China Outpacing US in Military Ship Buildup: Former Intelligence Officer

Soldiers from China's People's Liberation Army march on Red Square during a military parade, which marks the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, in Moscow on June 24, 2020. Pavel Golovikin/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

China is outpacing the United States in military ship buildup, according to veteran intelligence officer and author Grant Newsham.

Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said on Feb. 28 that the Chinese military is producing warships at a greater pace than the United States, jeopardizing U.S. supremacy on the seas. He noted that China currently has about 340 ships and is seeking to add 100 more by 2030.

Newsham echoed Toro’s opinion, noting that the number doesn’t even include the regime’s coast guard ships, which are built like warships, and a maritime militia that adds thousands of ships to that.

The U.S. Navy reportedly has about 295 ships to cover the entire world.

“The Chinese shipyards have been launching at about a rate of 5 to 1 over the last decade. So for every warship we put in the water, they put five, and they have a much bigger shipbuilding capacity than we do; we have allowed ours to wither. And the Chinese have built theirs up just at a breathtaking speed,” Newsham told NTD’s “China in Focus” program on March 4.

“If Chinese authorities pick their spots, and get the right circumstances, they would give us a real bloody nose, to put it mildly.

“And we’ve effectively allowed them to catch up with us and overtake us. Over the last 20 years at least, we dismissed the threat, we refused to address it, and people who did raise concern ... were sidelined and silenced.”

Multipronged War

China has waged a multipronged war on the United States for several decades, according to Newsham, who is also an Epoch Times contributor.

“What I point out is that China is already attacking us,“ he said. ”And they’ve been at it for at least 30 years—longer, most likely, but just take 30—and it has been a multifaceted front.”

As the author of the upcoming “When China Attacks” and with decades of experience in Asia, including as a U.S. Marine and a diplomat, Newsham said that “the Chinese approach to warfare and their concept of it is very different from ours.”

“To China, the shooting part, the so-called kinetic warfare, is almost the last thing and you only do it if you have to,” he said.

Newsham pointed to the COVID-19 epidemic that allegedly stemmed from China and called it a “biological attack on the United States.”

“Look at how successful it has been in weakening us, getting us to fight each other, really destroying our economy, shutting it down,” he said.

Newsham cited the inflow of fentanyl reportedly from China, which has led to the deaths of about 70,000 Americans per year. More than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in the 12 months ending in April 2021, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 64,000 of these deaths resulted from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl—the deadliest opioid in existence—the study shows.

“The Chinese got the American political class, the business class, and the financial classes to let them into the World Trade Organization (WTO). And that cost well over 3 million manufacturing jobs in the United States,” he said, calling it economic warfare.

China joined the WTO in 2000 after the regime’s Most Favored Nation/Normal Trade Relations status was made permanent by the Clinton administration in the same year.

“Additionally, they’ve gone after international organizations, the United Nations, the World Health Organization, to take control, effectively take a whole lot of influence into these organizations and often have them do what China wants them to do,” he said.

“They’ve tried to get international law reinterpreted, or just ignored it, and daring the world to do something about it.”

Beijing’s Vulnerabilities

Newsham took note of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s call on the United States not to “abuse the concept of national security to oppress Chinese companies,” during his November 2021 virtual summit with President Joe Biden.

The statement was later reiterated repeatedly by the communist regime.

“That shows you that they are terrified of being cut off from American technology, cut off from American markets, etc., and even our allies’ markets,“ he said. ”The Chinese Communist Party is vulnerable to an economic slowdown, and they know it.”

Newsham also highlighted the CCP’s fear of the United States and/or other like-minded countries banding together to present a unified front against the regime.

“When the free nations of the world get together to protect themselves, it makes Beijing very, very unhappy,” he said.

China is extremely vulnerable on the financial front because its currency isn’t freely convertible, according to Newsham.

If China’s access to foreign exchange is cut, making it harder for U.S. companies to invest in China, the regime is in deep trouble, he noted.

Understanding the pressure points of the regime would give the United States a good idea of what a counter-strategy should look like, Newsham said.