The Secretary of Defense just submitted the Annual Report to Congress on Military and Security Developments of People’s Republic of China. This is the 20th anniversary of the report, and it covers 200 pages on China’s overall military strategy and tactics, growing global presence, and increasing sophistication to meet if not exceed the US. Here are the key points for readers of ChinaTechThreat.
- Realization of China as the center of the world in 2049, 100-year anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (The characters for China mean “Middle Kindgom”)
“The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) strategy aims to achieve “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” by 2049. China’s strategy can be characterized as a determined pursuit of political and social modernity that includes far-ranging efforts to expand China’s national power, perfect its governance systems, and revise the international order.”
- Full realization of “The People’s War” through Maoist military tactics. Mao believed that all Chinese citizens would participate in the communist revolution, not just soldiers.
The PRC employs a defined and discernable strategy of Military-Civil Fusion (MCF), integrating economic, social, and security policy in 6 ways:
- These six ways include:
- fuse civilian and military science, technology, and innovation;
- blend civilian and military expertise into leadership talent;
- interchangeability of military and civilian infrastructure;
- “leveraging civilian service and logistics capabilities for military purposes”;
- fuse civilian and military industrial bases;
- and, “make China’s national defense mobilization system include all relevant aspects of its society and economy for competition and war.”
- China continues to realize a policy to become self-reliant in the defense-industrial sector and will acquire technology by licit and illicit means. China’s 2019 priorities were dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and technologies for aviation and anti-submarine warfare.
China continues to fund research and subsidize the fields of AI, autonomous systems, advanced computing, quantum information sciences, biotechnology, and advanced materials and manufacturing. The CCP enjoins Chinese firms, universities, and provincial governments to cooperate with the military to advance technology. Where possible, China will undermine foreign universities and enterprises to obtain research, resources, and intellectual property. Sensitive, dual-use technologies and military-grade equipment are key targets for theft. The PRC “leverages foreign investments, commercial joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and state-sponsored industrial and technical espionage, and the manipulation of export controls for the illicit diversion of dual-use technologies to increase the level of technologies and expertise available to support military research, development, and acquisition.” The US should expect China’s conduct of cyberwarfare to continue.
The second portion of CTT’s analysis will be published Wednesday, September 16