Rubio assessed China's army

China has been building up the power of its military over the last decade at an unprecedented pace, and as a result it is now the second most powerful in the world.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated this in an interview with NBC News.

"The speed at which the Chinese military has grown over the last ten years is unprecedented... It's hard to ignore how fast it's growing and how large it's becoming. They are without a doubt the second most powerful military in the world," he said.

According to Rubio, the Chinese authorities "have the ambition to ultimately be able to project power around the world the way the United States does."