China's Emergence as a Superpower (till 2014)

**JeffC** · 01-04-2008

Originally Posted by William F. Owen

5. So they say. The Chinese military budget is smoke and mirrors of the worst order.

I was going to spend more time on this, but when I read your above reply to my point of Lawless's report, I decided against it. I'm happy to debate facts, but there's no debating a refusal to consider facts.

**tequila** · 01-04-2008

Similar things could be said about the U.S. defense budget, which the government has literally given up on accounting for.

There is enormous waste and fraud in every defense budget - more so when they are swathed in official secrecy. China is hardly an exception. But what is largely not disputed is that China is spending large amounts of money in an attempt to modernize and professionalize its armed forces. While this is hardly the easiest thing to do in the world, China has built in the last thirty years some of the world's most advanced industrial processes and efficient factories. They do not compete only in low-rent textiles and assembled goods but also in consumer electronics, automobile and machine parts, steel, computers, etc. etc.

If one believed that some sort of cultural model barring China from modernization and professional competence was an accurate descriptor, one would have to answer how it is possible for China to build a world-competitive industrial economy across the panoply of manufacturing and services but yet prove incapable of creating a competent military force.

**tequila** · 01-10-2008

Good basic primer on the China/U.S. dollar relationship, from James Fallows in The Atlantic.

**Jedburgh** · 02-15-2008

China Brief, 14 Feb 08: Soldier Scholars: Military Education as an Instrument of China's Strategic Power

....There is another element of China’s military transformation that tends to receive much less attention: professional military education (PME). Over the last three decades, China has undertaken significant efforts to enhance the quality of its military education system. The expansion of non-commissioned officer (NCO) education over the last decade within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) illuminates an important—yet understudied—element of China’s broader military modernization efforts. Washington policymakers should take note of Beijing’s investments in military education as they may yield key insights into Chinese military strategy as well as its grand strategy.....

**Norfolk** · 03-04-2008

Military Power of the People’s Republic of China, 2008, Office of the Secretary of Defense:

From the Executive Summary -

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is pursuing comprehensive transformation from a mass army designed for protracted wars of attrition on its territory to one capable of fighting and winning shortduration, high intensity conflicts along its periphery against high-tech adversaries – an approach that China refers to as preparing for “local wars under conditions of informatization.” China’s ability to sustain military power at a distance remains limited but, as noted in the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review Report, it “has the greatest potential to compete militarily with the United States and field disruptive military technologies that could over time offset traditional U.S. military advantages.”

China’s near-term focus on preparing for contingencies in the Taiwan Strait, including the possibility of U.S. intervention, is an important driver of its modernization. However, analysis of China’s military acquisitions and strategic thinking suggests Beijing is also developing capabilities for use in other contingencies, such as conflict over resources or disputed territories.

The pace and scope of China’s military transformation have increased in recent years, fueled by acquisition of advanced foreign weapons, continued high rates of investment in its domestic defense and science and technology industries, and far reaching organizational and doctrinal reforms of the armed forces. China’s expanding and improving military capabilities are changing East Asian military balances; improvements in China’s strategic capabilities have implications beyond the Asia-Pacific region.

and:

The international community has limited knowledge of the motivations, decision-making, and key capabilities supporting China’s military modernization. China’s leaders have yet to explain in detail the purposes and objectives of the PLA’s modernizing military capabilities. For example, China continues to promulgate incomplete defense expenditure figures, and engage in actions that appear inconsistent with its declaratory policies. The lack of transparency in China’s military and security affairs poses risks to stability by increasing the potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation. This situation will naturally and understandably lead to hedging against the unknown.

This is a large file, some 29.6 MB. Hat tip to Panzerkom at SDF.

**AdamG** · 05-01-2008

Some good photos at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/majo...rine-base.html

China has secretly built a major underground nuclear submarine base that could threaten Asian countries and challenge American power in the region, it can be disclosed.