The U.S. Navy Was Directed to Prepare for War With China by 2027 | China Truths

Welcome to China Truths. In today's bulletin, The US Navy was directed to prepare for war with China by 2027. The United States, Australia, Japan, and India focus on containing China. Canada's former conservative leader was approached by a flirtatious Chinese woman. Now, let's dive into the details. It's all covered in today's China Truths. The US Navy was directed to prepare for war with China by 2027. The US Navy on September 19 released a new strategic document centered on countering China's aggression in the Indo-Pacific. It directs the Navy to develop readiness for the possibility of war with the People's Republic of China by 2027, pointing to China's preparations for a possible invasion of Taiwan in the same year. The document, titled Navigation Plan for America's Warfighting Navy, says the Navy emphatically acknowledges the need for a larger, more lethal force. By 2027, the Navy will be more ready for sustained combat as part of a joint and combined force, prioritizing the People's Republic of China as the pacing challenge and focusing on enabling the joint warfighting ecosystem. The Chinese government claims that Taiwan is a part of However, Taiwan is self-governed by a democratically elected government and has never been controlled by China. The Chinese leader Xi Jinping has nevertheless ordered the country's military to prepare for war and to develop the capabilities required to invade Taiwan. The Chinese government has since engaged in a more-than-decade-long shipbuilding spree, massively expanding its fleet, drone capabilities, and nuclear arsenal. Most importantly, for a Taiwan invasion scenario, it has also launched its own advanced aircraft carriers and destroyers. That poses a problem for the United States, as the U.S. Navy floats far fewer ships in the region than the Chinese as they must spread their vessels more widely to maintain a global military presence. China can position the vast majority of its naval and coast guard units close to home, where they can receive cover from land-based units and where it is easier to maintain their supply lines. A congressional report published in July found that the U.S. military lacks both the capabilities and the capacity required to be confident it can deter and prevail in combat against China. The July report also states that China is likely to increase its hostile behavior in the coming years to normalize unlawful behavior around Taiwan as it seeks to take advantage of the United States' lack of ability to deter conflict. Key to the new Navy document's goals is the fulfillment of Project 33, a naval initiative aiming to ready the force by eliminating delays in maintenance, scaling the use of autonomous and robotic systems, and increasing Navy recruitment, among other things. The document reads, We cannot manifest a bigger traditional Navy in a few short years, nor will we rely en masse without the right capabilities to win the sea-control contest. Nearer-term operational challenges demand that we integrate proven robotic and autonomous capabilities as soon as possible. We must do so with a focus on how we will use these systems in war. By 2027, we will integrate proven robotic and autonomous systems for routine use by the commanders who will employ them. Scaling the deployment of autonomous systems is just part of the puzzle, with the document underscoring that the grim U.S. position in the Indo-Pacific goes well beyond just the size of the PLA Navy fleet. The document notes that China's joint forces are developing into an integrated fighting force specifically designed to defeat ours and are backed by China's massive industrial base. The document also calls on the Navy to work with Congress to secure critical supply chains and lays out a vision in which all fleet headquarters in the service will field their own maritime operations centers. The goal of the latter directive is to ensure that the U.S. Navy can continue to maintain superiority in command and control, military intelligence, and maneuvers, even against a numerically superior foe in a vast and distributed region. The document reads, We must meet all the objectives in this navigation plan to field the people and capabilities needed to fight and win today, in 2027, and beyond. The United States, Australia, Japan, and India focus on containing China. The leaders of the Indo-Pacific Quadrilateral Partnership or Quad, including the United States, Australia, Japan, and India, announced new efforts on September 21 to boost their shared maritime security capabilities and expand other areas of regional cooperation. President Joe Biden hosted the fourth in-person Quad Leaders Summit in Wilmington, Delaware, on September 21 to discuss a range of topics concerning the four nations, including ways to enforce international law in the waterways of the Indo-Pacific. Ahead of the summit, the White House announced that the Quad partners will soon begin their first joint Coast Guard exercises that will become a rotational training effort. The United States will lead the first round of the joint training, with Australian, Japanese, and Indian personnel coming aboard a U.S. Coast Guard vessel to pick up and exchange skills. The White House announced that the Quad will also expand its existing Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness or IPMDA initiative. The IPMDA aims to increase transparency about maritime activity in the region and how nations may be asserting their various claims in the Indo-Pacific waterways, providing awareness not only to the Quad members but also to other regional partner nations. The four-way Quad partnership has the potential to serve as a check on the expansionist pursuits of the Chinese government, but its members have avoided announcing any quadrilateral military alliance that could one day face war with China if it moves to enforce its model of governance in the region. The United States has instead pursued separate bilateral alliances and security partnerships more specifically positioned to respond to hostilities in the region. President Joe Biden told leaders of Australia, India, and Japan that China is testing us with its aggression in the Indo-Pacific, a remark that was caught on a hot mic at a summit of the Quad alliance on September 21. The summit, which Biden hosted near his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, was attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. After they delivered their opening remarks before the press, Biden told his Quad counterparts that Beijing's recent actions were a change in tactic, not change in strategy. President Biden said, China continues to behave aggressively, testing us all across the region, and it's true in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, South China, South Asia, and the Taiwan Straits. We believe Xi Jinping is looking to focus on domestic economic challenges to minimize the turbulence in China, diplomatic relationships, and he's also looking to buy himself some diplomatic space, in my view, to aggressively pursue China's interest. The Quad leaders' joint declaration did not mention China or Xi by name. The declaration says, we are seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Sea. China's economy is facing a crisis on multiple fronts, with disappointing August economic data for industrial production, retail sales, and youth unemployment. New home prices reported a nine-year low in July. Meanwhile, US companies' optimism in China has fallen to an all-time low, according to a survey published by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai earlier this month. Japan has expressed concerns after a Chinese aircraft carrier entered its contiguous waters earlier this month, following two Chinese territorial incursions in August that prompted Japan to lodge a protest with Beijing. In recent weeks, the Philippines has criticized Beijing for ramming its boats, blasting its boats with water cannons, and firing flares at its aircraft, with most of the incidents occurring around the contested Sabina Shoal in the South China Sea. The Chinese government, which claims Taiwan as a part of its territory, has been targeting the island with military provocations and gray-zone tactics such as cyberattacks. Taiwan's defense ministry reported on September 22 that it had spotted eight Chinese military planes and six military vessels in the island's vicinity in the past 24 hours. Canada's former conservative leader Aaron O'Toole was approached by a flirtatious Chinese woman. Former conservative leader Aaron O'Toole told Canada's Foreign Interference Commission about a suspected influence attempt that involved being repeatedly approached by a flirtatious Chinese woman. O'Toole recounted two incidents he believes may have involved foreign interference, according to a summary of interviews with Commission Council conducted in March and released on September 18, which was first covered by Blacklock's reporter. In the first encounter, he described being approached by a young ethnic Chinese woman at an event in 2018 or 2019, as well as on other occasions. The summary stated, Mr. O'Toole described the young woman as very flirtatious and as unprofessional and relentless in her attempts to obtain his phone number, to the point that he felt bothered and uncomfortable. Around the time he became party leader he reflected upon this incident and believed it may well have been an overt attempt at gaining his influence. The Chinese government is known to employ sexual seduction tactics to exert foreign influence. Referred to as honeypots in a December 2021 report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the tactic involves Chinese agents fostering romantic relationships with influential individuals, with the goal of gathering sensitive information. In one instance in 2011, then-Conservative MP Bob Deckard, who served as the Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, issued a public apology for a romantic relationship with a young Chinese national named Sher Rong, who worked at the Toronto Bureau of the Chinese state-run media, Xinhua News Agency. Sher was abruptly recalled to China after the relationship became public. Such tactics of seduction and personal relationships are not limited to Canada and have been observed in other countries as well. One such example is the case of Christine Fang in the United States. Fang, a Chinese student at California State University East Bay in the early 2010s, established relationships with several American politicians, including then-Democrat Representative Eric Swalwell, who became a member of the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Their relationship raised concerns, and the FBI eventually alerted U.S. officials to her activities. Swalwell severed ties with Fang immediately after the FBI warning and was not accused of any wrongdoing. In the interview summary, O'Toole raised concerns about a second incident during his 2017 conservative leadership campaign, when two young foreign Chinese students came to his Ottawa office. They offered to help with tasks such as calling voters and doing data entry in Mandarin and Cantonese. The summary stated, Although Mr. O'Toole described them as lovely, he wonders why these foreign students offered to volunteer out of the blue and whether they were prompted to do so by foreign actors. He thought it strange for international students to follow domestic politics so closely and even stranger that they would volunteer in the context of an internal party leadership race. O'Toole said there is a possibility that the international students were genuinely offering assistance but noted that their role as volunteers would have given them access to his campaign. Citing these incidents, the former conservative leader pointed out the limited ability of political parties to properly screen or vet volunteers, leaving them vulnerable to potential foreign interference. O'Toole testified before the commission on September 18. He was not cross-examined on the two incidents reported in the newly released interview summary. During his September 18 testimony, he cited other concerns regarding China's potential foreign interference in Canada, including his considering expelling a senator from his caucus. O'Toole expressed serious concern that the senator had been advocating for a Chinese state-owned company in Ontario and noted that the senator had received pretty extensive sponsored travel to China. O'Toole did not name the senator. O'Toole ultimately decided not to expel the senator, citing concerns that he would be accused of racism. He said he instead asked the party leader in the Senate to have a serious conversation with the senator about appropriate conduct. Don't forget to leave a comment in the section below to share your opinions on today's topic with us. Make sure to like and subscribe to see more interesting topics from China Truths.