Wilson Beaver, Anna Gustafson
Once, the United States was an uncontested superpower capable of fielding a military more powerful and more advanced than any other. No longer. Instead, a rival has emerged that poses a serious and credible threat to America and its allies.

Today, China boasts revisionist intentions evident through its buildup of the world’s largest navy and its aggressive maritime behavior toward its neighbors—and American partners—the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. China relentlessly challenges Taiwan’s security, and it continues to modernize and militarize at a pace unseen since the height of the Cold War.

Meanwhile, China increasingly challenges the United States, putting it at risk of becoming a second- or even third-tier nuclear power.

The longer this fact is ignored, the more perilous the situation becomes. American strategic deterrence is in crisis—a fact highlighted in “Breathtaking: China’s Race to Nuclear Dominance,” a Heritage Foundation documentary that interviews elected officials, former senior policymakers, and senior military commanders to explain the grave reality in clear, accessible terms.

 How America Can Quickly Fix Its Dangerous Munitions Shortfall

It begins by providing viewers with the necessary historical context. How did the United States reach such a dire point? And how did China, our greatest adversary, gain such power?

To those questions, Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., provides a simple answer: America was complacent.

After the Cold War, Americans fell for the fallacy that Russia was contained and that liberal democracy would inevitably prevail across the globe. Of course, that isn’t how things turned out.

As Rebeccah Heinrichs, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, explains, American focus shifted largely to extremist groups following 9/11, making Middle Eastern terror groups the focus of the U.S. national security establishment. The United States underestimated the possibility of another cold war, much less one with a nuclear-armed, revisionist, and authoritarian China.

Now, the U.S.  » Read More
https://www.heritage.org/defense/commentary/what-washington-wont-admit-about-nuclear-dominance