From Overseas Press

China no match for the US

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-06-10 14:03

China is simply no match for the US and will not be for decades, no matter what advancements it makes in its military, says Amitai Etzioni in a commentary on the website of the American bimonthly magazine The National Interest on June 6.

According to the article, there are more discussions about China's rise and US' decline. "Among the recent headlines: China surpassed Japan as the world's second-largest economy; China has claimed sovereignty over massive chunks of its surrounding seas; China is undertaking an extensive military modernization campaign."

But China may not become a military rival for the US for decades to come, says Etzioni. "Many of China's latest military acquisitions are either upgraded knock-offs of old Soviet equipment or purchased from the former USSR—hardly state-of-the-art technologies. Others are unlikely to achieve full operational capability for years to come, including the headline-grabbing Chinese stealth fighter, the J-20. And perhaps the greatest perceived Chinese military threat, anti-aircraft—a.k.a. "carrier-killer"—ballistic missiles, have yet to be publicly tested over water against a maneuvering target."

Actually, the US spent six times more than China on its military in 2010, based on statistics from the Stockholm Peace Research Institute. "While the Chinese have built up their nuclear stockpile to a couple hundred, the US will have 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads, even after the reductions required by the new START treaty."

Additionally, China has plenty of domestic affairs to worry about, says Etzioni. It has to address its widening income inequality, environmental degradation and aging population. As the world's second-largest economy, China is "on par with Algeria and El Salvador in per capita terms." It also has "four times more people than the US to feed, clothe, house, and otherwise keep satisfied."