In nearly every aspect of military capability \u201d\u201d from cruise missiles to submarines, satellites to cluster bombs \u201d\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n