China has embarked on a 30-year program to eclipse the United States as the preeminent military power in the Indo-Pacific region, making significant improvements to both its weapons and doctrine in the past year, according to the Pentagon’s latest report to Congress.
“China seeks to become both prosperous and powerful. And the report notes that China has a stated goal of becoming a world-class military by 2049,” Randall Schriver, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said at a press briefing Friday.
The 2019 China Military Power Report, released Thursday, details China’s growing military strength, including its advantage over the United States in the area of short- and intermediate-range ballistic and cruise missiles and its plans to add a third aircraft carrier.
Until the Trump administration announced plans this year to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia, the United States was prevented from developing the kind of missiles that China can now use to target U.S. aircraft carriers in the event of war.
“China continues to grow its inventory of DF-26 intermediate-range ballistic missiles. These missiles are capable of conducting conventional and nuclear precision strikes against both ground and naval targets in the western Pacific and Indian oceans,” Schriver said.
China has a refurbished Soviet-era aircraft carrier and is building its own aircraft carrier; a third carrier is also likely to join the fleet this year. Until recently, the United States was the only country in the world with more than one aircraft carrier.
The Chinese navy has launched a new class of modern guided missile cruisers that can launch either surface-to-air or anti-ship missiles. It showed off a new fifth-generation fighter jet at a recent air show.
But Schriver stressed that the Pentagon’s assessment does not envision hostilities with China in the near term.
“The report finds that China continues to employ tactics designed to fall short of armed conflict to accomplish its objectives,” he said. “We certainly don’t see conflict with China, and it doesn’t preclude cooperation where our interests align.”
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