US: Pentagon, Congress raise alarming concerns over China's military expansion

US officials in Congress and the Pentagon are concerned about Chinese military aggression as it is utilising full-scale targets of US warships in a desert region notorious for ballistic missile testing, reported Fox News. The information comes from satellite images obtained by the US Naval Institute. Last week, a Pentagon report confirmed that China is building nuclear warheads at an accelerating pace and could have 1,000 warheads by the end of the decade.

China is thought to have conducted a test of hypersonic missile technology capable of evading US defensive systems by orbiting the Earth. General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged the launch, calling it extremely disturbing and compared it to the Soviet Union's 1957 launch of Sputnik, which began a decades-long space race. Milley told NBC News on Wednesday that China is definitely challenging them regionally, and their ambition is to confront the United States worldwide. Wang Webin, a spokesman for the Chinese government refuted the claims and said that it was a just regular spacecraft test.

A new weapon has the capacity to target a US ship anywhere on earth

Former Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Michael Griffin stated that the new weapon has the capacity to target a US ship anywhere on Earth, which is "a really huge issue" and allows it to expand its influence in the region. China on the other hand stated that the US has created an imaginary opponent out of China, according to Fox News.

Heino Klinck, who is a former deputy assistant secretary of defence for East Asia stated that it is a new technology and it is just getting started. Rep. James Inhofe, a ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is concerned about the implications of recent events for the United States. According to The Hill, Inhofe stated that the United States is in the most perilous position that they have ever been.

"China is a real and immediate threat"

A leading member of the House Armed Services Committee Rep. Mike Rogers has stated that the United States requires "extraordinary defence modernization" to keep up with China. He further said that this report should serve as a reminder to the Biden Administration of something that has been obvious for some time, China is a real and immediate threat, according to The Hill.

Image: AP