via Herald Sun
Chinese website qianzhan.com cites "top People's Liberation Army" sources as saying the 110,000-ton aircraft carrier should be launched by 2020.I don't know who's in charge of Chinese propaganda but they're good. Just a few days ago a story came out about how they were railing against the Japanese defense buildup and now we hear about this.
"By that time, China will be able to confront the most advanced US carrier-based fighter jets in high sea," the Chinese-language article reads.
The news follows rising tensions in the South and East China Seas where the most recent incident involved a near-collision with a US cruiser shadowing China's first aircraft carrier, the refurbished Liaoning which was purchased from Ukraine.
But this isn't the first time we've heard that the Chinese are interested in building a super carrier to rival US ships. Its a recurring theme...at least since I've started paying attention to them. The arms race in the Pacific is now starting to catch the attention of the mainstream media, even as we continue to gut our own forces. If the Chinese are bold, they can wait another two years and strike the last year of this Presidents term and reacquire Taiwan and steal the disputed islands.
The US military will be too weak to stop them (especially if we continue to bleed ourselves in Africa and the Middle East), our allies won't be strong enough by that time to stop them and the world will be ready to just let it be.
I'll never bet against the US and our allies but the Chinese...especially if they can maintain this momentum, are assembling a winning hand.
