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Seventeen years on the streets, living and working with the people of China, Jeff
For donations, print books, ebooks and audiobooks, please see at the bottom of this post
My introduction
These 13 visuals will leave you gobsmacked!
25-point summary of China’s military buildup
- In 2015, the PLA was considered roughly two decades behind the U.S. militarily; by 2026, that assessment is no longer credible.
- China’s navy has grown from ~255 to ~395 combat vessels, making the PLAN the world’s largest navy by hull count.
- The U.S. still holds a significant advantage in total naval tonnage, displacing roughly twice as much as the PLAN.
- China went from 1 refurbished Soviet carrier to 3 operational carriers, with a 4th reportedly under construction.
- The Fujian (Type 003) carrier features electromagnetic launch systems identical to the U.S. Navy’s newest Ford-class carriers.
- China’s shipbuilding industrial capacity is estimated at roughly 230 times that of the United States in gross tonnage output.
- The J-20 stealth fighter has grown from zero operational aircraft to 200+, making it the world’s second-largest 5th-generation fleet.
- A next-generation aircraft, the J-36, was photographed in flight tests in late 2024, suggesting China is developing 6th-generation platforms on a timeline parallel to the U.S.
- The Y-20 heavy transport and its tanker variant (YY-20) now give the PLAAF meaningful long-range power projection and aerial refueling capability.
- China’s nuclear warhead count has grown from ~260 to ~600, with projections of 1,000+ by 2030 and 1,500 by 2035.
- Satellite imagery revealed construction of 300+ new ICBM silos across three sites in western China, a dramatic departure from its previous “minimum deterrent” posture.
- The DF-21D was the world’s first anti-ship ballistic missile, designed to threaten U.S. aircraft carriers operating near China.
- The DF-26, with a ~4,000 km range, can strike U.S. bases on Guam with either conventional or nuclear warheads.
- The DF-17 carries a hypersonic glide vehicle that maneuvers unpredictably, making it extremely difficult to intercept.
- The DF-41 ICBM is road-mobile, MIRVed, and capable of striking any target in the continental United States.
- Taiwan is the central driver of PLA modernization — every major capability investment is shaped around a potential Taiwan conflict.
- China’s buildup is also a direct response to lessons learned from watching U.S. military operations in the Gulf War, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
- Xi Jinping restructured the entire PLA, replacing seven military regions with five theater commands and purging over 100 senior officers for corruption.
- The PLA has not fought a war since 1979, meaning an entire generation of officers and soldiers lacks any combat experience.
- Corruption remains a serious systemic problem — a wave of purges swept through the Rocket Force leadership in 2023–2024, raising questions about missile readiness.
- China has only one overseas military base (Djibouti) and lacks the global logistics network needed to sustain prolonged blue-water naval operations.
- The U.S. has responded with AUKUS (providing Australia with nuclear submarines), the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, and the Marine Corps’ Force Design 2030 restructuring.
- China lacks the alliance network the U.S. enjoys — the U.S. has formal treaties with Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the Philippines, all flanking China’s maritime exit routes.
- The “first island chain” of U.S.-allied territories creates geographic chokepoints that could severely constrain PLAN operations in any Pacific conflict.
- The honest bottom line: China has built a formidable modern military, but its actual combat effectiveness remains untested and unknowable until — and hopefully unless — it faces a real war.
Twelve visuals that paint the picture
Above: China’s military expenditures are increasing, but with its rapid economic growth, as a percentage of GDP, it’s actually going down, currently 1.3%. It’s lean and mean, since the vast majority of the weapon sector is people-owned. In recent years, smallish, private-sector arms companies are joining into the mix.
Above: China only spends about one-fourth what Uncle Slaughter does for arms, and less than the rest of NATO. Again, being mostly publc-sector (like Russia) makes for greater efficiencies and more bang for the buck.
Above: China already had the biggest navy in the world in 2014 and since the Judeo-West’s ship building is a tiny fraction of China’s, the latter keeps pulling further ahead. Not to mention China’s massive merchant fleet in the South China Sea (Taiwan), is trained and equipped to join in any war scenario. As a result, Baba Beijing authoritatively owns all of the waters off its coasts, regardless of how much NATO keeps “making a presence”, by doing drive-byes around China’s island.
Above: military jets are some of the most technologically complex machines to manufacture, so what the Chinese have done in this category in only 15 years has never been repeated in human history. China now has sixth generation jets (J-36s) using 100% Chinese engines. No other country has such advanced avionics, neither Uncle Slaughter, nor Russia.
Above: this chart is of great interest to me, since we live in Taiwan Province. While NATO is stretched like a worn out rubber band all across the planet, almost all of China’s military hardware in concentrated just 200km off its coast, watching Taiwan Island. Thus, supply chains are measured in hours, whereas NATO has to measure theirs in days and weeks.
Above: the South China Sea with Baba Beijing’s Nine-Dash Line claims. This is China’s playground where it can concentrate most of its military capacity, along with Japan north of Taiwan. In contrast, NATO is stretched thin across every one of Earth’s seven continents, trying to control the world’s resources. This article with graphics explains well NATO’s role as hegomonic Globocop (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/10/infographic-us-military-presence-around-the-world-interactive).
If there is a hot war with Sinoland, Uncle Slaughter is going to have its hands full, fighting the world’s largest navy, largest missile force and one the largest air forces and ground armies.
Not to mention China’s long-standing mutual defense treaty, meaning NATO will be fighting DPRK too, which has one of the best militaries on the face of the Earth!
The Judeo-West loved the Nine-Dash Line going back centuries. But, as soon as the communists liberated China in 1949, the Talmud-Tanakhs suddenly began to demonize it and use it as a way to challenge and sabotage Sinoland.
Above: for decades, Baba Beijing only had a couple of hundred nuclear warheads. Even today, it only has about 500, compared to thousands that Russia and Uncle Slaughter each have. I don’t agree with this chart’s explosive growth, but clearly, given the global instability and forever wars being perpetrated by the West’s Talmud-Tanakhs across our Pale Blue Dot, I could see China stockpiling up to 1,000 max.
Above: like the air force, China’s innovation and advancements in missile technology is one for the record books. Only four countries have confirmed hypersonic missiles: Russia, Iran, China and DPRK: the Asian Quad, or RICK. JewSA and the rest of NATO do not. There are reports that China has underground “dark” hypersonic manufacturing plants, only manned by robots, that can crank out 1,000 missiles per week. They are called dark, since robots don’t need lights to see.
Above: Baba Beijing has taken the space race to heart and is outpacing Judeo-West, be it satellites or the inhabiting the Moon and Mars. China has its own space station. Their satellites are providing Talmud-Tanakhs’ enemies with valuable intelligence, which countries like Iran are really taking advantage of. Iran and most of the rest of the anti-Judeo-West are now using China’s Beidou (which means North Star), while abandoning GPS, since it knows that Uncle Slaughter can corrupt the coordinates or block it at any moment, for its many perceived enemies.
Ironically, the Judeo-West Worldwide Wehrmacht also uses Beidou for its navigation, admitting that it has better and more accurate coverage!
Above: China used to have the largest ground army in the world, which was used defeat NATO in the Korean War, whip India’s butt twice and help Vietnam defeat the Judeo-Satanists during their Southeast Asian genocide. The PLA has moved upstream to a much more high-tech level. The “Other” is probably their newly created Space Force, which is being kept under wraps.
Above: all of these amazing developments could not happen without Baba Beijing’s ongoing, relentless war on corruption. Imagine three members of any Western Joint Chiefs of Staff being taken down and sent to jail. You can’t. But, they are doing it in China.
Here is my series on Sinoland’s fight to crush corruption, with many military brass included,
China’s War on Corruption: Grab your favorite beverage, popcorn, live real justice and accountability vicariously with this extensive library! More entertaining than Netflix or your favorite sport. Go, Baba Beijing, GO!
Conclusion
One aspect of China’s amazing military build-up and innovation is critical: none of it has been field tested.
The last time the Chinese fought was in 1979, when for two months, they invaded the north of Vietnam, to take pressure off the Khmer Rouge, a US ally, since Vietnam was invading Cambodia. It was all ground forces and artillery – none of the aforementioned toys were ready to use.
Compare this with Russia, which since 2022 has extensively field tested its full panoply of weapons in Ukraine. As a result, they continue to improve, tweak, change and develop (new) weapons in the process. Russian soldiers are hardened and combat experienced.
None of today’s PLA military have any real-fire experience.
Clearly though, they are ready to give it hell and are ideologically primed with their allegiance to the Communist Party of China (CPC) and 1.4 billion citizens, who will be by their sides to fight with them.
Chinese are war averse and follow Sun Zi’s Art of War: avoid hot war at all cost, win without ever having to fire a shot, but when the decision is made, then attack with unrelenting, overwhelming force. Call it the Mao Zedong Strategy.You do not want to be attacked the Chinese. Just ask General Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War.
That’s why I’m surprised Baba Beijing is not sending everything they’ve got to Iran, to see how all these sexy, new weapons perform in the field and being fired at.
References
https://www.csis.org/analysis/chinas-military-10-charts
https://militarymachine.com/china-military-buildup-pla-superpower
Go Russia GO!
Go Iran GO!
Go China GO!
Go DPRK GO!
Go “RICK”! Go Asian Quad!
KICK JUDEO-TALMUD-TANAKH ASS!!!
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Further study
The China Trilogy is an honorary degree in Chinese Studies. Don’t miss out!
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B00TX0TDDI/allbooks and
Jeff J. Brown’s libraries and catalogues A-Z: 1,000s of hours of research, writing, editing and podcasting.
Do yourself, your friends, family and colleagues a favor, to make sure all of you are Sino-smart:
Google ebooks (Epub) and audiobooks:
44 Days Backpacking in China: The Middle Kingdom in the 21st Century, with the United States, Europe and the Fate of the World in Its Looking Glass https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=YBKHEAAAQBAJ
https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?id=AQAAAECCkQXRlM
China Rising: Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=YNmLEAAAQBAJ
https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?id=AQAAAECCfHo86M
BIG Red Book on China: Chinese History, Culture and Revolution
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https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?id=AQAAAECCfHo86M
Amazon print and ebooks (Kindle):
44 Days Backpacking in China: The Middle Kingdom in the 21st Century, with the United States, Europe and the Fate of the World in Its Looking Glass
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1484939999/
China Rising: Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations
https://www.amazon.com/China-Rising-Capitalist-Socialist-Destinations/dp/0996487042
BIG Red Book on China: Chinese History, Culture and Revolution
https://www.amazon.com/BIG-Red-Book-China/dp/1673322719/
Author page:
https://www.amazon.com/Mr.-Jeff-J.-Brown/e/B00TX0TDDI
Praise for The China Trilogy:
Why and How China works: With a Mirror to Our Own History
JEFF J. BROWN, Editor, China Rising, and Senior Editor & China Correspondent, Dispatch from Beijing, The Greanville Post
Jeff J. Brown is a geopolitical analyst, journalist, lecturer and the author of The China Trilogy. It consists of 44 Days Backpacking in China – The Middle Kingdom in the 21st Century, with the United States, Europe and the Fate of the World in Its Looking Glass (2013); Punto Press released China Rising – Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations (2016); and BIG Red Book on China (2020). As well, he published a textbook, Doctor WriteRead’s Treasure Trove to Great English (2015). Jeff is a Senior Editor & China Correspondent for The Greanville Post, where he keeps a column, Dispatch from Beijing and is a Global Opinion Leader at 21st Century. He also writes a column for The Saker, called the Moscow-Beijing Express. Jeff writes, interviews and podcasts on his own program, China Rising Radio Sinoland, which is also available on YouTube, Stitcher Radio, iTunes, Ivoox and RUvid. Guests have included Ramsey Clark, James Bradley, Moti Nissani, Godfree Roberts, Hiroyuki Hamada, The Saker and many others. [/su_spoiler]
Jeff can be reached at China Rising, [email protected], Facebook, Twitter, Wechat (+86-19806711824/Mr_Professor_Brown, and Line/Telegram/Whatsapp: +33-612458821.
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