(BrightPress.org) — Concern over a potential future war with China is becoming visible on the political horizon with multiple parties coming out to suggest that the war in Ukraine is harming U.S. combat readiness. Seth Jones is a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) who authored a recent report on the subject.
His primary claim is that the war in Ukraine has not only drained our weapons and munitions reserves but that it is also impeded the replenishment of those reserves as it continues to drag out. “Efficient deterrence hinges, in part, on having sufficient stockpiles,” he wrote. The report elaborated on the fact that tensions are rising between the U.S. and China over Taiwan while the “largest land war in Europe since World War II” is ongoing.
Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder disagreed with Jones’s conclusions, claiming that “regardless of what the situation is worldwide … the United States military will be able to be prepared to support whatever requirements we’re asked to support.”
That is not the consensus view, however. Elbridge Colby was a senior defense official during Trump’s administration who tweeted his concerns that “Ukraine is indeed a distraction” from dealing with the growing reach of China’s ruling party. He further pointed out that the conflict in Ukraine “doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon.”
Armed Services Committee member and frequent firebrand, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) called the Ukrainian conflict “Another Forever War – while China runs rampant, undeterred.” Retired Marine and Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) told Fox & Friends “what worries me, is that the focus on Russia comes at the expense of China.” He also called China a “far more dangerous opponent” than Russia.
NBC News reported that Gen. Mike Minihan, who commands the logistics division at the Pentagon authored a memo that implied the U.S. will war against China sometime in 2025. He predicted that elections in both the U.S. and Taiwan would be the distraction needed for China to launch an offensive early that year. Former CIA Director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed, “our military should get ready.”
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