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Overview
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is embarked on an ambitious, long-term military modernization effort to develop capabilities to fight and win short-duration, high- intensity conflicts along its periphery. China’s defense modernization is broad reaching, encompassing the transformation of virtually all aspects of the military establishment, to include weapon systems, operational doctrine, institution building, and personnel reforms. China values military power to defend economic interests, secure territorial claims, and build political influence commensurate with its status as a regional power with global aspirations. In recent years, the PLA has accelerated reform and modernization in response to the central leadership’s concerns that developments across the Taiwan Strait could put at risk Beijing’s objectives for Taiwan unification. · The PLA is focused on developing a variety of credible military options to deter moves by Taiwan toward permanent separation or, if required, to compel by force the integration of Taiwan under mainland authority. A second set of objectives, though no less important, includes capabilities to deter, delay, or disrupt thirdparty intervention in a cross-Strait military crisis. The PLA has made progress in meeting those goals through acquiring and deploying new weapon systems, promulgating new doctrine for modern warfare, reforming institutions, and improving training; however, it continues to lack the capability to project significant power beyond its borders. Nevertheless, the PLA’s determined focus on preparing for conflict in the Taiwan Strait--to include accelerated deployments of short-range ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan--casts a cloud over Beijing’s declared policy of seeking “peaceful reunification” under the “one country, two systems” model. The priorities and objectives guiding China’s military modernization are based on authoritative assessments of internal and external threats to China’s security interests, the availability of resources, and the nature of modern warfare. The following sections discuss the role of these drivers in shaping the course of military-technological development in China; however, what appears below is little more than our best estimate. The Department of Defense continues to have much to learn about the motivations and decisionmaking behind China’s military modernization, in large part because of the extensive secrecy surrounding Chinese security affairs and a distinct aversion to real transparency on the part of China’s leaders. Despite some recent improvements--such as publication of official white papers on defense issues every 2 years--China’s leaders continue to closely guard and resist public revelation of basic information, such as the full amount and distribution of government resources dedicated to national defense or, as witnessed in 2003, details on the origin and incidence of infectious disease. |
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See my research at http://www.geocities.com/profits_of_genocide/
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