news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

[text/observer network xiong chaoran] according to a press release issued by the u.s. department of defense on september 16 local time, u.s. air force secretary frank kendall delivered a speech at a conference hosted by the u.s. air force and space force association that day, mentioning the so-called china’s growing threat to the "indo-pacific region" and claiming that "china’s threat to regional security is not in the future, but now."

"for 15 years, i have been closely following (china's) military developments. china is not a future threat, china is a threat today." he hyped up the fact that china continues to invest heavily in capabilities, operational concepts and organizations that are specifically designed to defeat the ability of the united states and its allies to project power in the western pacific, including weapons targeting u.s. land and sea assets such as air bases and aircraft carriers.

"in addition, china continues to expand its nuclear forces and its combat capabilities in cyberspace. we can expect all of these trends to continue." kendall claimed that when he visited the "indo-pacific region" in the past 15 years, he saw other countries' concerns and even warnings about china's growing strength and intentions. he hyped that one example was that the people's liberation army was conducting larger and more complex exercises for "attacking taiwan" and "locking taiwan."

“i’m not saying that war in the pacific is imminent or inevitable. it’s not,” kendall continued. “but i am saying that the likelihood is increasing and will continue to increase.”

the press release stated that in his speech, kendall loudly called for the united states to be prepared for potential future conflicts, and then he listed the various ways the air force and space force are working to achieve this goal, including a large-scale modernization plan to achieve operational urgency. "to prevent conflict, we must be prepared; to win in conflict, we must be ready."

during his speech, kendall also talked about the latest situation in other parts of the world.

speaking of current conflicts in the middle east, kendall claimed that iran’s failed attack on israel in april was largely due to the defense provided by the u.s. air force and space force.

“to date, the efforts of our national security team and our allies and partners around the world have been successful in limiting the scale of conflict,” he said. “this success is a direct result of the presence of the united states military, including, importantly, the united states air force, throughout the region.”

speaking about the russia-ukraine conflict, kendall claimed that russia will remain a threat to the region regardless of whether, when and how the conflict ends.

"as russia will be weakened by years of conflict, nato will become more resilient." kendall said that nato has become stronger since the outbreak of the russia-ukraine conflict, and many nato countries have achieved their defense spending as a percentage of gdp targets.

"we are also deepening our partnerships with our traditional allies in europe," he said, citing as a recent example an agreement among the allies to share the cost of integrating norway's joint strike missile onto f-35 fighter jets. "this will significantly enhance our maritime strike capability with our allied partners, norway, canada and australia, both by design and by operation."

in recent years, the pentagon has continued to hype up the "chinese military threat" in an attempt to gain defense budget. in april this year, at a panel meeting of the u.s. senate defense appropriations committee, kendall attended and continued such clichés, claiming that the united states "is running out of time" because china's military capabilities are developing rapidly and u.s. military plans are facing delays due to budget delays.

"the timing and speed of modernization are my biggest concerns. we don't have time." kendall said that china and the united states "are competing for military and technological advantages." the chinese air force has carried out very effective modernization, posing a "pacing challenge" to the united states, but the united states is facing too high costs and insufficient budget for updating its weapons.

earlier, senior colonel zhang xiaogang, deputy director of the information bureau of the ministry of national defense and spokesman for the ministry of national defense, refuted the us air force minister's statement that the us is using the so-called threats from other countries as an excuse to expand its military power, and china firmly opposes this. as we all know, the united states defines space as a "combat territory", develops and deploys offensive space weapons, organizes military attack and defense exercises and technical experiments, and even maliciously tracks and dangerously approaches other countries' spacecraft, creating the risk of collision between space objects. it has become the biggest promoter of the militarization and battlefieldization of space and the biggest threat to space security.

china has always adhered to the peaceful use of space, opposed the arms race in space, and actively promoted the building of a community with a shared future for mankind in the space field. we urge the us to abandon the cold war zero-sum game mentality, stop spreading false and untrue statements, stop expanding its military in space, truly shoulder its due responsibilities, and prevent serious impacts on global strategic security and stability.

this article is an exclusive article of observer.com and may not be reproduced without authorization.