China’s Alleged Hypersonic Missile Test Has Not Been a ‘Wake-Up Call,’ Expert Says

China’s Alleged Hypersonic Missile Test Has Not Been a ‘Wake-Up Call,’ Expert Says
Chinese Communist Party Military vehicles carrying DF-17 missiles participate in a military parade at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on Oct. 1, 2019. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images
Frank Fang
Updated:

Beijing’s alleged test of a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile over the summer hasn’t served as a wake-up call for the United States, and U.S. investment money will continue to flow into China as the communist regime seeks to build a Chinese-led world order, according to a China expert.

“So much progress is made by China, I realized that American primacy is going to be eclipsed by China. It’s just results on the ground. We’re going to have a Chinese-led world order,” Michael Pillsbury, director for Chinese Strategy at the Hudson Institute and author of “The Hundred-Year Marathon,” told The Epoch Times’ sister media outlet NTD.

The Chinese military has tested at least one hypersonic missile, Financial Times first reported in October. Beijing has denied the allegation and said it was a “routine test of spacecraft.”

The alleged test drew the concern of Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who called the test “very close” to a “Sputnik moment.” The top U.S. general was alluding to the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, in October 1957, which raised serious concerns that the United States was falling behind the Soviet Union in technological advancement.

Pillsbury said he shared Milley’s concern, but that it was “nowhere near a wake-up call” for the United States. Even Americans who don’t trust the communist regime would still be willing to invest in China or buy Chinese products, he said.

Pillsbury said Americans would really wake up to the threat posed by the Chinese regime if an incident such as Japan’s surprise attack against Pearl Harbor were to occur.

“So if China directly attacks an American aircraft carrier, that’s about 5,000 sailors on board, then, yes, that’s a wake-up call,” he said.

However, he admitted that it was unlikely that Beijing would carry out such an attack since it “[knows] to avoid direct conflict and avoid a wake-up call.”

The fact that China is going to host the 2022 Winter Olympics shows that there’s a lack of concern, according to Pillsbury.

“Look at the Uyghurs’ genocide claim. Trump said it. Biden said it is genocide. Is that the kind of country we should have the Olympics with?” he asked.

The Trump administration determined that the Chinese regime has committed “genocide” and “crimes against humanity” against Uyghurs in China’s far-western Xinjiang region in January. President Joe Biden supported the “genocide” designation soon after taking office.

The communist regime has detained more than 1 million Uyghurs in internment camps while subjecting them to forced sterilization, forced abortion, rape, torture, forced labor, and the removal of children from their families.

The Washington-based advocacy group Campaign for Uyghurs is among a number of groups calling on governments to boycott the Winter Olympics, which is set to begin on Feb. 4, 2022.
Frank Fang
Frank Fang
journalist
Frank Fang is a Taiwan-based journalist. He covers U.S., China, and Taiwan news. He holds a master's degree in materials science from Tsinghua University in Taiwan.
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