"STUPIDER, LESS THOUGHTFUL & LESS EFFECTIVE"

WHY THE US MILITARY ISN'T READY TO FIGHT CHINA

- LOUIS HARDIMAN

The age of the great powers has ended, but what does that mean for a war in the Indo-Pacific?

The increasing economic power of the People's Republic of China has brought it into focus as a rival to the world's foremost superpower, the USA. But while Beijing may have proven its economic strength on the world stage, it has yet to be tested as a military power. The US has spent the past 85 years at war and has amassed vast experience compared with China's inexperienced military, which has recently transitioned to a smaller and more modern force.

So why are analysts still concerned over a would-be conflict between the two superpowers?

Historian and St Andrews University professor of Strategic Studies, Phillips Payson O'Brien, argues that, despite keeping up appearances of strength, it also fights for leaders who have misdirected its energy. O'Brien. "Its dominance was frittered away with the ridiculous War on Terror." This misdirection has continued in subsequent administrations, O'Brien claims: "There is all this talk about being lethal and manly," adding that the current administration is "running the military down and threatening Greenland and Canada, not Russia or China." Should China choose to press the issue in Taiwan, O'Brien is unequivocal about what the current US administration's response would be: "There wouldn't be a war because Trump wouldn't fight for Taiwan."