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General Mark Milley issued a chilling warning to Americans.
Gen. Milley serves as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, making him the top military officer in the U.S.
He warned that the U.S. military must rapidly change itself or face the prospect of losing a war against China.
This comment came during an event at the Aspen Security Forum.
China has transformed itself both economically and militarily, Milley says.
“Their aspiration is to challenge the United States globally,” he added.
“They want to challenge the so called liberal rules-based order that went into effect in 1945 at the end of World War II, they want to revise it,” Milley said.
“So we have a case here of a country that is becoming extraordinarily powerful, that wants to revise the international order to their advantage,” he continued.
“That’s going to be a real challenge over the coming years. In next 10-20 years, that’s going to be really significant for the United States.”
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“I would argue that the nature of that particular test, taken as part of a whole, if you look at, again, 40 years ago, they had 0 satellites, look at what they’ve got today,” Milley said.
“They had no ICBMs, look at what they’ve got today. They had no nuclear weapons, look what they got today. They have no fourth or fifth generation fighters or even more advanced fighters back then, look what they got today. They had no navy, look what they have today.”
“They had no sub force, look what they have today. So if you look at the totality, this test that occurred a couple weeks ago, is only one of a much, much broader picture of a military capability with respect to the Chinese, that is very, very significant.”
“We’re witnessing, in my view, we’re witnessing one of the largest shifts in global geostrategic power that the world is witnessed,” Milley continued.
“And it only happens once in a while. And it’s not standalone. It’s happening within what I would call a operating environment, a change in the character of war. So that happens once in a while. In terms of a fundamental change in the character of war, what we’re seeing today is a fundamental change.”
“And that only happens every, the last big one was between World War I and World War II with the introduction of the airplane and mechanization and the radio.”
He concluded, “Today, you’re seeing robotics, artificial intelligence, precision munitions, and a wide variety of other technologies that in combination, are leading to a fundamental change in the character war. And if we the United States military, don’t do a fundamental change to ourselves in the coming 10-15-20 years, then we’re going to be on the wrong side of a conflict.”
