Editor's note: Will American allies in the Asia-Pacific aid U.S. military intervention in the Taiwan Straits? The answer is no. Here's Senior Colonel (retired) Zhou Bo's take on allies' fears and concerns.The views expressed in the video are his own and not necessarily those of CGTN.

CGTN: Is China strong enough to deter an American military intervention in the Taiwan Straits?

Zhou Bo: You see, we are not strong enough. That is why we actually have a clear road map of becoming modernized by 2035 and become a world-class military by mid-century.

But right now, I think this kind of objective has actually changed a little bit. Because in the report of the 20th Communist Party of China National Congress, we even talked about speeding up this process. That means we have to become a world-class military before 2049. As to how much in advance, this is not clearly mentioned. But this, of course, is the central task. And because of the tension we felt, we have to speed up this process.

CGTN: How willing would the U.S. allies in the region – the Philippines and Japan for example – be in coming to America's aid in case of a military conflict in the Taiwan Straits?

Zhou Bo: Clearly, none of them would be happy to make such an assistance because that is a risk to get themselves involved in a war. Certainly, they won't be happy with this. But legally speaking, Japan has a legal responsibility of providing logistics to the United States. And that actually makes them very, very worried because they have to do it. So, I don't believe they want to have a war at all.

Then, for the Philippines, it's a more complicated story. Because I believe they just want to have an American military presence as a kind of deterrence against China. That is for sure. But at the same time, they're also worried with such a prospect of a war in the region because that would be destabilizing for everybody involved.

So, that is why they talk about these bases not being used during wartime or they have to get approval of the Filipino government for use in war time, so on and so forth. So, I think they're hedging on this issue.

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