China is continuously assessing America’s ability to replenish its stockpiles after supplying weapons to Israel and Ukraine, a critical factor in Beijing’s considerations over an invasion of Taiwan, according to a defense expert.
“Between Ukraine and then now the Middle East,” there’s been “a real material effect on our stockpiles of weapons systems,” said Doug Philippone, who co-founded the defense sector venture capital firm Snowpoint Ventures. China is “assessing it in real time” and is “assessing our ability to rebuild these systems.”
U.S. weapons sales abroad, driven by the Ukraine war, hit a record $238 billion last year, the BBC reported. And following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the Biden administration has increased military supplies to the Jewish state, including laser-guided missiles, 155mm shells and bunker-buster munitions, according to an internal Department of Defense list obtained by Bloomberg.
But Iranian officials denied that report. China, unlike the U.S., hasn’t taken military action in response to Houthi attacks.
Still, Philippone fears China’s activities and worries its motivation is to “work against the West or the U.S., in particular, being the hegemony of the world.”
Ethan Barton is a producer/reporter for Digital Originals. You can reach him at ethan.barton@fox.com and follow him on Twitter at @ethanrbarton.
