This CCP objective admits that China is not on the verge of military superiority over America:
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army may have set a new goal of ensuring military power equivalent to that of U.S. forces in Asia’s western Pacific region by 2027, sources close to the matter have said.
That's a tilted comparison. The entire PLA versus just American forces in the western Pacific.
And the Chinese objective doesn't include friends and allies in the region--which America has a lot of while China has (if you squint in a dark room) three. And probably zero if you count those who'd be willing to fight America at China's side.
Not that the Chinese objective is meaningless. America needs to be strong enough to keep America's allies in the western Pacific aligned with America rather than peeling away out of fear of China.
If China wages war on America, it needs to win quickly and end the war before America and our allies can gather forces to fight back. And in regard to Taiwan, China just needs to defeat Taiwan while deterring an America that needs time to gather sufficient forces to defeat China. That's what their area denial/anti-access strategy is intended to provide China.
Which is why for the sake of deterrence I want the Army to have a role in defending Taiwan, as I argued in Military Review.
China has grander goals for mid-century. But can they achieve that scary goal? I guess I'm not the biggest proponent of China's purported genius for long-range planning.
In the short run, is a short, victorious, and glorious Chinese war scenario likely?
