By Nirmal P. Acharya

December 26 marks the birthday of Mao Zedong, the founder of China. On that day, two sixth-generation fighter jets suddenly appeared simultaneously over the Chinese cities of Chengdu and Shenyang. Its model was shown at the Zhuhai Air Show. Just a month later, two of China's sixth-generation aircraft have already taken to the skies.

China and the US have been engaged in fierce competition in the fifth-generation aircraft stage. The US has five generation aircraft F-22 and F-35 (F-22 has been discontinued), and China has the J-20, J-35, and J-21. China's fifth-generation aircraft have shown superior performance to that of the US, with advantages in supersonic cruise speed, maximum thrust, maximum takeoff weight and other indicators.

So, what is a sixth-generation machine? In the simplest terms, the first is higher stealth (super flat fuselage); second, the cruising speed is faster (Mach 3 to 6); third, it is more flexible and mobile.

While China's two sixth-generation aircraft are soaring in the sky, the sixth-generation aircraft in the US is found only on the PPT.

Compared with the first flight of the fifth-generation J-20 13 years ago, this sixth-generation aircraft test flight has undoubtedly caused a more violent sensation, which marks a significant advancement in China’s aviation capabilities, positioning the country in direct competition with global superpowers in the race of aviation equipment dominance.

In fact, the Chinese Navy is also surpassing the US Navy with similar momentum. On December 29, China's first Type 076 amphibious assault ship (named Sichuan) was officially docked.

Sichuan is a new-generation amphibious assault ship of the Chinese Navy, with a full displacement of more than 40,000 tons, equipped with a two-ship island superstructure and a fully longitudinal flight deck, innovative application of electromagnetic catapult and blocking technology, and can carry fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, amphibious equipment, etc.

China has built more warships in the past year than the US has in the past decade combined.

What China is now opening up to the US is an arms race, and it is comprehensively overtaking the US in cutting-edge manufacturing and military manufacturing. In the past few years, senior US officials have visited China repeatedly, using both carrot and stick to persuade China to slow down. Trump has also seen the defeat of the US, and even before taking office, he proposed that “the US and China together can solve all the problems in the world” to show goodwill to China.

Yes, those two Chinese sixth-generation fighter jets, nicknamed Ginkgo Biloba on the Internet, announced China's victory in the hard power competition between China and the US. While the US is busy trying to expand its territory, China is busy expanding its growth and development. However, the US also has the advantage of soft power. The MCC is an expression of American soft power. Nepal’s political elite's willingness to join the US Indo-Pacific strategy shows that the US soft power is indeed strong.