In nearly every aspect of military capability ”” from cruise missiles to submarines, satellites to cluster bombs ”” China has been working hard to modernize its military. Some see this as a natural result of China’s emergence as a rising power, while others see danger to the United States and its interests in Asia.
The evidence of China’s military modernization is ample: double-digit increases for military spending since 1989; the rapid expansion of China’s cruise and ballistic missile force and the deployment of hundreds of missiles along China’s coast across from Taiwan; the rapid expansion of China’s submarine force and the modernization of the missiles those submarines carry; and last year, China’s destruction of one of its own satellites by a land-based missile, announcing China’s unexpected capability in anti-satellite warfare.
There is no doubt that China is a rising military power, says Kurt Campbell, a former Defense Department official who now heads the Center for a New American Security.
“No country has risen to a status of great power as rapidly as China has, I would argue, over the last 20 years,” Campbell says.
And to think that Eisenhower warned us about [i]our[/i] military-industrial complex. The People’s Liberation Army is a very different animal, something along the lines of an ITT/Archer Daniels Midland conglomerate with guns. Even the Kremlin during the Soviet period kept hold of the Red Army’s reins. And, that comment about transparency by Adm. Keating is not a real analysis, it’s a wishlist from us to the Chinese.
It’ll be interesting over the next few years to see who in Beijing end’s up the obvious tail and who’s the dog doing the wagging. The Chinese apparently take Teddy Roosevelt’s “Big Stick” advice seriously. In the end expect the Chinese to get their way a bit more often in the international arena.
It is doubtful we need to fear China’s military, unless we try to protect Taiwan. Our real concern should be with their purchase of U. S. companies. If they withdrew just their existing financial holdings, it would send our economy into collapse….something that would hurt them also.