The Kings Of The East Prepare For The Future:

China's Military Modernization

Judith Bergman

• "[W]e are being more effectively challenged militarily today than at any...any other time in our history." — US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, September 20, 2021.

• China aims to "complete national defense and military modernization by 2035." — Jamestown.org, March 26, 2021

• China's modernization of its military is taking place on all levels.

• "The PLA [People's Liberation Army] ... seeks a force capable of winning a number of high-end regional conflicts, including the forcible unification of Taiwan, while dissuading, deterring, or defeating third-party military intervention." — Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, before the Senate US Armed Services Committee, April 26, 2021.

• "Hypersonic weapons, a full range of anti-satellite systems, plus cyber, electronic warfare, and challenging air to air missiles are all part of the growing inventory of Chinese capabilities." — US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, September 20, 2021.

• "In 2019, the private PRC-based company Ziyan UAV exhibited armed swarming drones..... During the past five years, China has made achievements in AI-enabled unmanned surface vessels, which China plans to use to patrol and bolster its territorial claims in the South China Sea." — The Pentagon, Annual 2020 Report to Congress on the Chinese military.

• "We're not a decade ahead." — Eric Schmidt, former executive chairman and CEO of Google and the chairman of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, National Defense Magazine, October 30, 2020.

  
  

  "Since 2010, I have been pounding the drum about how serious a threat the People's Republic of China's military modernization program is to the ability of the United States to project power into the Indo Pacific, and more broadly our ability to protect our interests and values around the world.... While America is still the dominant military power on the planet, we are being more effectively challenged militarily today than at any...any other time in our history." These were the words of US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall at the Air Force Association's Air, Space & Cyber Convention on September 20.

  China has been modernizing its military for several decades to become a "world class military" -- equal to, or in some cases superior to, the U.S. military -- by mid-century. China aims to "complete national defense and military modernization by 2035". In this year's Annual Worldwide Threat Assessment, the U.S. intelligence community called China an increasingly "near-peer competitor, challenging the United States in multiple arenas—especially economically, militarily, and technologically" that has "demonstrated the capability and intent to advance their interests at the expense of the United States and its allies."

  
  

  "Chinese leaders characterize China's long-term military modernization program as essential to achieving great-power status," Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in April.

  "The PLA [People's Liberation Army] modernization agenda focuses on developing and fielding advanced military capabilities in all warfighting domains...The PLA seeks a force capable of winning a number of high-end regional conflicts, including the forcible unification of Taiwan, while dissuading, deterring, or defeating third-party military intervention. At the same time, we expect the PLA to expand its capability to carry out smaller operations globally to support China's interests."

  
  

  According to Kendall, China's modernization of its military is taking place on all levels:

  "Simultaneously, China is increasing inventory levels and the sophistication of their weapons and modernizing centers and command and control networks throughout the kill chains that support their weapons. Hypersonic weapons, a full range of anti-satellite systems, plus cyber, electronic warfare, and challenging air to air missiles are all part of the growing inventory of Chinese capabilities."

  
  

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