The Pentagon has released their annual report on China's military modernization.
The DoD view of the PLA's ongoing evolution can probably be best summarized in the opening summary:
It might be interesting to see if there are any changes in formulation a year from now, once the Obama Administration has settled in.
The DoD view of the PLA's ongoing evolution can probably be best summarized in the opening summary:
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is pursuing comprehensive transformation from a mass army designed for protracted wars of attrition on its territory to one capable of fighting and winning short-duration, high-intensity conflicts along its periphery against high-tech adversaries – an approach that China refers to as preparing for “local wars under conditions of informatization.” The pace and scope of China’s military transformation have increased in recent years, fueled by acquisition of advanced foreign weapons, continued high rates of investment in its domestic defense and science and technology industries, and far-reaching organizational and doctrinal reforms of the armed forces. [p. I]
There's not too much that's new in this edition - bearing in mind that most of the document would have been formulated while George Bush was still President. Most of the tables and graphs look like a simple update from last year's edition.It might be interesting to see if there are any changes in formulation a year from now, once the Obama Administration has settled in.