THE WARNINGS ABOUT CHINA ARE COMING EVERY DAY, BUT FEW IN THE DYING LEGACY MEDIA SEEM TO CARE – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   

The second-ranking general in the US military has sounded the alarm about China’s weapons development — warning that Beijing may soon have the capability to launch a surprise nuclear strike against America.

“They look like a first-use weapon,” Gen. John Hyten, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CBS News Tuesday. “That’s what those weapons look like to me.”

Hyten was discussing China’s test of a hypersonic weapon from this summer, which was first reported by the Financial Times last month.

“They launched a long-range missile,” Hyten said. “It went around the world, dropped off a hypersonic glide vehicle that glided all the way back to China, that impacted a target in China.”

When asked whether the vehicle had hit the intended target, Hyten answered, “Close enough.”
Gen. John Hyten, pictured above in 2019, spoke to CBS News on Tuesday about China’s weaponry.

Hyten’s Tuesday interview came after a Monday night virtual meeting between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was not clear whether the two discussed the hypersonic test, though Biden expressed concern about it when the initial report emerged last month.

China has pledged since 1964 that it would not be the first party in a conflict to use nuclear weapons.

The South China Morning Post reported in October that Beijing had reiterated its “no first use” policy, despite some officials urging a rethink.

The United States has repeatedly refused to adopt a “no first use” policy, but has vowed not to use nukes against countries that do not have them.

Last month, Hyten warned that China could soon surpass America’s military capability “if we don’t do something to change it.”

“What you need to be worried about is that in the last five years, or maybe longer, the United States has done nine hypersonic missile tests, and in the same time the Chinese have done hundreds,” he said.

“The pace they’re moving and the trajectory they’re on will surpass Russia and the United States if we don’t do something to change it,” Hyten added. “It will happen.”

COMMENT:  There are people in the United States, some of them "experts," who still believe that the Japanese could never reach Pearl Harbor and that Nazi Germany has been misunderstood.  Eisenhower warned that modern warfare is so fast that we must be especially prepared to counter an attack immediately.  I'm not sure that, despite 9-11, Americans have learned that lesson.  The national defense Democrats of old no longer exist.  The Republicans wake up occasionally, but not enough possess a sense of urgency.

We may, sadly, have to experience another catastrophe to get our brains in order.

November 17, 2021