The US Military Capability Needed to Prevent a War with China Is the Same as the Capability Needed to Win a War with China
Overview:
The United States should be prepared by 2035 to defend itself against an attack on the US homeland by the People’s Republic of China and in the event of such attack be prepared to conduct immediate offensive operations to defeat China
China Poses an Unprecedented Threat to the United States
The United States has been the world’s dominant economic and military power for over a century. It has also long thought itself secure from direct attack on the homeland, but is now faced with a power—China—that is close to economic parity and is driving for both economic and military superiority.
Even now China has the capability to do grievous harm to the United States homeland with a multi-domain attack capability consisting of global hypersonic missiles, long-range bombers, demonstrated space weapons, demonstrated cyber and biological weapons, a significant ballistic missile launch capability, submarine launched ballistic and cruise missiles, a potential “fifth column,” and a powerful espionage apparatus.
Although the situation is dire now, China is building new military capability at a rate that exceeds that of the United States in virtually all areas. On top of that China has an extensive air, cruise missile, space, and ballistic missile defense as well as multiple shelters around the nation. The US has little of the kind of defenses China has and is ill-equipped to defend itself.
Not only does China have a very powerful and rapidly expanding military, it has also clearly expressed the objectives for which such a powerful and expensive military is necessary. Xi Jinping, the paramount leader of the Peoples Republic of China has publicly proclaimed that by 2049, the 100th anniversary of the Communist seizure of power in China, that China will “Lead the world in terms of composite national strength and international influence.” In other words, China is determined to displace the United States as the world’s superpower—a position it has held for over a century.
We in the United States have not faced so multi-faceted and potent a threat for well over a century. Especially vulnerable is a national infrastructure that is at best only marginally defendable against a China-scale attack on the US. A Chinese attack on the US homeland would be devastating even today and far more so in the future.
US Military Response to the Threat
Over the last two decades, the United States has optimized its force structure to deal with small regional conflicts such as Afghanistan and Libya. More recently US planning has begun to focus on a larger regional conflict over Taiwan that would be contained similar to the Korean War where our sea and air lines to the peninsula were secure, our Chinese opponent had no capability to attack anything but our fielded forces, and we foreswore aerial attacks across the Yalu River into China. The real threat, however, is an uncontained and unconstrained strategic war with direct Chinese attacks on the United States. We are not prepared in thought or deed for a strategic war.
War with China is not a certainty and we fervently pray that it never happens, but the probability is high enough and consequences sufficiently dire to demand that we prepare for it. This is the most dangerous threat from an external power that we have faced since the war of 1812. We are not ready for this kind of war but desperately need to become so.
Remember–if you want peace, prepare for war! Or, put in other words, “Peace Comes through Strength, not Weakness”
It is imperative that the country begin immediate steps to ensure that the United States does not suffer a debilitating attack on the homeland and that an attack notwithstanding, must be able to counter-attack and defeat an attacking power quickly and with minimum damage to the US homeland. There is no way to predict when or if China will attack our nation, but the consequences are so grim that we must begin preparations immediately and should be fully prepared not later than 2035.
- Our first priority is to defend against a Chinese attack on the US homeland to include:
a. A comprehensive ballistic and cruise missile defense system capable of intercepting at least 95% of incoming vehicles
b. A comprehensive air defense system capable of intercepting at least 95% of incoming air breathing vehicles
c. A comprehensive surface and sub-surface capability to detect and destroy 99% of surface and submarine vehicles before they launch missiles against the United States homeland
d. A national defense against cyber-attack aimed at critical systems such as electricity, communications, rail transportation, and petro-chemical refining and distribution
e. A national defense against space-based energy and kinetic weapons
f. An Infrastructure sufficiently hardened to withstand such natural events as weather and deliberate attack including electromagnetic pulses and other threats to vital systems
g. Shelter and sustainment for 90% of the civilian populations
h. Rapid response to biological attack delivered by balloons, saboteurs, or other means
2. In addition to comprehensive homeland defense, the United States must not only be fully prepared not later than 2035 to withstand an attack by China but must be capable of conducting prompt and overwhelming counteroffensive operations to defeat China to include
a. The capability to impose strategic paralysis on China within days of commencement employing a variety of attack capabilities consisting of air breathing, ballistic, sea-launched, space-launched, cyber weapons, kinetic weapons, and energy weapons
b. The capability to neutralize the Chinese naval fleet within thirty days and to reduce Chinese imports by at least 50% within sixty days
c. The employment of new revolutionary platforms and weapons that have high probability of penetrating and creating desired effects on the opponent
3. Military equipment for defense and offense is critical, but needs to be buttressed by a range of non-military capabilities to include
a. National Security organization and force structure optimized for war against China
b. Plans for rapid mobilization and movement from peacetime to a wartime footing
c. Invigoration of strategic information, sabotage, and espionage organizations
d. Substantial increases in active, guard, and reserve military personnel which may require measures such as those employed in World War II
e. Substantial strengthening or reenergizing of auxiliary forces and personnel on models similar to the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, the Ground Observer Corps, and the Civil Air Patrol
f. Plans to stop Chinese commercial and/or intelligence infiltration of vital US facilities, institutions, and companies
4. The only thing that might discourage China from embarking on war to realize its domination objectives is an American defense and offense so strong that China sees no possibility of succeeding or avoiding catastrophic and debilitating impacts on the People’s Republic
Conclusion
Preparation to defend against a Chinese attack and to defeat China in the event of an attack should be treated as the number one national priority consistent with maintenance of Constitutional government and economic growth. Remember—Peace Comes From Strength.