Top US general predicts war with China by 2025
In a blunt internal memo leaked to the media this week, Air Force General Michael Minihan predicted that the United States would be at war with China over Taiwan by 2025 and ordered his commanders to implement detailed preparations.
“My gut tells me we will fight in 2025,” Minihan declared, claiming that US and Taiwanese presidential elections in 2024 would provide China with the opportunity to act. In reality, it is US imperialism that is goading Beijing into war over Taiwan and actively planning and preparing for war against China, as the rest of Minihan’s memo clearly demonstrates.
The memo continued: “We spent 2022 setting the foundation for victory. We will spend 2023 in crisp operational motion building on that foundation. If you want to know what the operational motion I demand looks like, look at what Total Force Team Charleston did in January.”
Minihan is the four-star general in charge of the Air Mobility Command (AMC) that oversees the US Air Force’s huge fleet of transport and refuelling aircraft, and has some 110,000 personnel. His memo demanded stepped up training and drills.
On January 5, two dozen C-17 Globemaster IIIs took off from Joint Base Charleston in what was billed as the largest-ever launch of these huge transport aircraft from a single base. The drill was part of an exercise involving the Air Force, Army and Marines throughout the US southeast and included nearly 60 aircraft, counting F-16 fighters.
Minihan ordered his commanders to: “Go faster. Drive readiness, integration, and agility for ourselves and the Joint Force to deter, and if required, defeat China. This is the first of eight monthly directives from me.” The goal, he declared, was “a fortified, ready, integrated, and agile Joint Force Maneuver Team ready to fight and win inside the first island chain.”
The first island chain is off the Chinese mainland in East Asia, running through Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines. It is a key element of US strategic planning for war with China. Control of the first island chain would hem in Chinese aircraft and ships, paving the way for a naval blockade of China, and set the stage for a massive missile and air assault on mainland China, as envisaged in the Pentagon’s AirSea Battle strategy.
Minihan’s memo is not a general guideline, but contained specific orders to be further elaborated and met month by month. In February, all AMC personnel with weapon qualifications “will fire a clip into a 7-meter target with the full understanding that unrepentant lethality matters most. Aim for the head.” In March, all AMC personnel will set their legal and family affairs in order—in other words, be prepared for deployment at a moment’s notice.
Before being installed as head of Air Mobility Command, Minihan served in key positions in the US Indo-Pacific Command, including as deputy commander from September 2019 to August 2021.
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