US intelligence indicates that President Xi Jinping’s sweeping military purge came after it emerged that widespread corruption undermined his efforts to modernize the armed forces and raised questions about China’s ability to fight a war, according to people familiar with the assessments.
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US intelligence indicates that President Xi Jinping’s sweeping military purge came after it emerged that widespread corruption undermined his efforts to modernize the armed forces and raised questions about China’s ability to fight a war, according to people familiar with the assessments.

The corruption inside China’s Rocket Force and throughout the nation’s defense industrial base is so extensive that US officials now believe Xi is less likely to contemplate major military action in the coming years than would otherwise have been the case, according to the people, who asked not to be named discussing intelligence.

  • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafeEnglish
    436·
    11 months ago

    Mmm.

    Hopefully.

    Unless you think war is inevitable.

    The current Chinese doctrine in a theoretical conflict with America relies heavily on saturation of missile defenses to take out things like carrier groups.

    If they didn’t know they’d have a 10% failure rate or whatever it could have completely invalidated their tactics.

    But it you accept both that war is inevitable and that China will be the aggressor it would have been better for them not to discover this and thus be unprepared for the conflict, like we see with Russia and Ukraine.

    • falcunculus@jlai.luEnglish
      271·
      11 months ago

      War isn’t inevitable. Back in the cold war it was averted multiple times, and the USSR had a much more closed economy than China’s. China going to war with NATO would lose them all their largest trading partners.

      • BlackmistEnglish
        22·
        11 months ago

        They don’t want a war with NATO. But they might want to invade Taiwan which pretty much everybody in NATO kind of agrees is sort of China’s anyway. Only a handful of nations recognise Taiwan as sovereign, and they ain’t coming to the rescue.

        We don’t really want them to take Taiwan, but the only bargaining tool we have to stop them is the threat of stopping trade. And as far as I can tell, the main reason we don’t recognise Taiwan is because we don’t want China to stop trade either.

      • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafeEnglish
        1115·
        11 months ago

        No one builds a trillion dollar navy without intending to use it, but sure.

        It might not happen.

        In a world that solves its energy crisis and stops climate change.

        • RiskEnglish
          211·
          11 months ago

          Surely they intend to use it the same way the US does - projecting force to cement soft power?

            • xor@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
              6·
              11 months ago

              Taiwan, Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Australia, Thailand, Myanmar.

              Do I need to keep going?

              The key for them, really, is being able to ensure they have naval access through the strait of Malacca

                • RiskEnglish
                  1·
                  11 months ago

                  Yes, those things create friction with the US.

                  However, I’m sure China will grow to use their navy to project control of their Belt-And-Road initiatives. You bet they’ll be working to prop up governments that will reap the profit from their investments down the line, than allow rebellious groups or hostile neighbouring states to threaten those interests.

    • Phoenixz@lemmy.caEnglish
      2·
      11 months ago

      If China ever wants to be able to take Taiwan, it’ll have to do so within the next few years. Due to a large number of factors, like economy weakening due to over ballooning, an upcoming extreme population decline (they have a serious problem on their hands there alone) and more, they find themselves in the best position to grab and conquer Taiwan now, or never. I do expect the next 4 years in this world to be shit, no matter what US president we get, just a matter of “really shit” or “holy fucking hell its the end times” shit.

      • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafeEnglish
        21·
        11 months ago

        It’s absolutely wild to me that people can say this kind of thing with a straight face, with no knowledge of the actual numbers involved, unknowingly reenacting the attitudes of Spaniards on their way to conquer those filthy English heretics.

    • jimbolauski@lemm.eeEnglish
      21·
      11 months ago

      While having China’s rockets fail at a high rate during an invasion would be good. They may be weaker by the time they rebuild their arsenal and an invasion is not possible. They are going to have to check a huge amount of rockets then start rebuilding. A lot can change in 2 years.