‘The Chinese are coming’: former Pentagon chief says US is in danger of losing arms technology race to Beijing

The United States may fall victim to a “deliberate, patient and robustly resourced” Chinese effort to blunt the technological advantages of its armed forces, a new report co-written by a former senior Pentagon official said.

In the study, former deputy US defence secretary Robert Work and his former special assistant Greg Grant described a five-pronged Chinese strategy to overtake the US’ military superiority. A short-term goal was to make US intervention in the Western Pacific too costly for Washington, leading to the longer-term aim of turning the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into the world’s premier military force.

“The PLA has been patiently stalking the US military for two decades,” the report said. “It has studied the preferred American way of war and devised a strategy to exploit its weaknesses and offset its strengths – particularly its military-technological strengths.

“[China] appears increasingly close to achieving technological parity with US operational systems and has a plan to achieve technological superiority.”

Published by Washington think tank the Centre for a New American Security (CNAS), the report comes as an increasing number of serving and former Pentagon officials sound the alarm about what China’s increasing military might may portend for a US accustomed to unrivalled superiority.