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US Unveils Plan for 'Warfighting Navy’ With Eye on China ‘Threat’

© AP Photo / James VazquezIn this Jan. 22, 2017, photo provided by U.S. Navy, the USS John S. McCain conducts a patrol in the South China Sea while supporting security efforts in the region.
In this Jan. 22, 2017, photo provided by U.S. Navy, the USS John S. McCain conducts a patrol in the South China Sea while supporting security efforts in the region. - Sputnik International, 1920, 20.09.2024
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The US has been increasingly pushing the “China threat” narrative while fast-tracking arms sales to Taiwan, an island governed independently since 1949 but viewed by Beijing as a breakaway province.
The US Navy has released its plan to prepare for potential military conflict with China.
"I am releasing my Navigation Plan for America’s Warfighting Navy – it’s my overarching strategic guidance to make our Navy more ready, prioritizing raising our level of readiness for potential conflict with the People’s Republic of China by 2027 while also enhancing the Navy’s long-term warfighting advantage," US Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Lisa Franchetti said in a speech at the Naval War College in Rhode Island.
Franchetti called China a “pacing challenge” to the US Navy and a “complex, multi-domain and multi-axis threat.
China is “backed by a massive defense industrial base, which is on a wartime footing and includes the world’s largest shipbuilding capacity,” she claimed.
The document also listed the Russian Navy as a "threat".
The PRC is not our only competitor though. Russia continues to be an acute threat and Iran is a destabilizing actor in the Middle East,” Franchetti added.
The outlined seven-goal plan includes:
Streamlining maintenance for warships, submarines and aircraft and eliminating delays
A greater push to develop and integrate drones and unmanned vessels
Creating efficient command centers for its fleets
Improving ways to recruit and retain personnel
Delivering “a quality of service commensurate with the sacrifices of our Sailors”
Training for combat both “in the real world and virtually”
Restoring “critical infrastructure that sustains and projects the fight from shore”
Stressing that "this group of malign actors is strengthening its linkages," the admiral wrapped up her speech with a warning that the "clock is ticking."
The 2027 deadline mentioned in the plan refers to a narrative peddled by US military leaders, who claim that China seeks to restore direct government over with Taiwan “by force” in 2025 or 2027.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly insisted that Taiwan will eventually reunify with mainland China.
"China will surely be reunified, and all Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should be bound by a common sense of purpose and share in the glory of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," Xi said in his New Year's address in December 2023.
Xi reportedly told US President Joe Biden during an encounter on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco last year that Beijing favors peaceful reintegration of the island.
Xi has also denied the claims by the US military that China plans to reunite with Taiwan by force in 2025 or 2027, NBC wrote.

Taiwan has been governed independently of mainland China since the revolution in 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan — a territory with its own elected government — maintains that it is an autonomous country, but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official contact of foreign states with Taipei and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.

The Taiwan isssue escalated significantly after Nancy Pelosi, then speaker of the US House of Representatives, visited the island in early August 2022.
China condemned Pelosi's visit as a US move to support Taiwanese separatism, and launched large-scale military exercises.
China has also repeatedly warned Washington policymakers against militarizing Taiwan and fuelling separatist sentiment on the island.
Beijing has warned that the Taiwan issue is a "red line" that must not be crossed in its relations with Washington.
"We will not turn a blind eye to the separatist activities of forces advocating 'Taiwan's independence' and the connivance and support [of these forces] by outside forces," Xi told Biden during a phone conversation in April.
Biden reportedly said the US does not support Taiwan’s independence and is not planning to enter into a conflict with China.
US President Joe Biden (R) and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together after a meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' week in Woodside, California on November 15, 2023 - Sputnik International, 1920, 21.12.2023
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