How US and China could end up at war by 2025 as tensions rage after spy balloon shot down & fury over Taiwan | The Sun
FEARS of war between China and the United States are growing by the day, as tensions mount between the two superpowers.
New comments from an ex-US Air Force commander revealed a conflict may be closer than we think.
After the US military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon yesterday, fears of growing unease between the two nations have been solidified.
Mike Minihan, Chief of the US Air Force's Air Mobility Command, was blunt in his thoughts on the tensions between the two countries, in a leaked memo.
He said: “My gut tells me we will fight in 2025."
Minihan's comments came just days before one of the most significant flashpoints between the two superpowers in years occurred over a surveillance balloon.
A balloon floated over Alaska and the continental United States, violating American airspace and sparking fear of China gathering information on American military bases.
China repeatedly insisted the balloon was used for meteorological and other scientific research and had been blown off course, but the United States shot down the aircraft yesterday.
Former chief of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Philip Davidson, cited the threats against Taiwan as a possible trigger for war.
Last year, the admiral said: “I think the threat is manifest during this decade, in fact, in the next six years."
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President Joe Biden may have underestimated the threat from China, even saying at the G-20 summit in Bali that there was "no imminent threat on the part of China to invade Taiwan."
The US has continuously sided with Taiwan as they face increasing military aggression from China.
China regards the self-governing island as part of its territory and said any moves it takes towards full-scale independence will lead to an invasion.
Xi has insisted that it's his party's mission to "reunify and rejuvenate the nation", and this "natural requirement" he alludes to seems to be the accruement of Taiwan.
The visit of US politician Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in 2022 prompted a furious response from Beijing, with Chinese warships and fighter jets surrounding the island in massive military exercises.
Retired US Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis told media that he worries for the future of the two countries in the face of these threats.
He said: "I see hotheads in Beijing, and I see hotheads in the Pentagon and the various commands. And I worry about it a lot.”
The "hotheads" in Beijing are already up in arms about the decision to shoot down the "civilian" balloon off the Atlantic coast.
In a statement, the Chinese government said: "China will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of relevant enterprises and reserve the right to make further necessary responses."
It's unclear what is meant by "further necessary responses", yet the fear of a future conflict remains and is exacerbated by the downing of the Chinese balloon.
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed earlier this month that China's President Xi Jinping is a bigger threat than Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Pompeo went as far as to say Xi's "vicious objective" is to achieve total dominance across the world.
He told Sky News: "He wants hegemonic intent across the world with his Marxist-Leninist vision, and Chinese economic and political dominance in every corner of the world.
“That his vicious objective. We have an obligation to the next generation to push back against it.”
In October, China expert Skylar Mastro said Beijing is convinced it needs to hit America "hard and early" in a Pearl Harbor-style attack if the two countries go to war.
While Beijing may be preparing for a lightning war to storm across the Taiwan Strait and capture the island, experts have said the war could be anything but quick.
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With tough beaches, rocky terrain, well-drilled defenders, and unforgiving seas, China could face the same brutal grinding warfare that Russia is facing in Ukraine.
Taking Taiwan could even require Beijing to muster a force of two million troops, it's been claimed.
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