This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. According to The Space Force's Vice Chief of Space Operations, General David Thompson, China will surpass the US by as early as 2030. General Thompson said at a National Forum on Saturday that if we don't accelerate our development and delivery capabilities, we're in for the fact that they are building and fielding and updating their space capabilities at twice the rate we are, and that we're going to surpass us. He said that 2030 is not an unreasonable estimate for when China will surpass the US with its space programme. The Reagan National Defense Forum, which included key defence chiefs, including the Space Force, also included democratic representatives who oversee the space budget, along with the heads of defence contractors who work with the US government. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned the US that China could have 1,000 nuclear warheads in its arsenal by the end of the decade. He said during his keynote address he saw two decades of breakneck modernization by the People's Liberation Army.
China's military is on pace to become a peer competitor to the US in Asia and eventually around the world. Austin spent nearly an hour talking about China's efforts to upend US dominance in the global order. He said Beijing misused technology to advance its repressive agenda at home and exporting the tools of autocracy abroad - and that they have been increasingly vocal about their discontent with the prevailing order and about their aim of displacing America from its global leadership role. READ MORE: China a 'tremendous threat' to the US as Beijing looks to space
China and Russia have recently started to worry that this is the beginning of a new Cold War, according to global defence analysts. However, Mr Austin downplayed those fears and emphasised that the US strategy for dealing with the developing powerhouse lies in diplomacy and deterrence. He said that we do not seek conflict. President Biden has stated repeatedly that ''We are not seeking a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocs, as President Biden has made clear. We're facing a formidable challenge.