Experts: Foreign media over-analyzing Chinese, American preparation for war

Source
China Military Online
Editor
Huang Panyue
Time
2018-11-02 10:35:03

By Zhang Xiang, Liu Yupeng and Liu Yang

Influenced by such factors as Trump's trade war, China-US relations could be severely affected, which would potentially escalate into a war in the next 10 years, some foreign media and experts speculated pessimistically.

Chinese experts said this was largely due to the over-interpretation and exaggeration of western media. Due to the inherent sense of urgency of the militaries themselves, both the Chinese and American militaries are likely talking about fighting a war or preparing for war frequently. It does not mean that either side tries to provoke a confrontation.

An anonymous Chinese military expert said that the reports on "an inevitable war between China and the US" were exaggerated and distorted by Western media. For example, UK's Daily Express recently reported on a series of articles titled "World War III", labeling most of Chinese, the US and Russian military activities under the "World War III".

The Daily Express linked news including the US delivered upgraded F-16V fighter jets to Taiwan, Chinese leaders inspected the PLA Southern Theater Command as well as China and Russia developed hypersonic vehicles with the "World War III", obviously in an effort to increase readership.

Chinese military experts said that some of analyses were over-interpreted, for instance, China has never proposed to reclaim "controversial territories" by 2049. In addition, some misunderstandings could also exist due to the cultural differences between the East and the West.

In recent years, Chinese military has indeed proposed to conduct military training according to the real war standards and put emphasis on preparing and fighting the war. However, this does not mean that China is preparing to fight a war with a specific country. Instead, China requires its troops to be strictly trained in order to prevent any potential war, because "the only way to avoid war is to prepare for it."

Although the Western media has made a big splash on the so-called "war" between China and the US, the American public does not seem to believe that. According to reports on the website of The Hill, most Americans considered that the rise of superpower China, at least for now, is not a threat to the US.

A recent poll by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA) suggested that only 40% of Americans believed that "China's development as a world power is a major threat to the US major interests." An opinion poll conducted by the organization earlier found that more Americans believed that the two countries are "more inclined to be partners", rather than "competitors."

Disclaimer: The authors are Zhang Xiang, Liu Yupeng and Liu Yang with the Global Times. The article is edited and translated from Chinese into English by China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn. Chinamil.com.cn does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. If the article carries photographs or images, we do not vouch for their authenticity.

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