US Defense Secretary Says Washington Needs Effective Military Power At The Critical Juncture Of U.S.-China Confrontation

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin addressed the Reagan National Defense Forum on December 2, saying that the Communist China is the only state around the world that has both the will and the growing capability to reshape the regional and international order to suit its authoritarian preferences. However, the United States will prevent such a situation from occurring. Now Washington is at a critical juncture to confront Beijing and needs to rely on strong military power to ensure the global norms in the 21st century remains in line with American values.

Austin stated the next few years would see who would win the U.S.-China competition and further determine whether the future generations would live in an open world that maintains existing rules and systems or face an audacious autocrat Chinese regime who seeks to dominate the world by force and fear. Beijing is the largest threat that might launch a nuclear war. The US is adjusting its budget in an unprecedented manner to respond to its challenge.

On November 28, the U.S. Department of Defense released its 2022 report on Communist China’s military and security development, warning that Beijing might have 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035 and would pose an extreme threat to Washington. On December 2, the U.S. military publicly displayed its new generation of stealth bomber B-21 Raider which is designed to effectively counter the military capabilities developed by the CCP through integrating research on cyber, space and nuclear weapons.