General Charles Q. Brown Jr., the highest-ranking officer in the U.S. military, warned in a Sunday interview that everyone should be “worried” about a war with China.
Brown is the 21st and current chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, having taken over the role in October following the retirement of General Mark Milley. During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Brown was asked by host Shannon Bream about growing concerns over a war between the United States and China, citing recent Reagan Institute polls finding that 51 percent of Americans view China as the biggest foreign threat to the country and 74 percent are concerned about such a conflict breaking out within five years.
In response, Brown first stressed the strength of the U.S. military, while also conceding that everyone should be concerned about such a conflict with China, specifically with regard to a possible invasion of Taiwan.
“The first thing I’d tell them is they ought to be very proud of their military, we’re ready for whatever comes our way,” Brown said. “At the same time, we want to be so ready that we don’t have a conflict. And you know, as we’re here, it says ‘peace through strength.’ Our strength that we demonstrate as a military will bring that peace.”
Alex Wong/Getty Images
He later added, on the subject of a possible Taiwan invasion: “The first thing I would say is we want to be, and we all should be, worried whether it’s going to happen or not. And [that is] part of the reason why deterrence is so important, so that conflict does not occur.”
In response to another poll finding concern from a majority of respondents that China will soon outpace the U.S. both militarily and economically, Brown said that it’s his “real role here and job…to actually make sure that…on the military side that doesn’t occur.”
Newsweek reached out to foreign defense experts via email for comment.
Taiwan has long been a contentious facet of relations between the U.S. and China. The latter’s official policy is that Taiwan is part of China as a whole, a claim that the Taiwanese government strongly dismisses. While the U.S. does not recognize Taiwan as its own country, the island territory is considered a key American ally in the Indo-Pacific region. President Joe Biden pledged in late 2022 that the U.S. army would deploy troops to help Taiwan in the event of an invasion from China.
“We are not moving—we’re not encouraging their being independent….That’s their decision,” Biden told 60 Minutes at the time, later stressing that the U.S. would provide military support, “if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
