Chinese Gen. Li Shangfu, an aerospace engineer and veteran of the People’s Liberation Army, was named as China’s recent defense minister on Sunday.
Li was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in 2018 when he was director of the Equipment Development Department, which oversees the country’s military technology.
The State Department said that Li was involved in the acquisition of Su-35 combat aircraft and materials for S-400 surface-to-air missiles from a sanctioned Russian company.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was elected to a 3rd five-year term this week by China’s rubber stamp legislature, called for his country on Wednesday to bolster its military to “world-class standards” and “systematically upgrade the country’s overall strength to address strategic risks.”
Chinese military spending is increasing 7.2% this 12 months to $230 billion.
4 Republican chairman of House committees issued a joint statement on Friday citing the military build-up by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as one among the gravest threats to US national security.
“It is clear from this threat assessment that the tactics the CCP uses to perform its goals haven’t worked entirely in its favor, leaving our nation at a tipping point. The CCP must not be underestimated, however the U.S. can still triumph in a peer-to-peer competition with the CCP if our government acts in a swift and unified manner,” the congressmen wrote.
Their warning got here days after Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang said that his country is heading for “conflict and confrontation” with the US.
“If america doesn’t hit the brake — but continues to hurry down the unsuitable path — no amount of guardrails can prevent derailing and there will certainly be conflict and confrontation and who will bear the catastrophic consequences?” Qin said at his first press conference on Tuesday.
“Such competition is a reckless gamble, with the stakes being the basic interests of the 2 peoples and even the long run of humanity.”
Fox News Digital’s Brandon Gillespie and Timothy Nerozzi contributed to this report, in addition to Reuters.