China's Military Modernization: Global Interests, But not yet Expeditionary

Abstract

The People's Republic of China has experienced massive economic growth over the last 20 years. This growth has provided it with greater resources to counter threats to its security, both internal and external. China has used part of this newfound wealth to modernize its armed forces so that they have the capabilities to counter these security threats. Unfortunately, economic growth has increased China's dependence on external sources of energy and resources. This external resource dependence has led to security concerns that are outside of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) traditional focus on territorial integrity and national unity. This study examines China's ability to address growing external security threats by developing its capacity to conduct expeditionary operations. Specifically, the study evaluates China's ability to react to external threats with an expeditionary force based on five criteria: Tailored Force, Rapid Deployment, Forcible Entry, Sustainment, and Prestige. Although China's military modernization has improved its military capabilities, a focus on internal security continues to hinder the PLA's ability to react to external threats. While marginally improving its ability to project power, most of China's military expenditures continue to focus on Taiwan. Persistent, steady growth will continue to increase China's ability to project power, but a significant lack of capabilities, coupled with slow modernization to counter external threats, will provide China with a limited ability to respond to crises on its periphery within the next decade. To conduct large, expeditionary operations to protect its overseas interests, China must maintain growth and modernization at the current level for at least 20 years.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 03, 2009
Accession Number
ADA513440

Entities

People

  • Jon F. Parvin

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircraft Equipment
  • Aircraft Industry
  • Airframes
  • Amphibious Operations
  • Control Systems
  • Fighter Aircraft
  • Landing Craft
  • Military Aircraft
  • Military Organizations
  • National Security
  • Naval Operations
  • Navies (Foreign)
  • Navy
  • Tanker Aircraft
  • Transport Aircraft
  • United States Pacific Command
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Asian Economic Studies
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Strategic Security Studies