U.S. issues China military report. The U.S. Department of Defense issued a key report on the Chinese military on Wednesday, with a particular focus on the ambitious expansion of China’s nuclear stockpile.
Preface
The Department of Defense (DoD) annual report to Congress on military and security developments involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) provides a baseline assessment of the Department’s pacing challenge. The PRC has long viewed the United States as a competitor and has characterized its view of strategic competition in terms of a rivalry among powerful nation states, as well as a clash of opposing systems. As expressed in the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance, the PRC is the only competitor capable of combining its economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system.
The PRC is increasingly clear in its ambitions and intentions. Beijing seeks to reshape the international order to better align with its authoritarian system and national interests, as a vital component of its strategy to achieve the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” According to this worldview, the accrual of the PRC’s comprehensive national power, including military power, is necessary to set the conditions for Beijing to assert its preferences on a global scale. This year’s annual report continues to chart the maturation of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the PRC’s evolving national power as it transitions to a new stage of the PRC’s national strategy.
The PRC’s national strategy to achieve “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” by 2049 is deeply integrated with its ambitions to strengthen the PLA. In 2017, General Secretary Xi Jinping laid out two PLA modernization goals during his speech to the 19th Party Congress: to “basically complete” PLA modernization by 2035 and to transform the PLA into a “world class” military by 2049. Throughout 2020, the PLA continued to pursue its ambitious modernization objectives, refine major organizational reforms, and improve its combat readiness in line with those goals. This includes the PLA developing the capabilities to conduct joint long-range precision strikes across domains, increasingly sophisticated space, counterspace, and cyber capabilities, and accelerating the large-scale expansion of its nuclear forces. In 2020, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced a new milestone for PLA modernization in 2027 broadly understood as the modernization of the PLA’s capabilities to be networked into a system of systems for “intelligentized” warfare. If realized, the PLA’s 2027 modernization goals could provide Beijing with more credible military options in a Taiwan contingency.
As the PRC continues to marshal all elements of its national power toward its centenary goals in 2049, DoD’s annual report strives to provide an authoritative assessment of the PRC’s strategic objectives. The report highlights the comprehensive scale of the CCP’s governance I OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China system, whereby the PLA’s modernization serves as a crucial component of a national system galvanized to achieve the PRC’s national strategy. The PRC’s strategy to achieve “national rejuvenation” is not limited to domestic efforts. This strategy entails efforts to change international conditions to suit the CCP’s concept of a “community of common destiny.” This report illustrates the importance of meeting the pacing challenge presented by the PRC’s increasingly capable military and its global ambitions. Report Scope: This report covers security and military developments involving the PRC until the end of 2020.
U.S. Department of Defense issued a key report on the Chinese military.
CONTENTS
1. PREFACE
2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
3. CHAPTER ONE: UNDERSTANDING CHINA’S
STRATEGY
4. CHAPTER TWO: MISSIONS AND TASKS OF
CHINA’S ARMED FORCES IN THE “NEW ERA”
5. CHAPTER THREE: FORCES, CAPABILITIES,
AND ACTIVITIES ON CHINA’S PERIPHERY
6. CHAPTER FOUR: THE PLA’S GROWING
GLOBAL PRESENCE
7. CHAPTER FIVE: RESOURCES &
TECHNOLOGY FOR FORCE MODERNIZATION
8. CHAPTER SIX: U.S.-PRC DEFENSE
CONTACTS AND EXCHANGES
9. SPECIAL TOPIC: THE PRC’s EFFECTIVE
CONTROL CONCEPT AND PLA ESCALATION MANAGEMENT VIEWS
10. SPECIAL TOPIC: PRC’S EVALUATION OF
THE 13TH FIVE YEAR PLAN
11. SPECIAL TOPIC: PRC-INDIA BORDER
STANDOFF
12. APPENDIX I: PRC AND TAIWAN FORCES
DATA
13. APPENDIX II: DEFENSE CONTACTS AND
EXCHANGES
14. APPENDIX III: SELECTED PLA BILATERAL
AND MULTILATERAL EXERCISES IN 2020
15. APPENDIX IV: CHINA’S TOP CRUDE OIL
SUPPLIERS IN 2020 APPENDIX V: ACRONYMS
CONTENTS PREFACE…………………………………………………………………………….
I
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
…………………………………………………………. III
CHAPTER ONE: UNDERSTANDING
CHINA’S STRATEGY …………………….. 1
CHAPTER TWO: MISSIONS AND
TASKS OF CHINA’S ARMED FORCES IN THE “NEW ERA” …. 43
CHAPTER THREE: FORCES,
CAPABILITIES, AND ACTIVITIES ON CHINA’S PERIPHERY . 97
CHAPTER FOUR: THE PLA’S
GROWING GLOBAL PRESENCE …………….. 125
CHAPTER FIVE: RESOURCES
& TECHNOLOGY FOR FORCE MODERNIZATION…… 141
CHAPTER SIX: U.S.-PRC
DEFENSE CONTACTS AND EXCHANGES ……….. 151
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE PRC’s
EFFECTIVE CONTROL CONCEPT AND PLA ESCALATION MANAGEMENT VIEWS ………………………………………….
155
SPECIAL TOPIC: PRC’S
EVALUATION OF THE 13TH FIVE YEAR PLAN ……157
SPECIAL TOPIC: PRC-INDIA
BORDER STANDOFF ……………………………. 159
APPENDIX I: PRC AND TAIWAN
FORCES DATA …………………………….. 161
APPENDIX II: DEFENSE
CONTACTS AND EXCHANGES …………………….. 163
APPENDIX III: SELECTED PLA
BILATERAL AND MULTILATERAL EXERCISES IN 2020 .. 163
APPENDIX IV: CHINA’S TOP
CRUDE OIL SUPPLIERS IN 2020 ……………… 164 APPENDIX V: ACRONYMS …………………………………………………………………………..
165
