China's military marches on

For years the Pentagon has been predicting and warning about China's military modernisation advances but without any real official concern other than taking note of the progress Beijing is making towards its stated goal of matching the US for military dominance by 2049. Now suddenly the Pentagon seems to be shaking in its boots because every previous estimate and expectation of China's growing might has been hit by a new reality. Beijing is making such amazingly rapid progress towards the target of being a military superpower on a par with the US that it has taken the Pentagon's breath away. The latest Pentagon report on China says Beijing might quadruple its nuclear warhead stockpile over the next few years and its recent hypersonic missile test which demonstrated an ability to put a nuclear warhead into orbit around the earth was a revelation to the intelligence boys. Poor General Mark Milley, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff who is having a pretty torrid time as the president's principal military adviser, has had to admit that the August missile test was "concerning". Milley shorthand for "Bloody hell, how did they do that?" The fact is President Xi Zinping is obsessed with building up a military superpower force and of course being the leader of a Communist country he can get on with it without having to worry about parliamentary/congressional opposition. So China is building submarines, warships, stealth fighters, aircraft carriers and long-range missiles at breackneck speed. At this rate Xi will reach his 2049 target by 2039. What the US can do about it is limited, other than attempt to maintain a technological edge over China and to ensure that its triad of nuclear weapons is up-to-date and deterrent credible. But Joe Biden is putting trillions of dollars aside for his social welfare revolution and the defence budget is bound to be affected. This is what democracy is about. The only hope is that Xi will not want to engage in a war of any kind with the US. After all, there's not much point in building his country into a superpower only for him to wage war and destroy everything he has dreamed of for his nation. That's my hope anyway.