China has an edge over the United States's military presence in the South China Sea and anywhere near China's coastal waters, and is far more powerful than the India's overall military strength that is restrained by limited resources, an editorial in Global Times, a hawkish state-run newspaper in China, says.

China also has an ability to upgrade its military capabilities that is unparalleled among other countries, the Global Times editorial goes on to say. China has worked on its core strategic areas in such a streamlined fashion that it can augment the country's comprehensive military capability faster than others, in fact every few years, the editorial pints out.

The editorial comes as China's People's Liberation Army (PLA), the world's largest military force with a strength of around 2.3 million troops, celebrates its 90th anniversary and as the India-China standoff at the Doklam plateau enters its second month.

The article is the latest in a string of India-baiting editorial that have been published by the Global Times, which sometimes is known to take extreme positions not always held by Beijing. The hawkish newspaper has run a number of anti-India editorials laden with rhetoric ever since soldiers from the Indian Army and the PLA first faced off on the Doklam plataue last month.

This time, however, the Global Times seems to have brought out the big guns. The newspaper's Twitter handle today posted a video in which its editor-in-chief Hu Xijin, a former war correspondent, can be seen aggrandizing China's military strength vis-a-vis India, drawing parallels like 'if China and India engage in military conflict, the PLA has an overwhelming advantage' and 'if China and the US have a standoff in the nearby waters, the PLA will not lose'.

The editorial runs on similar lines, saying that 'underestimating the PLA's strength could lead to a major mistake'. The editorial also boasts of PLA's 'all around development' built on high-tech research and development in military hardware including submarines, aircraft carriers and navigation systems and highlights China's defence budget of $151.4 billion, three times of India's $52 billion allocation for its defence sector.

MILITARY EXPANSION

China is rapidly enhancing its strategic capabilities and in fact, has created an advanced weapons research agency, the Scientific Research Steering Committee, modelled on the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, the mother of most innovative defence research in the world giving us technologies like internet, GPS, stealth fighters, precision weapons and electromagnetic cannons.

In March this year, China inducted J-20, its first stealth fighter jet, into active service. The same month, it announced to develop a breakthrough, an electric propulsion technology, that it claimed would make its submarines quieter than US submarines. In April, the country launched its first home-built aircraft carrier in open waters. In June, it launched its home-built guided missile destroyer that it claimed was most advanced in Asia and the world second most powerful.

And as it is the season of army parades in China, the Global Times editorial takes the liberty of issuing warning even to the world on PLA's behalf it seems. It says as "China's national interests expand, the PLA will take on greater responsibilities. Other countries need to get used to the presence of Chinese forces outside China's coastal waters, whether they like it or not."

Last month, China sent its troops to Djibouti, its first overseas military base. China has entered into an agreement with Djibouti which allows it to station its 10,000 troops in the country till 2026, much higher than 4000 US soldiers stationed at Camp Lemonnier, also in Djibouti, America's largest permanent base in Africa. And experts say its second overseas naval base is going to come up in India's backyard, at Pakistan's Gwadar Port in the Arabian Sea.

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