Are We Underestimating China's Military?

[Hyperion]

Stop hitting on boys!

@KAL-EL - No reply !

 

[Armstrong]

Stop hitting on boys!

Damnit Hypie....I ain't a cross-dresser like yourself - I don't hit on the same gender !

 

[Hyperion]

The jury is still out on that!

Damnit I don't hit on the same gender !

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

And now the US defence budget is shrinking, and will continue to shrink for the foreseeable future?

All the scaremongering in the world doesn't help, if there is no money in the budget.

 

[Genesis]

You have access to classified Pentagon briefings??? And I don't mean the crap they stand in front of Congress saying.

Or you just saying things just for the sake of saying?

I don't think it matters what the Pentagon thinks, whatever they say they cannot 100% back it up, and like anywhere, there's always going to be factions. Some think China is strong, some weak, some in between, some unsure.

Now the China is in between and weak crowd is probably going to win out, mostly because people hear what they want to hear. As of this moment, the American government and people want to hear a weak China, but not so weak to sound ridicules, to satisfy their desire to be right, they add a little flavor, and make China, not strong, but not weak, America can still take control, but not so much that they can relax.

There's also the fact, you cannot get a 100% accurate reading on these, even if you could, without capturing a few ships and tech, you can't prove anything. So in the end, you are really just lecturing on a subject the people already made their mind already, and without concrete proof, non of which you can have, you really can't do much.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

So yeah, basically the US defence budget is going down, and will continue to go down for the foreseeable future. And that was decided even before the US economy recently fell into negative growth.

The US is the current global hegemon, thus this defence spending is needed to cover their vast assets, that are spread out all over the world.

China's defence spending is much more localized, all of our weapons, missiles, warships, fighter jets, soldiers, they are all right here in the theater already. Not spread out across the world, but concentrated entirely in the region in which we will be fighting in.

Anyway, China certainly has the money to increase military spending, our currency reserves alone are over $4 trillion, more than the rest of the world combined, and with continuing massive surpluses each year.

Yet only the smallest possible fraction goes into defence spending, as a percentage of the Government budget. It's not that China can't spend more, it is a conscious decision made by the Chinese leadership to prioritize economy over military. We are still a developing country, so economic development is always the first priority.

 

[Kyle Sun]

The military only gives congress reasons for justifying their unclassified spending. They will paint any picture that suits that spending level.

As I said before they were notorious for overestimating Soviet strength to get it.

Agree.

 

[xunzi]

I don't think it matters what the Pentagon thinks, whatever they say they cannot 100% back it up, and like anywhere, there's always going to be factions. Some think China is strong, some weak, some in between, some unsure.

Now the China is in between and weak crowd is probably going to win out, mostly because people hear what they want to hear. As of this moment, the American government and people want to hear a weak China, but not so weak to sound ridicules, to satisfy their desire to be right, they add a little flavor, and make China, not strong, but not weak, America can still take control, but not so much that they can relax.

There's also the fact, you cannot get a 100% accurate reading on these, even if you could, without capturing a few ships and tech, you can't prove anything. So in the end, you are really just lecturing on a subject the people already made their mind already, and without concrete proof, non of which you can have, you really can't do much.

Nobody knows our true capability except the high-ranking military personnel within the PLA. I can only say that our PLA is gaining supreme confidence in their operation every day which demonstrated our confidence in our capability. We wouldn't take up the challenge if we are not confidence in our capability compare to the USA, which we have a sizable understanding of their capability. In fact, we have more understanding of their capability than the USA understanding our capability.

 

[AKIRAKUMA]

China is still weak, we are still a developing country,please continue to underestimate,time will always be our friend.

 

[Genesis]

Nobody knows our true capability except the high-ranking military personnel within the PLA. I can only say that our PLA is gaining supreme confidence in their operation every day which demonstrated our confidence in our capability. We wouldn't take up the challenge if we are not confidence in our capability compare to the USA, which we have a sizable understanding of their capability. In fact, we have more understanding of their capability than the USA understanding our capability.

I'm sure there are people in the Pentagon that can very accurately deduce what are capabilities are, let's give them a little credit, I mean, a lot of those men did get there based on their outstanding abilities and attention to detail.

But as I have said previously, military is only part of the equation, politics and general public matters. The Chinese saying of military actions should accommodate Politics is exactly this. During one of the campaigns against Japan, we could have eliminated a whole Japanese army, but instead, we let them go, because the national congress was gathering, and Chang needed a victory, the battle must end, so we let the rest escape and declared victory to the campaign.


The same is true in US, they don't want to hear the truth, the higher ups probably know it, but politics must come first, not because of personal reasons, but because politics is the more important of the two and nobody can have everything. I'm sure the white house is not made up of simpletons, and that is actually why they don't believe it, because they must look at this through every angle, and as it turns out, China must take a backseat to other more pressing matters.

It's not right or wrong, it's necessity.

 

[Peter]

And now the US defence budget is shrinking, and will continue to shrink for the foreseeable future?

All the scaremongering in the world doesn't help, if there is no money in the budget.

bing bu yan zha

1.There can never be too much deception in war.

2.All's fair in war.

3.Nothing is too deceitful in war.

 

[seven7seven]

If USA believes China is weak, then they should try to cut China down to size now, if they dare. In reality, USA can only make their best guesses to what China's true capabilities are, because they don't have access to China's most cutting edge weapons or official specifications because China keeps them secret. Instead, USA just make guesses and inferences, and with the benefit of hindsight, we always find out that USA always err on the side of greatly underestimating what China can achieve. Whether this underestimation is deliberate or because US pride can't handle the fact that a non-Western, non-Anglo-Saxon nation keeps making their own achievements look less impressive, because US always make their estimates based on their own development experience and respective timelines. USA never dare to believe that another nation, especially one they have long held the view are innately inferior to them, can achieve things at a pace that blows their own development process out of the water.

I'm sure there are elements in the Pentagon that do hype up Chinese capabilities to put presure for more funding but on the whole, there is still great arrogance and snootiness among many of USA's top military officials that look down on China's military. But this superiority complex does not come from having full knowledge of their adversaries capabilities but rather from their own overbloated self-satisfaction that nobody can touch them because their technology is great. However, some of the smarter and more realist officials in the US military are starting to realize that having the biggest and best guns don't necessarily count for much when your opponent has out-manoeuvred you in a specific war theatre, namely the SCS and ECS, in the case of China. China correctly identified that keeping the USA out of this key region, by making the cost of warfare with China too great for USA to contemplate it. Additionally, China's technology is increasingly becoming more apparent to the World that it is not far behind the best of the West and in some areas, even ahead.

Asia will be China's dominion again, if it isn't already, whether USA likes it or not. I'm sure they will not give up without a fight but I'm afraid their options are already limited and getting slimmer by the day. Asian traitors like Philippines, Vietnam and Japan should take heed of the warning signs now because your precious American benefactor won't be there for you to hide behind forever. Sure, there is a lot of bad blood between these countries, in recent times, but the histories between these countries go back so far, that with time, they can be mended. It's time Asia united and remove the Western infestation for good and work for their own prosperity and not be a slave to Western Puppeteers.

 

[alimobin memon]

In easy words yes they are underestimating.

 

[OCguy]

I don't believe anyone is underestimating it. The intelligence on most systems is fairly reliable.

I think the focus outside of the toy enthusiast conversations is on how they plan on testing their new capabilities, and give their soldiers experience.

 

[KAL-EL]

I don't believe anyone is underestimating it. The intelligence on most systems is fairly reliable.

I think the focus outside of the toy enthusiast conversations is on how they plan on testing their new capabilities, and give their soldiers experience.

I honestly think it makes some of them feel better to think such a thing. because it fuels their hyper-nationalism. No rational thinker should ever underestimate a growing China's military capability. That would be as moronic as anyone underestimating the US massive military capability.

@KAL-EL - No reply !

I apologize brother, I didn't see any notification.