US must be ready for military clash with China, Pentagon official Chad Sbragia says
- US needs to develop weapons, boost ties with allies and improve military efficiency to be ready against ‘formidable’ China, Sbragia says
- ‘This is a long-term process. We have to be agile, smart,’ says deputy assistant secretary of defence for China
The United States must prepare for a possible military conflict with China by developing new weapons, strengthening ties with allies and improving the Pentagon’s efficiency, a senior Trump administration official said on Thursday.
“The stakes of the challenge of conflict with China, in other words, are formidable,” said Chad Sbragia, deputy assistant secretary of defence for China. “This is a long-term process. We have to be agile, smart.”
The People’s Liberation Army is an increasingly formidable adversary that is marrying long-standing ambition with unprecedented new resources, Sbragia, the former US defence attaché in Beijing, told the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
This is allowing China and the PLA to expand the military’s global presence, modernise its capabilities and more effectively challenge US national interests, he added.
As China expands its ability to project force far beyond its shores, the Pentagon needs to “build and deploy a more lethal, resilient joint force”, including more hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence, robots and laser weapons, Sbragia testified.