A few days ago, James Stavridis, a retired US admiral and former supreme commander of NATO's European allies, claimed that China would not be ready for war with the United States for "about 10 years," and that "China will not be ready to compete with the United States in a very mature way for about 10 years." Stavridis said.
Although it has been some years since Stavridis stepped down as the supreme commander of NATO, this old man seems to have not lived a very fulfilling life in retirement, so he always wants to do something boring to prove that he is "not old", such as the book "2034: About the Next World War", which he once co-authored "2034: About the Next World War", which is not a very serious research report, but a novel that assumes the outbreak of conflict between China and the United States in the South China Sea. When asked about the balance of power between China and the United States, he stressed that the United States has friends who have signed the treaty, namely Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand, and he stressed that these together will be a lot of firepower.
In recent years, because the US policy has become more and more out of line with China's strategic moves, coupled with its constant interference in China's internal affairs, meddling in the Taiwan issue, and instigating the Philippines to disrupt the situation in the South China Sea, the possibility of strategic miscalculation between China and the United States has increased.
Compared with the views of US think tanks or other active US generals, the former supreme commander of NATO was obviously overly optimistic when he hyped up the "Sino-US military conflict", and regarded China as too unprepared for war with the United States in any decade, and said that five countries including Japan and South Korea would join the fight. We are curious, of course, as a NATO general, why not go further and emphasize that once the guns of China and the United States are fired, the 30 allies of the United States in NATO, as well as the five countries he mentioned here, a total of 35 countries will help the United States.
So in the face of the showdown with the former supreme commander of NATO, do we really have to worry?
First of all, although China has been at peace for a long time, its determination to defend the motherland has never been affected, and if the US military really threatens China's national security, there is absolutely no such thing as the PLA being unprepared, and the PLA is growing in strength day by day, and the US military is not sure of defeating the PLA at all.
Second, it is true that we must admit that Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines are all allies of the United States, and all five countries have signed mutual defense agreements with the United States. But that is based on defense, not only of these five countries, but also of the NATO allies of the United States, and these agreements will only come into force if other countries take the initiative to attack the United States and its allies. For example, at present, in order to deal with the Houthis, the United States is engaged in the "Guardian of Prosperity" operation, gathering allies to form a coalition to launch an operation in the Red Sea, Spain has made it clear that it will only participate in NATO's group actions and will not follow the actions led by the United States.
If a conflict breaks out between China and the United States, it must be the United States that threatens China's national security, not that China takes the initiative to attack the United States. In this way, the agreements signed by the United States and it may not be effective, and whether those countries will intervene in the conflict between China and the United States still needs to weigh whether they have the strength to confront the PLA.
Finally, the United States itself is not ready for a conflict with China. It is the consensus of the international community that there should be no war between the nuclear powers, and China's strong military strength has also discouraged the United States, so before the San Francisco meeting in November this year, the United States tried every means to start a dialogue between the two militaries with China.
Therefore, no matter whether Japan and South Korea and other countries will join the fight, or 35 countries will help the United States, once the guns are fired between China and the United States, it is essentially a castle in the air that the United States boasts. The United States does not have the courage or strength to fight against China, and if the United States really makes a strategic advance to this point, then it will only be the US military that will lose in the end!