The French Emperor Napoleon once said during his exile, "China is sleeping, let him sleep, because when he wakes up, the world will tremble." Of course, did Napoleon ever say such exact words? I won’t delve into it further. The US military media website "1945" quoted this sentence to describe China. US media said that throughout most of the 20th century, China has been known as the "sleeping dragon" and that once it wakes up, it will "shock the world." No matter where this sentence originated, one fact is now clear. Now - the dragon is waking up, and the world is trembling. The modernization of the Chinese military is being realized at a rapid rate and will surpass the United States in the future.
At present, the Chinese army has 2 million people, while the US army has less than 1.4 million people. In terms of scale, the Chinese army is the largest army in the world. The reason why the U.S. military still has the advantage is that for decades, the U.S. military has always invested the most in military expenditures in the world, and then relied on its strong scientific and technological power to build a large number of military equipment with the highest performance in the world. The most advanced weapons and equipment.
Take the Air Force as an example. In the 1980s and 1990s, when we were still using second- and third-generation fighters such as J-6, J-7, and J-8 as the main force in air combat, the US military had already launched F-15, F-16, these fourth-generation fighter jets; after entering 2000, when we finally had the domestic fourth-generation fighter J-10, the US military's fifth-generation stealth fighter F-22 also began mass production. For decades, the equipment of the US military has always been different from ours.
US military experts believe that the Sino-US military conflict that may break out in the future will be dominated by sea and air battles. For a long time in the past, the technical equipment of the U.S. Navy and Air Force had crushed the Chinese Navy and Air Force. However, now, through years of technological accumulation, China has come close to equaling the United States in terms of high-end military technology. It basically no longer exists, and the difference is in quantity.
The Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force The most advanced fifth-generation stealth fighter J-20 "Vyron" has been in service for five or six years, and its core technology engine has also been localized in China. Currently, the J-20 is in mass production. Although its stealth performance is considered weaker than the F-22 and F-35 currently in service in the US military, its air combat performance is not weaker than the F-22 and is stronger than the F-35. . And at this time, China's carrier-based stealth fighter J-35 is being tested. It may be the next-generation fighter of China's aircraft carrier, competing against the F-35C of the US Navy.
Last month, China's new generation of aircraft carrier 03 Fujian Ship was launched. Its full load displacement is second only to the US military's Ford-class and Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. It adopts a straight and long flight deck design, and uses the electromagnetic ejection technology that the US military still has not fully mastered. Although there is still a certain gap with the Ford class of the US military, the technical indicators are basically the same as the Nimitz class. It is foreseeable that China's next generation aircraft carrier will develop better on the basis of 003.
When the U.S. Navy's Ticonderoga-class Aegis cruiser with a full displacement of 9,600 tons was put into service in the 1980s, China was still using the 51 destroyer as the main force, which lagged behind the West. Its full displacement was only 3,600 tons. Not capable of ocean navigation. After the US Navy's cruiser and destroyer fleet visited China in 1986, the Chinese Navy should also send ships to pay a return visit to the United States. As a result, we did not have a capable warship at that time. Without the help of auxiliary ships, Type 051 They were unable to sail to Hawaii alone, so in the end they had to send a full platoon of more than 6,000 tons of the Type 679 Zheng He training ship to return to the United States.
However, after 20 to 30 years of technological accumulation, the Chinese Navy now has a Type 055 10,000-ton cruiser that exceeds the U.S. Navy's Ticonderoga-class cruiser and Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. In terms of quality, it has surpassed The U.S. Navy, the only difference is quantity.
But now, all this is changing. According to US media, according to US defense officials said that the Chinese military is currently acquiring high-end military weapons and equipment five to six times faster than the US military, and their purchasing power is nearly 20 times that of the United States. China spends about $1 to buy it. The equipment costs the United States about 20 US dollars, and China's work efficiency is much more efficient than that of the United States.
Take 2021 as an example. The Chinese Navy received three 055 and seven 052D destroyers within one year, while the US Navy in the same year only commissioned one Arleigh Burke IIA-class destroyer. The Chinese and American navies are obviously not of the same order of magnitude in acquiring new types of ships. Moreover, the unit price of China's most advanced main destroyer, Type 055, is less than 900 million U.S. dollars, while the unit price of the Arleigh Burke III-class destroyer being built by the United States has reached 2.5 billion U.S. dollars. This is not the most critical thing. The most critical thing is the Arleigh Burke III class destroyer. The level is not as good as Type 055. Although it has not reached the 20-fold purchasing power gap claimed by U.S. defense officials, there is already a three-fold purchasing power gap.
US media said that the problem now is that China has woken up, while the United States is going to sleep. Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the US military has suddenly lost its opponents and made serious mistakes in the design and development of weapons. The Zumwalt-class destroyer, which had high hopes, became a useless weapon after spending a huge amount of money; high-profile The next-generation Ford-class aircraft carrier developed by the U.S. military has not yet achieved combat effectiveness; the F-22 fifth-generation stealth fighter that the U.S. Air Force put into service in China more than ten years ahead of schedule is actually unable to play a role in the East Asian battlefield, especially because of high maintenance costs. Facing retirement. If this continues, the US military will not only be unable to replenish new equipment as quickly as possible, but will also be unable to protect its partners.
US media said that because China has made great progress in military capabilities, China's influence on the world stage is growing. He will continue to build aircraft carriers and new bombers and fighter jets. The United States simply cannot fall behind, otherwise they will exclude the United States from the Pacific region sooner or later.
The United States often regards itself as the world's hegemon, and interfering in the internal affairs of other countries has become a common practice. However, China's peaceful rise has prevented the United States from interfering in China's internal affairs as it pleases. Therefore, the United States has been hyping the "China threat theory" for a long time.
China has always adhered to the line of peaceful development. Although China is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, China’s military expenditure accounts for the lowest proportion of GDP among the five permanent members, less than 1.3%, while the United States’ military expenditure accounts for 3.3% of GDP, and the United Kingdom’s military expenditure accounts for 3.3% of GDP. It is 2.3%, France is 1.8%, and Russia is 2.6%. It can be seen from this proportion that China is not seeking hegemony. The current focus of China's military development is still active defense and building an area denial/anti-access system, mainly to protect our country's routes.
