We have thousands of warheads. We have a ridiculous number of submarines out on patrol at all times, each one carrying enough destructive power to destroy all life on earth several times over. Montana and North Dakota are polka dotted with missile silos.

Your piece mentions places to house aircraft carriers. Well they don’t have aircraft carriers. No other nation on earth has aircraft carriers of the sort that we have (large air wing of world class fixed wing aircraft with Air to air and air to ground capability including nuclear). We have a dozen of them.

We have often expressed our displeasure with China over their human rights abuses. We are concerned about their wealth and the significant amount of our national debt that they hold.

We have displayed a belligerent foreign policy, and we recently invaded a country that had not attacked us. Our current leadership has made it clear that they are willing to use nuclear weapons, which we have in abundance.

“Speak softly and carry a big stick”, “The best defense is a strong offense”, etc. etc. These are good advice for anybody, not just the USA. If I were China, I’d be preparing too, just in case. You and I may wish that the Chinese not arm themselves – but you’ve got to admit that from their point of view it makes a lot of sense.