China will have a modern military capable of force-projection and sustained high-intensity combat as early as the end of this decade, an annual Pentagon report into the state of China's armed forces has claimed.
New aircraft carriers, a stealth fighter program, carrier-killing ballistic missiles, improved cyberwarfare techniques and a doctrine of "space dominance" would all contribute to China's ambitious plans to modernise its 2.3million-strong People's Liberation Army.
The annual report comes as the US, Japan and several of China's smaller neighbours in the South China Sea voice concerns both about China's investment in offensive weapons technologies and Beijing's belligerent and bullying attitude towards regional disputes.
China rebuffed the 94-page report, accusing the Pentagon of "overlooking the country's peaceful defence policy" and "interfering" over Taiwan, the island that split from China in 1949 but that Beijing yearns to see re-united with mainland.
China's embassy in Washington described the report as "a reflection of Cold War mentality" that would needlessly be used to depict China as a threat and urged the US to "to work with China" to create healthy military ties between the two powers. Read on and comment » | Peter Foster, Beijing | Thursday, August 25, 2011
