China Military Power Report Examines Changes in Beijing’s Strategy

The report, released today, calls the Peoples’ Republic of China “the most consequential and systemic challenge to our national security and to a free and open international system.”

A senior defense official speaking on background said China is increasingly clear, in its ambitions and intentions. “It’s important to understand the contours of [Peoples’ Liberation Army] modernization to include their thinking about what the PLA’s way of war would look like, to kind of survey their current activities and modernizing capabilities and to assess their future military modernization goals,” he said to reporters prior to the release of the report.