anyone who follows global news is aware of the quick and powerful rise of the chinese military is there any reason for china's rapid military growth before we get into the why of the topic it's important to understand their strength here's a fact that you may not know thousands of nuclear warheads could be fielded by the people's liberation army which would also have the means to deliver them by twenty thirty in fact did you know that according to the us defense department's annual report on the chinese military the country is quickly catching up with the us in nuclear capability but here's something we were surprised to learn china's nuclear arsenal is set to quadruple at a faster rate than even the defense department had estimated in its china report of twenty twenty the issue doesn't just relate to its nuclear arms beijing's dual use research which could violate international chemical and biological weapons bans and its rapid gains in the field of military space are among the concerns expressed in the pentagon's report in addition their newly developed fractional orbital bombardment systems and hypersonic weapons already surpass similar us capabilities most of us know that china has the world's largest navy now what's really important to understand is that this military growth wasn't achieved overnight in fact the building and modernization of beijing's military began decades ago to expand its scale and breadth experts in u. s intelligence have also remarked that even in the 20th century they were constantly informed about the new advances made in the pla's military capabilities a component that cannot be overlooked when understanding how china managed to build its military capabilities to far exceed that of other countries is its economic growth a continuation of these trends will significantly weaken the us military's ability to maintain deterrence in the indo-pacific it's crucial to understand that china's military growth isn't being blown out of proportion in any way a report from the department of defense found that china's military has outpaced the us in ships missiles and air defense the prc's ultimate goal is to build a military that by the mid-century would be equal to or better than that of the us or of any other great power that the prc considers a threat with that goal in mind the pla has been strengthened and modernized almost in every way in recent decades as the pla has been marshaled with resources technology and political will while the prc possesses more than 1 250 ground-launched ballistic missiles or glbns and ground-launched cruise missiles or glcms with ranges between 500 and 500 kilometers the us only possesses one type of glbm with a range of 70 to 300 kilometers with a mix of russian built and homegrown air defense systems china is also in front when it comes to these according to the dod's 20th annual report on china the country has made staggering progress in building coordinating and projecting power since the first report was published by 2000 the pla did not have the organizational capability or readiness for modern warfare while these limitations were present the ccp remains steadfast in its determination to strengthen and transform its armed forces in line with its aspirations over the past decade the pla has accumulated staggering amounts of military hardware but the most important thing is that ccp leaders have transformed the pla into a force more suited to joint operations and expanding prc military presence abroad so today the world pays closer attention to china's modernization of its armed forces and pursuit of ever more sophisticated weapons after repeated air incursions close to taiwan and reports that it has tested hypersonic weapons china has become more assertive diplomatically under president xi jinping and more willing to demonstrate its military might in support of its claims over disputed territory china has traditionally asserted power in the region using the ground forces of its pla it recently led a charge at the himalayan border with india the pentagon china military power report indicates that china has more than 915 000 active troops dwarfing the united states which has about four hundred and eighty six thousand a growing number of high-tech weapons have been added to the arsenal of its army a new intercontinental ballistic missile df-41 was unveiled at the military parade on national day in 2019 which experts expect can hit any corner of the globe many people were also captivated by a hypersonic missile called the df-17 according to news reports in 2021 china tested hypersonic weapons twice in july and august a top u. s general compared the breakthrough with the soviet union's 1957 launch of the sputnik satellite which signaled its superiority in the space race china's air force has grown to become the third largest in the world according to a report by the u.
s office of secretary of defense last year it's made up of more than 2 500 aircraft including thousands of combat aircraft one noteworthy development is the growing collection of stealth fighter jets in the air force including the j-20 one of china's most advanced warplanes the aircraft was developed by an independent company aimed at competing with the us-made f-22 amid regional competition china is also increasing the export of weapons to other developing countries as a way to warm relations with friendly nations during the past decade china has mostly exported weapons to pakistan bangladesh and algeria according to the stockholm international peace research institute chinese exports of unmanned aerial vehicles or uavs commonly known as drones have been increasing over the past few years according to the institute drones have been exported to customers in the united arab emirates and saudi arabia chinese armed forces are building up at a rapid pace despite its shortcomings some western observers think that china is poised to shift the global balance of military power in a dramatic way as a result of its advances in missile technology nuclear weapons and artificial intelligence beijing ordered its armed forces to modernize by 2035 under president xi jinping he said that by 2049 they would be capable of fighting and winning wars many international experts have accused china of lacking transparency over its defense spending and for reporting figures inconsistently official spending data for china's armed forces are published by beijing but western estimates are often much higher in comparison with other countries china is currently believed to spend more on its military than any other according to the center for strategic and international studies in washington the growth of the chinese military budget has been outpacing its economic growth for at least a decade china's nuclear stockpile is on pace to quadruple by the end of this decade according to the u. s department of defense by 2030 china is expected to have at least 1 000 warheads china has increased the number of its warheads in recent years according to experts at the stockholm international peace research institute in terms of nuclear power china still trails the us by a long way but its buildup is considered one of the biggest threats to western military supremacy the speed of a hypersonic missile is equal to or greater than five times that of sound despite being slower than intercontinental ballistic missiles they are nearly impossible to detect in flight allowing some air defenses to become ineffective western experts believe the launching of two rockets in the summer of 2021 demonstrates that china's military is over halfway to acquiring hypersonic missiles china has denied testing hypersonic missiles and the exact nature of china's systems is unclear a hypersonic glide missile tends to stay within the atmosphere while a fractional orbital bombardment system flies in low orbit before accelerating towards its target the chinese may have deployed a hypersonic missile from a maneuverable fobs spacecraft combining the two systems in and of themselves hypersonic missiles may not change the game but they provide a high degree of vulnerability to some targets aircraft carriers are especially difficult to defend against hypersonic missiles it's possible that some western officials overestimated the threat of chinese hypersonic missiles as they're keen to make a compelling case to finance military space technology nonetheless there is a serious threat as reported by the us department of defense china is now firmly committed to developing intelligent warfare or future military methods that use disruptive technologies to combat military threats a chinese military academy has been given the charge of making sure that happens it has been tasked with aligning chinese private technology companies with china's defense industries under what's termed civil military fusion there are reports stating that china may have employed artificial intelligence in unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned naval vessels as well as military robotics and missile guidance systems chinese cyber operations overseas have already been assessed by experts as large scale a major cyber attack was allegedly conducted against microsoft exchange servers by china in july 2021 according to the uk the us and the eu at least 30 000 organizations across the globe were affected by this attack which was designed to enable large-scale espionage including the stealing of intellectual property and personal information as already mentioned china has overtaken the united states as the world's largest navy however experts point out that comparisons based solely on ship numbers leave out many factors that determine the capability of a navy it is nonetheless useful to examine trends they say with 11 aircraft carriers to china's two and a larger number of cruisers destroyers and submarines or larger warships the us has a huge lead in most naval capabilities however it's expected that china will expand its navy considerably professor zhou beau of qinghua university in beijing a former senior member of the people's liberation army believes china must strengthen its navy to counter the threats posed by sea according to the u. s navy there will be a 40 percent increase in chinese navy ships between 2020 and 2040.
does china appear to be moving away from a non-confrontational strategy towards a more confrontational one chinese officials are still focused on winning without fighting although this strategy may change someday colonel joe however believes western fears are unfounded he stated that unlike the us china does not seek to police the world he claimed that the chinese policy won't change even if it becomes much stronger the military capabilities of china haven't been tested since 1979 when it fought against vietnam both in the west and in china many people would like to keep it that way so that's all we have for this video on china and its steadily rising military it's undoubtedly an interesting topic with many intricate details and opposing points of view in fact it's a widely discussed issue on a global level and has raised concerns in many parts of the world what are your thoughts on this topic do you think china will soon become the largest military power in the world or will it trail behind superpowers like america for a few more decades is the chinese military threat real or blown out of proportion should the u.
