Gen. Mike Minihan, head of US Air Mobility Command, recently sent an urgent memo to his troops predicting war with China in 2025, and the dire need to prepare for it. Other US military commanders in recent years have warned of impending war with China as well. Including US Navy Adm. Phil Davidson who told Congress in 2021 that China could strike Taiwan before 2027.
This is no idle threat. China’s supreme leader Xi Jinping has stated unequivocally his intentions to retake Taiwan and complete his “Great Rejuvenation” of the Chinese nation, by any means necessary. Throughout his reign, Xi has proven to be, if nothing else, a man of his word. It’s not if he will move against Taiwan, but when.
As Chinese General Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War 2,000 years ago, “Every battle is won or lost before it is ever fought.”
Whether 2025, or 2030, or beyond, America must prepare now. Indeed, the hour is already late, and time is short. As I wrote in my book The Art of the New Cold War, China represents a threat to America, and the world, on par with, if not exceeding that of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. And while America was distracted for decades with wars in the Middle East and foreign nation building, China has been laser focused on winning a war with America, specifically one in the Taiwan Strait, and has designed its military for that purpose. In fact, China already possesses more warships than the US Navy.
America’s top military leaders are therefore not only flashing giant warning signs that a looming war with China is a distinct probability, but that America could lose.
As it stands now, America is woefully unprepared for a war with China. A fact laid bare by the war in Ukraine, which has exposed the massive insufficiencies of the US defense industrial base, with US weapons stockpiles already running dangerously low and new production unable to keep up with demand. Ukraine pales in comparison to a major war with China. Indeed, according to a new report from The Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), “the United States would likely run out of some munitions—such as long-range, precision-guided munitions—in less than one week in a Taiwan Strait conflict.” China is also, according to the report, “heavily investing in munitions and acquiring high-end weapons systems and equipment five to six times faster than the United States.”
But instead of preparing US defense forces to fight and win the biggest and most consequential war of the century, the Biden administration appears more concerned these days with indoctrinating them with Woke ideology, and other such nonsense. This deadly unseriousness is implicit in the chorus of warnings coming from US military commanders. Not only does it put America at grave risk of losing a major war with China, but practically invites it.
The Biden administration must give war with China the life-or-death seriousness it demands. Beginning with, at minimum, bringing together the public and private sectors to rebuild America’s depleted and inadequate defense industrial base as quickly as possible, and forge a new Arsenal of Democracy.
While ultimately nothing may serve to fully deter China from trying to realize its ambitions, America’s current lack of urgency will most assuredly see them come to fruition. And in the end, what we do, or do not do, now in the present will determine the future outcome.
Lee Steinhauer is a political consultant and author of The Art of The New Cold War: America vs. China. What America Must Do to Win.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.