Guam faces no immediate threat…but don't underestimate China, warns admiral

The Office of Guam Homeland Security says there is no imminent threat of a Chinese missile attack - this after national and international media reports started circulating about a Chinese Air Force video that purportedly depicts a missile attack against Andersen Air Force Base. But even the commander of the U.S. IndoPacific Command warns not to take China's sabre-rattling too lightly.

In a virtual roundtable discussion last week on IndoPacific missile defense solutions, Admiral Philip Davidson spoke about the growing tensions with Beijing. "China is the most significant and strategic threat and challenge to the United States for the 21st Century," he stated.

But Admiral Davidson said the US is actively designing a posture to persuade potential adversaries that "any preemptive military action will be costly and likely fail...".

"This is accomplished by sustaining credible combat power forward in the Western Pacific that provides our national leaders with the options to deter and to manage crisis all the way up to war planning and war plan execution if it becomes necessary," he shared.

The admiral's speech came last Thursday before news reports of the Chinese Air Force video depicting Guam as a target came out, but even then, he issued a warning: "The threat of air and missile alone from an increasingly capable China should be concerning for every one of us."

Earlier this year, and again during last week's speech, he pushed for a more-than-a-billion-dollar, 360-degree air and missile defense system to be built in Guam. "Guam is U.S. homeland, it's part of U.S. territory, but also just more than a homeland for U.S. IndoPacific Command, it is a critical nexus for our command and control to sustain our logistics and for our power projection. For many in the region, it defines us as a Western Pacific power," he said.

He says make no mistake about it, China is in Year 70 of a 100-year plan to replace the United States as the global political, economic and military leader.

And America, he says, must be ready to respond.