The recent Pentagon reports on Chinese
military power do not confirm any radical changes or breakthroughs in
Chinese military capabilities during the past few years but do suggest a
comprehensive Chinese military buildup that should propel China to
great power status in a few decades regardless of its leaders’
intentions
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army
(PLA) continues to operate at ever-greater distances from Chinese
territory, including for supporting global peace and security missions
as well as for more unilateral coercive activities. China remains the
leading contributor of the five permanent members of the Security
Council to UN peacekeeping missions. In addition, the PLA Navy continues
to assign ships to the Gulf of Aden fighting the sea pirates that
operate from bases in Somalia. Meanwhile, Chinese warships can
increasingly be found patrolling in the disputed waters of the East and
South China Seas. The Chinese armed forces are also engaging in larger
and more complex exercises.
U.S. officials are not concerned about of
any single Chinese weapon system or exercise, but by the comprehensive
and sustained nature of China’s military buildup, which is having
“destabilizing” effect in the Asia-Pacific region. In particular, the
sheer magnitude of China’s missile buildup continued to impress,
especially its concentration near Taiwan at a time when cross-strait
tensions remain low. The military balance continues its inexorable shift
against Taipei, with little prospect of any development that might
reverse this trend given China’s advantages in size and proximity.
Although the U.S. military prepares to defend Taiwan if ordered by the
White House, the PLA’s ballistic missiles, cyber capabilities, and other
instruments of deterrence and disruption are giving the PLA formidable
anti-access, area-denial (A2AD) capabilities against the Pentagon.
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