Dwarfed by China in shipbuilding, US looks to build its defense base to fend off war

abcnews.go.com:

U.S. lawmakers and experts warn that the U.S. severely lags behind China in shipbuilding capacity and urge action to build up the country’s ability to develop and produce weapons and other defense supplies to avoid war with China

WASHINGTON — The U.S. severely lags behind China in shipbuilding capacity, lawmakers and experts have warned, as the Biden administration tries to build up the country's ability to develop and produce weapons and other defense supplies to fend off war.

Speaking at a congressional hearing Thursday, Rep. John Moolenaar, the Republican chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said the country lacks the capacity to “deter and win a fight” with China and called for action.

“Bold policy changes and significant resources are now needed to restore deterrence and prevent a fight” with China, Moolenaar said.

China’s navy is already the world’s largest, and its shipbuilding capacity, estimated to be 230 times larger, dwarfs that of the U.S.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking Democratic member of the committee, told Fox News last week that “for every one oceangoing vessel that we can produce, China can produce 359 in one single year."

The U.S. government has come to see China as its “pacing challenge," and officials have warned that Beijing is pursuing the largest peacetime military buildup in history, raising concerns about how the U.S. would respond and ensure victory in case of a conflict in the Indo-Pacific, where tensions are high in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.

Krishnamoorthi on Thursday warned that a weak military industrial base could invite aggression and argued that strengthening it is necessary to avoid war with China.

“History tells us we need a