US Navy build-up plans ‘may cement China’s resolve to modernise’
- China will not react to the US secretary of defence’s ‘Future Forward’ announcement but will push forward with military overhaul: analyst
- Observers forecast friction between American and Chinese armed forces and potential close encounters but say neither nation wants war
In a speech to the Rand Corporation, a US think tank, Esper said a sweeping review of US naval power dubbed “Future Forward” had laid out a “game-changer” plan that would expand the US sea fleet to more than 355 ships from the current 293.
The plan, which requires adding tens of billions of dollars to the US Navy budget between now and 2045, is aimed at maintaining superiority over Chinese naval forces, seen as the main threat to the United States.
“The future fleet will be more balanced in its ability to deliver lethal effects from the air, from the sea, and from under the sea,” Esper said.
Liu Weidong, a US affairs expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China was accustomed to remarks such as Esper’s and, regardless of his speech, the risks of confrontation between China and the US were indeed increasing, caused mainly by Washington’s strategic shift.