Following reports that China secretly flew a nuclear-capable missile around the world, US politicians warned that they are on track to lose a “new Cold War,” reports Daily Mail.
During a test flight in August, the Long March hypersonic missile, which can travel at five times the speed of sound, is said to have touched down 24 miles from its target. Beijing has downplayed the controversy, claiming that the launch was merely a “routine test” of a new “space vehicle.”
Yet US disarmament ambassador Robert Wood on Monday said they were ‘very concerned’, adding: “We don’t know how we can defend against that type of technology“, the report said.
Congressman Mike Gallagher blasted the US government for ‘complacency’, saying: “This test should serve as a call to action. If we stick to our current course… we will lose the new Cold War.”
“This test should serve as a call to action. If we stick to our current complacent course — or place our hopes in bankrupt buzzwords like “integrated deterrence” — we will lose the New Cold War with Communist China within the decade”, he added.
“The People’s Liberation Army now has an increasingly credible capability to undermine our missile defenses and threaten the American homeland with both conventional and nuclear strikes. Even more disturbing is the fact that American technology has contributed to the PLA’s hypersonic missile program”, he said.
According to Gallagher, the US government has long failed to exert maximum pressure on China’s Communist Party’s Military-Civil Fusion strategy. With our homeland now being exposed, in part, by advanced technology derived from Military-Civil Fusion, we must aggressively decouple from anything related to Military-Civil Fusion.
“We must end joint ventures, investments, and research collaborations that involve areas associated with Military-Civil Fusion. We also need to stop the flow of Wall Street capital into Chinese tech.
“American entities have a clear choice: they can side with our country, or they can side with the genocidal communist regime that now threatens our cities. They can’t do both. It is time to choose”, he added.
Until Monday morning, few people outside of the military, intelligence and security services, and the defence industry had heard of, let alone understood, hypersonic missiles.
The revelation that China tested such a missile, and that it was nuclear-capable, has sent shockwaves around the world, according to the Daily Mail.
“China is not alone but it has shown it is far more advanced than the West suspected. Now Washington and other world capitals are waking up to the implications of Beijing possessing a missile that can circle the globe at five times the speed of sound – and can sneak under the radar of US anti-missile defences”, the report said.
That complacency has been shaken to its core in the space of a week. Even before the news of China’s hypersonic test broke, Nicolas Chaillan, the Pentagon’s former chief software officer, warned that Beijing is on its way to global dominance due to advances in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and cyber capabilities – and that gap was widening, according to the report.
According to the Global Times, Chinese experts are concerned because the West has long underestimated China’s space capability. So, when China displays advanced space technology, even if it is for peaceful purposes, some Western media will try to hype the “China threat theory,” believing that as long as non-Western countries acquire advanced space technology, the US’ hegemony in using space for non-peaceful purposes will be threatened.
“If the US launches a space arms race, non-Western powers like China and Russia would be forced to turn their advanced capabilities into military use for strategic deterrence and self-defense, experts said”, Global Times reported.
