While US Power Wanes, China Tests Nuclear Missiles

The chaos of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan prompted some to justifiably wonder if “the American Empire” was over. While this is highly debatable, it certainly seemed that our position in the world has changed. While allies in Britain and France scrambled to pick up the pieces of our mess, China, Iran and Russia were developing relationships with the Taliban.

Now return to the present: we learned over the weekend that China recently tested a hyper-sonic nuclear missile as early as August. This technology relies on low-earth orbit to strike any target from any distance. This is in contrast to traditional missile technology, which would need to follow a precise trajectory through Alaska to reach the contiguous United States. Accordingly, most of our missile defense systems are based in Alaska. It would almost seem as though China’s technology is designed to evade US defenses — officials have admitted that we lack the capability to defend against this type of weaponry.

This is just one small display in a pattern of new Chinese aggression. The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations recently decided to impose sanctions for China’s behavior in the South China Sea. Now this missile test comes just in time for an American international embarrassment — compounded with every other factor, this looks something like “Cold War” behavior. It’s possible that China sees an international power vacuum that they have an opportunity to fill.

It’s far too soon to determine if there is any serious threat, but the dynamic between the United States and our international adversaries is shifting rapidly as we come out of the COVID era.

This blog post is part of the CIMA Law Group Blog. If you are in need of legal help, the CIMA Law Group is a law firm in Phoenix, Arizona which possesses expertise in Immigration Law, Criminal Defense, Personal Injury, and Government Relations.