◀ Anchor ▶
China is showing its strength as it rapidly grows its naval power.
The number of naval ships has already overtaken the United States in 2020, and this gap is predicted to widen even more with each passing year.
Recently, a simulation showed that if war broke out in Taiwan, the United States and China would suffer massive damage close to annihilation.
Reporter Kwon Hee-jin covered the story.
◀ Report ▶
Chinese Navy transport ships, like aircraft carriers, ply the sea with warships on deck.
The middle part of the ship can be sunk into the sea, anchored there, and the deck raised again to load a larger ship.
The ship can be used as a dock at sea, allowing you to service or repair your warship on the spot.
The Chinese Navy is growing rapidly in strength.
The US Department of Defense estimates that the number of Chinese warships, which has already overtaken the US since 2020, is now about 340, about 50 more than the US.
It is predicted that the number of warships will reach 440 by 2030, and the numerical gap with the United States will widen even more every year.
The United States has a strategy of compensating for its numerical inferiority with state-of-the-art technologies such as unmanned warships and unmanned submarines, but the US Naval War College recently published a thesis stating that technology cannot overcome numerical inferiority.
As a result of analyzing 28 historical naval battles, it was found that the side with the most warships won most of them in naval battles that did not have a fixed front line unlike land.
[류성엽/ 21세기군사연구소 전문연구위원]
“There is still a view in traditional maritime strategy that size will ultimately determine the outcome of an engagement.”
Amidst this, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Wu Zhao-hi reiterated in a recent media interview that China could attack Taiwan in 2027.
Taiwan’s military held a large-scale joint military exercise ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
[유진 리/대만군 여단장]
“We are perfectly prepared for any provocation by the Chinese military before the Lunar New Year.”
Earlier this month, a US think tank, the Institute for International Strategic Studies, released the results of a war game simulating the Taiwan war.
Unlike the previous results, where the US mostly lost, if Japan entered the war in earnest, the US-Japan allied forces would be in disarray and barely able to defend Taiwan.
[장영희/성균중국연구소 연구실장]
“This time, we decided to actively involve Japan. Japan will go with us now. If that happens, we will win. (There is a message like this)”
Korea’s role is not included in this scenario.
US Navy Chief of Staff Michael Gilday said on the 13th that military cooperation between South Korea and Japan is essential for the US to face the Chinese navy.
At the same time, he even expressed that the fact that Korea and Japan are experiencing discord due to history is an act of stabbing each other in each other’s eyes by ignoring the security threat in Northeast Asia.
It was again confirmed in the interests of the United States’ views on the historical affairs of Korea and Japan.
This is MBC News Kwon Hee-jin.
Video editing: Jang Dong-meh
MBC News awaits your report 24 hours a day.
▷ Telephone 02-784-4000
▷ Email mbcjebo@mbc.co.kr
▷ Report Kakao Talk @ mbc
