A top-secret US assessment warns that China would likely defeat the United States in a conflict over Taiwan, citing Beijing’s ability to mass-produce cheaper weapons that can overwhelm America’s costlier systems. According to The New York Times, a national security official “turned pale” on realising China had “redundancy after redundancy” for “every trick we had up our sleeve.”
The brief reveals repeated war games in which the US loses major assets, including advanced aircraft carriers.
The document also highlights China’s rapid expansion of hypersonic and ballistic missiles, raising concerns that US carriers and aircraft could be destroyed within minutes. Analysts warn the US is struggling to keep pace as defence firms produce expensive weapons that cannot be mass-manufactured.
Experts say America could quickly run out of key munitions in a war, while Chinese cyber-operations targeting critical infrastructure add to strategic vulnerabilities.