Defending Forward to Confront China’s Military Aims
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By Craig Singleton
January 30, 2021
The passage of the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) marked the moment the budget finally caught up to a grim geostrategic reality: The capabilities gap between the U.S. and Chinese militaries is shrinking, and fast. The NDAA also rightly acknowledged the linkage between China’s military pursuits and its deft ability to operate in the gray zone between traditional war and peace. Nowhere is this trend clearer than in the Indo-Pacific, where China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is fortifying its fixed military positions in the South China Sea while simultaneously investing in advanced next-generation technologies with over-the-horizon applications.
The seeds of China’s massive, ongoing military modernization were, of course, planted decades ago, although they have taken on new dimensions in recent years under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s leadership. In pursuing Xi’s principal goals of attaining great-power status and securing China’s place within the international hierarchy, Beijing has prioritized efforts to transform the PLA into a capable and agile expeditionary fighting force.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2021/01/30/defending_forward_to_confront_chinas_military_aims_658528.html
