US Marine Corps ‘must adapt to long-term China threat’
- Head of the American force says Asian giant aims to displace the United States and cumbersome corps needs to trim down to meet the challenge
The US Marine Corps needs to be more agile and maritime-focused to counter China’s “long-term existential threat” to the United States, according to the head of the force.
Marine Corps commandant General David Berger said the force was working to ensure it would be prepared for war with China or Russia, including more training in amphibious fighting, USNI News, the US Naval Institute’s online news site, quoted him as saying on Wednesday.
Berger, who took command of the force in July, said he believed China was planning to displace the United States as the world’s top power and America needed to stay ahead of that threat.
“We are too heavy, too cumbersome,” Berger said. “We have to go on a diet.”
The Marine Corps also published a four-minute promotional video online early on Thursday, talking up the corps’ ability to “operate inside contested maritime spaces”.
The video also warned that the battle to keep the US safe had changed.
“The world has become more dangerous,” it said as an image of a Chinese Jin-class ballistic missile submarine appeared.