China’s recent test of a new anti-ship ballistic missile was a show of strength and a warning to the United States, according to Admiral Philip Davidson, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.
Davidson, speaking at a security conference in Aspen, Colorado on Thursday, detailed the “long-term strategic threat” that China poses, and remarked on recent remarks made by Chinese defense minister Wei Fenghe, which he said were “quite chilling,” the Washington Free Beacon reports.
"Not only did [Wei] make it clear that he didn't think Asia and the Western Pacific was any place for America, he said Asia wasn't even for Asians — it was for the Chinese," Davidson said. "Within 24 hours of that they tested a new nuclear ballistic missile, not in nuclear mode necessarily."
Earlier this month, Wei admitted that his country’s global development program, which is known as Belt and Road Initiative, "was indeed a way to put a military foothold within other places around the globe,” Davidson said.
"Within hours of that, they shot six anti-ship ballistic missiles — new ones that they have developed — into the South China Sea.”
"One [test] might be a coincidence, but seeing this happen twice is indeed a message not only to the United States but indeed to the whole globe," Davidson said.
"Certainly they are developing capabilities that we haven't seen before — anti-ship ballistic missiles is the newest one. These are not monoliths that cannot be defeated," he added later, after being asked if the U.S. Navy is capable of countering China’s new weapon.
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