The U.S. is losing ground to China in the battle for military supremacy, according to former Vice President Dan Quayle, who warned that the two presidential candidates must wake up to the numerous threats facing the country from abroad.
Over the past decade, China has made advances in the realm of autonomous weaponry, futuristic military technology and in revamping its air force for potential 21st century conflicts. Quayle’s warning comes amid a new wave of threats from Beijing toward Taiwan’s de facto independence, as well as mounting concerns over America’s vulnerability to its other global foes.
“Our military uses ships and jets built decades ago,” Quayle wrote in a Monday column for The Wall Street Journal. “Meanwhile, China is outpacing our investments in autonomous, hypersonic, cyber and space weapons.”
While the U.S. still boasts the world’s largest air force, China fields the largest maritime fighting force, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and it is heavily focused on developing new weaponry to meet the challenges of this century’s armed conflicts.
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Quayle, who served as vice president during the George H.W. Bush administration, said the U.S. needs to wake up to the threat of an “ambitious China lying in wait,” whose rapidly advancing military capabilities could see it achieve its goal of “replac[ing] America as the world’s pre-eminent superpower.”
Quayle cited Beijing’s recent military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, during which it encircled the island nation, as evidence of its expansionist goals.
However, he said that China isn’t alone in these ambitions, and that Russia, Iran and North Korea all share a similar, overarching aim: “to take down America.”
“The specter of World War III has been tossed around carelessly,” Quayle wrote, “but we need serious strategies to prevent it from happening.”
His warning was specifically targeted at the two candidates for the White House, who he said have so far treated foreign policy “as a side issue.”
Despite the evident geopolitical issues facing the U.S., foreign policy has taken a backseat to domestic issues like inflation, abortion and immigration throughout the 2024 presidential election campaign.
“With wars raging in Europe and the Middle East and instability in the Pacific region, our next president will be working overtime on foreign policy,” Quayle said.
As well as damage to American hegemony posed by China, he said that the threat posed by a “revanchist Russia” could grow throughout the decade.
“As tragic as the war in Ukraine is, it could one day be remembered as the opening salvo of a far deadlier conflict,” Quayle said. “Mr. Putin always wants more—a lesson we should have learned after he invaded Georgia in 2008 and annexed Crimea in 2014. A president who appeases him now would be making a blunder of 1930s proportions.”
In the Middle East, meanwhile, Quayle said that the “turmoil” can be traced back to Iran, and argued that “true peace in the region is unlikely until there is regime change in Tehran.”
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