 3,000.
For example, the number of main fighters in China has just exceeded 1,200, but the United States has already exceeded 1,800.
Another example is attack helicopters, the mainland has less than 300, but the United States already has about 1,000.
Of course, simply looking at the number of fighters does not indicate a country's military strength, and it is necessary to comprehensively consider other aspects, including research and development technology.
Continental has made remarkable achievements in this regard, such as the J-20 fighter using stealth coating technology, and is also equipped with the most advanced avionics and weapon systems.
Of course, the United States is not standing still, but is working hard to study the production technology of new fighter-related supporting products, hoping to further improve combat performance.
The actual combat situation in the air can also reflect the strength of a country's military strength. Compared with the mainland, the United States clearly has an advantage in this regard.
After all, the United States Air Force has been involved in the war since World War II, and he is still involved in the Middle East war.
Because of the large number of actual combat participants, the United States Air Force has quite rich combat experience.
With this experience, pilots can more easily respond to and deal with unexpected situations on the battlefield.
Although the mainland air force started very late, although it often participates in various international military exercises and peacekeeping missions, its real air practice experience is not comparable to that of United States.
In fact, the country is well aware of the gap between us and United States in this regard, so it will increase technological innovation and constantly improve the pilot training system.
In this process, in addition to continuing to develop new fighters and innovating tactical tactics, we are also strengthening the training of pilots.
One by one, they are proving to the world that China's air force is rapidly increasing and will one day become a world-class air force.
In addition, United States has always attached great importance to the building of military strength, and its expenditure on military spending is particularly large.
Since the Cold War, United States has insisted on huge military investments.
Source: China Youth Network
In recent years, United States military spending has exceeded $900 billion, while the mainland has spent around $300 billion.
The cost is not the same in the two countries, and the end result will not be the same.
This is like a common person buying a house, if he has a few million in his hand, he may be able to buy a villa; But if you only have a hundred thousand in hand, you can only pay a down payment for an ordinary house.
3. China's response
If we want to further narrow the gap with the United States and develop better in this regard, we need to take corresponding measures according to our own situation.
First of all, enhancing independent research and development capabilities is one of the most important aspects.
Although the mainland has independently developed many new weapons and equipment, there is still no end in sight to the road ahead, and we still have a lot of room for development.
In this respect, the mainland's development was already relatively late, and its foundation was very weak.
At first, I relied on the support of others to move forward, but then I picked up the crutches myself, and now I have gradually gotten rid of the crutches and can move forward independently.
In fact, this is a specific manifestation of the enhancement of independent research and development capabilities.
However, freezing three feet is not a day's cold, and military strength cannot be increased in a day or two.
United States' military industrial force developed many years earlier than the mainland, and a lot of military spending was invested in research and development, and when we were still on crutches, he was already able to fly in the air.
In addition, the mainland has encountered many bottlenecks in its military development.
Until now, there are still big shortcomings in nuclear reactor technology, strategic bombers, etc.
If we can find a way to solve these problems, I believe that the mainland's military strength will take a big step forward.
Therefore, no matter how glamorous the mainland is now, there is no doubt about the military gap between it and United States.
If we want to close the gap, we must continue to improve our military research and development capabilities.
Second, it is also necessary to strengthen the building of air power and reduce as much as possible the difference in the number of military aircraft between us and United States.
The pattern of modern warfare is very different from that of the past, and air power is often identified as the main force.
If a country's air power is strong enough, its threat will also increase significantly, and other countries will not dare to attack rashly, even if they are eyeing it.
As mentioned earlier, the gap between the number of military aircraft on the mainland and United States is relatively large.
Although the strength of the J-20 is relatively strong and can compete with the United States F22, the difference in number is too great, which is one of the biggest shortcomings.
Therefore, we also need to continue to increase the number of fighters to improve the combat strength in the air, which is an effective way to narrow the gap with United States.
summary
Although we have developed rapidly in the military field, we still have a long way to go to surpass the United States because of our late start.
As the saying goes: born in sorrow, die in peace.
Therefore, we should not be fooled by some remarks on the Internet, be too optimistic about the current situation, and then lose the motivation to strive for progress, and still treat it with a cautious attitude.
[Disclaimer] The time, process, and pictures of the article are all from the Internet, and the article aims to spread positive energy, without vulgarity and other bad guidance, please do not sit in the right seat, and rise to personal attacks, etc. Look at this incident rationally, and do not leave subjective and malicious comments, the Internet is not a place outside the law. If there is a dispute about the authenticity of this article, copyright or image infringement, please contact the author in time, and we will delete it.
Resources:
Discussion History2023-09-23"Has China's military power surpassed United States? General Zhang Zhaozhong: I think too much, I can't catch up in 20 years"
Things say new language2024-08-29"Zhang Zhaozhong: Even if United States is motionless, China will not be able to catch up in 20 years, is the gap between China and the United States so big"
Science Bear2024-09-03 "Zhang Zhaozhong: Even if United States is motionless, China will not be able to catch up in 20 years, and the gap between China and the United States is so big? 》