Is it some sort of new type of cruise missile technology that China has developed?
the Pentagon watched China its greatest geopolitical rival
China has threatened to use that Navy to invade Taiwan
As tensions with China continue to rise,
how it's trying to deter China
southeast of Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China, or PRC.
In March, China's new foreign minister,
and its stance towards China, conflict and confrontation is inevitable.
to visit Taiwan in 25 years, China called it a blatant provocation.
The best guess anyone has about China's ultimate intentions
China's president Xi Jinping has ordered
And if China invades Taiwan, what will the U.S. Navy do?
So even though China now has the largest Navy in the world,
That's China's two diesel-fueled carriers
We are here to stay in the South China Sea and in this part of the world.
to not only China, but the entire world.
Do you get briefed on China's growing military threat
How aggressive has China become in the air?
China's increasingly aggressive moves in the Western Pacific
and building bases in the middle of the South China Sea
This is how China and Taiwan appear on most maps.
including the South and East China seas from Beijing.
Taiwan is the fulcrum in what China's leaders call the first island chain,
China has accused the United States of trying to contain them.
What do you say to China?
To a very great extent, the United States was the champion for China's rise.
And in no way are we seeking to contain China.
China's navy, a branch of the People's Liberation Army,
China is also using its 9,000-mile coastline to rewrite the rules of fighting at sea,
China's People's Liberation Army rocket force calls them carrier killers
China's backyard, they've been developing missiles to attack our assets.
So it's not China's backyard.
About how far are we from mainland China?
US Navy planners aren't just plotting how to evade China's rocket force,
would need to sail much closer towards China to fire their missiles at any force invading Taiwan.
One naval scholar we spoke to likened it to a boxing match in which a fighter, in this case, China,
and retains a deep advantage over China.
They are difficult to detect and track, something China is trying to solve.
Since Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, China's military leaders have themselves been mostly silent
then what's going to happen when there's a real crisis in the South China Sea or with Taiwan?
Several sources within the Pentagon tell 60 minutes that if China invaded Taiwan,
Since our story, first aired in March, China has intensified its aggressive military tactics
While the Navy of the People's Republic of China or PRC grows larger and more lethal by the year.
We see increasing threats from China in particular in the Indo-Pacific.
He chairs the new House Committee on China.
The same year, the CIA says China has set for having the capability to take Taiwan by force.
China's increased rhetoric and potential aggression against Taiwan.
If you think about what a coherent grand strategy of these if China would be,
Is it being outpaced by China?
We are concerned with the trajectory that China is on, with China's behavior.
How would you describe what China has been able to do militarily over the last 20 years?
and how they are using that to force other nations, navies, out of certain areas in the South China Sea.
Toshiyoshihara of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments may know more than any scholar in the West about China's Navy.
China will have about 440 ships by 2030, and that's according to the Pentagon.
Why is China able to build more warships more quickly than the U.S.?
China has clearly invested in this defense industrial infrastructure to produce these ships, which allows them to produce multiple ships simultaneously,
China's Navy piggybacks on a booming commercial shipbuilding industry kept afloat by generous state subsidies, inexpensive materials, and cheap labor.
What do you see when you see China's shipbuilding program?
Admiral Gilday says the U.S. Navy's main advantage over China is America's sailors. His goal is to modernize the U.S. fleet and have those sailors serving alongside hundreds of unmanned vessels by 2045.
The focus is on China.