China has just passed an inflection point that could have dire global ramifications, warned Gordon Chang, author and China expert, at AFA’s Pacific Air & Space Symposium in Los Angeles. The nation’s economic growth is coming to an end, and the country is mired in debt and may be slipping backward into a new “cultural revolution,” he told the symposium audience in his Nov. 21 speech. These internal developments may drive the Chinese government to engage in an increasingly belligerent and irrational foreign policy, said Chang. “We have to be concerned that Beijing, not out of strength, but out of weakness, will lash out and shake the world,” he said. Already, China is using rough tactics in border disputes with neighbors like India, Japan, and the Philippines, he said. This may indicate that China is no longer content with being a status quo power, said Chang. He urged the United States to make clear its resolve to defend its Asia-Pacific allies; otherwise, China’s neighbors may decide to resist China’s aggression with force, he said.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.