Beijing is sharply speeding up a large-scale buildup of military forces in preparation for a future conflict with the United States, according to the congressional commission report made public Wednesday.
“Today, the United States and its allies and partners are facing a China more capable and increasingly confident in its ability to use the military as a tool to intimidate countries throughout the Indo-Pacific and support the expansion of its global interests,” says the annual report of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Two decades of modernization of forces by the People’s Liberation Army, the Communist Party of China-led army, “has already resulted in a force capable of contesting U.S. operations in the region, presenting challenges to the U.S. military’s longstanding assumption of enjoying ground, air, maritime, and information dominance in a conflict in the post-Cold War era.”
The 539-page annual report by the bipartisan commission was made public Wednesday and outlines a range of troubling Chinese activities and policies in addition to the military buildup, including large-scale cyber theft of American technology, increased arms sales to rogue states like Iran, and bullying of regional countries in Asia, including Taiwan.