Is China's Military Really Powerful?

Photo from Sino Defense Forum

Joyce Dong, National Interest: How Powerful Is China's Military Really?



Recent publications such as the RAND Corporation’s report “China’s Incomplete Military Transformation: Assessing the Weaknesses of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)” and Dennis Blasko’s article “Ten Reasons Why China Will Have Trouble Fighting a Modern War” mark a significant shift away from the usual narrative that China’s economic rise has led to an increasingly militarized and powerful PLA. While the PLA’s military budget continues to grow at double-digit rates, these reports suggest that the “China threat” has been overhyped. The PLA suffers from institutional weaknesses and vulnerabilities, including a lack of professional human capital with adequate combat experience, rampant corruption, and underdevelopment of non-commissioned officers. As a result, the PLA will face difficulties “fight[ing] a modern war against an advanced enemy.”



WNU Editor: The Chinese have certainly gone to a lot of trouble and expense to modernize and equip their military .... so yes .... I will take them for their word .... the Chinese military is powerful. But what always concerns me is trends .... and in this regard the trends are favoring the Chinese. 20 years ago the Chinese military did not even register as a threat .... today we are talking about them .... 20 years from now .... I can only speculate what the Chinese military will look and be able to field then.