Former Vice President Dan Quayle warns that the US is falling behind China in the battle for military supremacy
China has advanced in the last 10 years in the areas of autonomous weapons, cutting-edge military technology, and modernizing its air force for possible wars in the twenty-first century. Quayle’s caution coincides with growing worries about America’s susceptibility to its other international adversaries and a fresh round of Beijing threats aimed at Taiwan’s de facto independence.
Quayle said, “Our military uses ships and jets built decades ago,” in a Wall Street Journal essay on Monday. “Meanwhile China is outpacing our investments in autonomous, hypersonic, cyber, and space weapons.”
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, China has the greatest marine fighting force in the world, while the United States still has the strongest air force. The latter is primarily focused on creating new weapons to tackle the difficulties of the wars of this century.
During the George H.W. Bush administration, Quayle was vice president. He stated that the United States must recognize the danger of an “ambitious China lying in wait,” whose rapidly developing military capabilities could enable it to accomplish its objective of “replacing] America as the world’s preeminent superpower.”
Quayle pointed to Beijing’s recent military drills in the Taiwan Strait, where the island country was surrounded, as proof of its expansionist intentions.
He said, however, that Russia, Iran, and North Korea all had the same basic goal: “to take down America.” China is not alone in these aspirations.
“The specter of World War III has been tossed around carelessly,” Quayle said, “but we need serious strategies to prevent it from happening.”
He attacked the two presidential contenders in particular with his warning, claiming that they had so far seen foreign affairs “as a side issue.”
Throughout the 2024 presidential election campaign, domestic concerns like immigration, inflation, and abortion have overshadowed foreign policy, despite the obvious geopolitical challenges confronting the United States.
“With wars raging in Europe and the Middle East and instability in the Pacific region, our next president will be working overtime on foreign policy,” Quayle said.
He claimed that in addition to China’s harm to American hegemony, a “revanchist Russia” might become a greater danger over the course of the decade.
“As tragic as the war in Ukraine is, it could one day be remembered as the opening salvo of a far deadlier conflict,” Quayle said. “We should have realized that Mr. Putin is constantly seeking more after his invasion of Georgia in 2008 and his annexation of Crimea in 2014.” Appeasing him now would be a 1930s-style mistake on the part of the president.
Quayle, however, said that Iran is to blame for the “turmoil” in the Middle East and maintained that “true peace in the region is unlikely until there is regime change in Tehran.”
