Pentagon report: Chinese military growing in strength, secrecy

Stars and Stripes - 16 August 2010

China's military might and intentions remain largely a mystery to the U.S. as the Asian power continues to rebuff the Obama administration's efforts to spark an open military relationship, according to a Pentagon report to Congress released on Monday.


Chinese Gen. Xu Caihou arrives at the Pentagon last October for security talks with Defense Secretary Robert Gates. It was the last high-level meeting between the two militaries.

"The pace and scope of China's military modernization have increased over the past decade," the Pentagon says in the detailed report. But Beijing's continued refusal to let U.S. officials know of their military's intentions "increases the potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation."

The annual report is supposed to be Defense Secretary Robert Gates' best estimate of Chinese military engagements, spending and strategy, including an assessment of its arms buildup. China has "the most active land-based ballistic and cruise missile program in the world," the report said.

The People's Liberation Army is acquiring "large numbers of highly-accurate cruise missiles," built in China and Russia, and is moving the more deadly and accurate arsenal to the Taiwan strait. In 2009, the Pentagon estimates China deployed between 1,050 and 1,150 short-range missiles near the strait.

But the Pentagon's top concern, as the mainland develops and tests new offensive missiles, is with anti-ship, medium-range ballistic missiles the U.S. believes are designed to strike aircraft carriers more than 900 miles off its coast in the western Pacific.

China's military totals 1.25 million people, with an additional 500,000 in reserves, the Pentagon said. While China publicly claimed this year an annual defense spending total of $78.6 billion, a senior U.S. defense officials said the Pentagon's estimate of is closer to $150 billion.

Read more: Stars and Stripes

 

this is good news actually

where there is a potential threat or enemy, there is the ongoing need to maintain sufficient military numbers and dollars, in the US. I look at the glass as half full. It's called 'job security.'

 

Agreed.

 

It really pisses me off that every technological military advancement, ( nuclear armaments, subs, aircraft, etc.,) China has ever made came from espionage, i.e., stealing secrets from the United States military.

Some bullshit.

 

everyone steals from everyone

it's the nature of the game...

 

the only thing that angers me is dumb ass people signing up to fight wars that are not theirs to fight...

 

As a Naval Reservist FCSN - I believe that you have the luxury of making such a disrespectful statement because you are protected by the people you insult. Puerto Rico doesn't have a military...

 

If you still believe you're fighting for freedom you have bigger problems than being offended by my opinion...

 

Not like China. Everything they have militarily was either bought or stolen. No military technology in recent history was ever innovated by China.

After they found that gunpowder joint, it all kind went downhill for em.

 

lol

gunpowder ignited a wave of innovation (hell, there was a whole Age dedicated to it). I will give them that. But like you said, they've pretty much stagnated since then. They relied heavily on their Russian allies for much of their 'sophisticated' (dont know if you can call Russian weaponry sophisticated lol) arsenal and just said screw it, this junk is good enough.

But then, you look at a country like the US, and you see new things being tested or fielded yearly. Better armor, new weapons, mine-resistance vehicles, and so forth.

 

Whats your position on Mercenaries/ PMC's ?

 

lol

the position of Mercenaries on luvforplay, is that they could not care any less, as long as they're getting great pay, to do something they've always been good at.

 

As a Former Marine and currently a Soldier in the Army I can only giggle at the ignorance of your statement.

Here is the deal. (and under the assumption you live in the US) you are not removed simply because you are not the one carrying the weapon. You pay for every aspect of any war this country fights.

Not only that you share in the benefits from having a strong military as a force and a deterrent. You can decry war all you want too, but to pretend you have no sake in it is ignorance at the very least and stupidity at best. This is your war whether you want to believe it or not.

 

I think that war should be fought by professional Soldiers. Mercenaries care about a pay check. The Idealists, the professional warriors the heart behind the kevlar, and go into a village with a mission to weed out the enemy and not mow down a child in the process....(for the most part)

....Idealist (Professional warriors) are what kept the US from bombing Kyoto and who are able to see the evil in even so called just wars. Mercenaries profit not just from war but from a lack of morality and a non existant sense of honor.

 

china is not a big of a threat as people think....yet.

Keep in mind every was worried about the Iraqi Army which at a time was the 6th largest army in the World. What stop China from being a threat at the moment is that it has not been battled tested since the end of WWII. Not matter how big you grow or how strong you get unless you know how to fight you are just getting bigger for the sake of becoming big.

...your size is your deterrent.

Only with China it having Nuclear weapons has been its deterrent.

There MAY come a time when we put China's size and strength to the test. Taiwan the dispute over who's it is. North China sea, fighting with Japan over who's that is or North Korea their home boy.

 

One of my colleagues just linked me to an article entitled "Leading CCP official argues for exterminating U.S. population". In that article a member of the Chinese Communist Party states:

So how do you really feel about the Chinese from reading this?

 

for one, we'd have to see the source of the article before going any further with discussion

 

China is a threat because they are as armed with nuclear weapons as we are. Sure, we may have a few thousand or so more warheads in our arsenal, but we all know it only takes 1 or 2 of the things to make landfall to change the world forever, regardless of which side strikes first. For the record, it won't be us as we keep ours for defense against a first strike.

As PettyJ stated, they keep growing the size of their military, but it hasn't been tested as a whole. I disagree that not being battle tested is going to stop them. It is well documented in military history that the simple advantage of numbers weighs heavily on the battlefield. Conventional war has changed as we know it, but it still in some ways matters which side has the numbers in their own favor.

My personal feelings on the matter are very comfortable at this time. I don't worry about china, it's unknown ambitions, or it's military for the simple fact that for the last 65 years America has made it their #1 goal to make sure we are properly defended against the rest of the world. There will be other superpowers. That will never change. The other thing that will never change is our ability to stay ahead of the game in terms of technology, aircraft, and knowing that we are superior IN EVERY WAY to ANY possible opponent. Our defense department's actions send a very clear message to all other nations: "It's never going to be a fair fight when someone takes on the U.S.". I would have it no other way and i'm sure neither would any of you.

To that dude LuvForeplay in Puerto Rico that depends on the United States to protect his little island, yet makes ignorant statements against his protectors:

Lets hope the first nuke hits your island. Then is it your battle to fight??? Oh wait, you'd be dead already.

Granted it's not actually the Chinese government saying it. Some people will deny their connections to africa till the day they die. It's not surprising this is coming from people of asian decent as most have a general "distaste" for african americans. It's one of those cultural things that most can't avoid. If your brought up to believe something from the time you started to walk, it's embedded in your bones. I don't have an issue with asians. Just the ones that clearly have an issue with me.


Truth

 

if they had the finances and logistical ability, they could be in more places at any given time than we could. That alone is a major strategic and tactical advantage. It's hard to take and hold ground, when you don't have the manpower to protect it. Front-line territory is an obvious priority, but the rear and flanks will always be exposed. China would just need the finances and able-bodied citizens to fill the boots to get the job done.

Based off experience, training, and technology, the kill ratios will more than likely be in our favor. That's not arrogance talking either. A lot of what people learn through training, is encountered in real-world scenarios. With two wars going on, tons of 'street' knowledge is being learned and brought back to training commands and taught to the ranks. Our forces know what it's like to employ combined-arms doctrine in real missions. They know what to avoid, what to keep doing, and how to make it better because actual lives and objectives depend on it.

The only thing China can do is fire up a simulator or do some war-games. They won't have the tried and true NCOs and officers that actually been shot at, or had lives depending on their decisions.

 

There is no comfort or reality in believing the U.S. will always possess a technological military advantage over China.

They STEAL every new DOD weaponry/technology we invent!!!