There are many times when important stories related to foreign policy or national security get overlooked or ignored. This was the case this year when the world did not notice how China was rapidly increasing its military might. The reason it escaped the prying eyes of reporters and experts was because the world was busy grappling with other more important stories such as Russia meddling into internal matters of Ukraine and the terror outfit called ISIS raising its tentacles across the world. No one bothered to cover the way in which China was moving ahead with its plans to bolster its defense and attack capabilities. But there is need for the world to know what is happening in China as it has implications for the entire world.
Defense expenditure
China today has the 2nd largest budget on defense in the world. It is not that it has suddenly reached this rank. In fact, its defense budget has been registering an yearly increase of 10% for the last decade or so. In the backdrop of an economic meltdown that is of global nature, it is clear that China plans t use its military might to influence other major powers of the world such as Japan, Russia, US, and India.
Condition of Navy
China today boasts of an aircraft carrier to be the only country apart from US to have a surface over Pacific Ocean. It would not be out of bounds for China to add an air wing, for which it will need more such carriers. Here are reports that it is silently building many more such aircraft carriers. This is not all as China is busy building many new ships and submarines to bolster its Navy capabilities. China had just a single sub in the year 2000. But if one goes by the report of US China Economic and Security Review Commission, it has more than 40 submarines today. This fleet of submarines is not just looking after the security of Chinese waters as it is also being used for snooping around in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.
Air force and missile power
China is no longer content with just long range missiles or those that are nuclear capable as it has developed ICBMs that can target even US. This means that strike power of China is today most lethal and also very huge. China has also increased its nuclear arsenal and it is now capable of sending these nuclear bombs to targets thousands of kilometers away at an amazing speed of Mach 5. Add to this China’s grand strength in terms of stealth fighter aircrafts and you get armed forces that are second to none in the world.
Cyber space/Space
China knows that strength in these two areas is going to prove crucial in the time to come. It has successfully carried out anti satellite intercept tests to make sure that it can endanger satellites of other countries in a time no longer than the next 5-10 years. This is a scenario that certainly does not augur well for the safety and security around the world. In terms of cyber space, China has developed an army of hackers who can bring down on its knees any enemy who is heavily dependent upon computers and related technologies.
Question arises as to what prompts China to develop its armed forces to such a great extent. Though China has not said anything, the world knows that it is ready to flex its muscles when it comes to claiming waters in South China and East China Seas. But this is a reason that does raise fears in the minds of the comity of nations. China thinks that America is on a decline and it wants to secure the position of the sole super power of the world when the time comes. This means that it can claim this position without having to fight with the US.
The way things are moving on this front, it s not going to be any different next year. If anything, China would have added much more strength to its military might by the end of the next year.
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About Sanjay Tandon
Sanjay Tandon is a graduate engineer from IIT Varanasi. He has been writing as a freelancer for many years. He loves to write on various niches. He is passionate about politics and economy and spends his free time watching news channels. He is also an expert on relationships.
