WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. Marine Gen. Peter Pace says despite recent buildups, the Chinese military does not pose a threat to the United States.
In a recent town-hall meeting in Japan, Pace says he judges military capabilities and intentions on facts. The Chinese military capacity has been growing for the past decade. Despite the military ramp up, Pace says he doesn't see any indications that the Chinese intend to use any of the capacity against the United States.
“Fact No. 1 is for any country, anywhere on the globe, a threat must have two things: capacity and intent,” Pace said, in a statement.
Military officials keep a watchful eye on any militaristic developments in China. The recent successful anti-satellite test conducted by the Chinese has raised some concern because of the heavy reliance the United States has on satellites for military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Allaying concerns of a Chinese military buildup, Pace says China's capabilities don’t match those of the United States.
“If you look at Chinese military power and you look at ours, you get pretty comfortable, pretty quickly,” he said. “Chinese capacity is increasing, our capacity is increasing, and the overall delta between their capacity and ours remains huge in our favor.”
