US must not be complacent about military edge over China, top army officials warn
- Christine Wormuth, Secretary of the Army, and James McConville, the Army chief of staff, discuss Pentagon responses to China’s modernised military
- ‘We’ve got to modernise the army,’ McConville said, noting that such efforts would include increasing the speed and range of weapons in the Indo-Pacific
The civilian head of the United States Army expressed apprehension on Tuesday about the military advances China has achieved over the past two decades and described the steps the US is taking in response to bolster its posture in the Indo-Pacific.
“I’m quite concerned, obviously, about the PLA threat,” said Christine Wormuth, Secretary of the Army, said, referring to the People’s Liberation Army. “They’ve embarked on a very impressive 20-year effort to comprehensively modernise their military across every single service.”
Wormuth said that the US military continued to outmatch China’s in the undersea domain, enjoyed a “much more decentralised, empowered force” and had significantly more combat experience. But, she added, the PLA was closely studying US armed forces, seeking to learn from the way they trained and maintained readiness.
“I don’t think we should be complacent,” she said.
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Wormuth, the first woman named to her position, was joined by James McConville, the US Army chief of staff, at an event hosted by the Hudson Institute, a right-leaning think tank in Washington.