China's growing military power in Asia could have "dire consequences" for the U.S.-led regional order, according to a new report that says its powerful missile arsenal could embolden Beijing in the "near-term" to seize the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands and other territories in the Ryukyu chain.
The study, released Monday by the University of Sydney's United States Studies Centre, said that a decade of "delayed and unpredictable funding" for the U.S. defense budget has seen Washington lose its primacy in the western Pacific, giving an edge to an increasingly tech-savvy Beijing.
China, the report noted, has thoroughly studied the American way of war, particularly in the Middle East, and in response has deployed "a formidable array of precision missiles and other counter-intervention systems" to undercut the U.S. military's regional dominance.