“China has utilised the last two or more decades to ‘go to school’ on the United States as we were focused on countering violent extremism. They have used that time to modernise and attempt to catch up in terms of both capability and capacity,” he said.

Meink told the committee that he was “most concerned” with the developmental timelines of Chinese military programmes. If the US could not shorten its own timelines in acquisition, China would be likely to continue closing the gap, he said.

Turning to the Taiwan Strait, Meink said that unmanned systems played a critical role in deterring conflict in the “highly contested and sensitive” region. Beijing’s potential use of force against Taiwan presented a “significant concern for regional and global stability”.