China Rising

You may have heard or read about the DoD's latest annual report to Congress on China's military power. There was a good story on NPR last week about it. I've only recently become interested in the "rise of China" debates. But the more I read, the more I'm convinced it's much ado about nothing. China wants to be seen as a great power. It recognizes that the road to take is through economic strength as well as military strength. This shouldn't threaten the U.S. China needs foreign direct investment and values its trade relations with the U.S. As for military strength, China is modernizing its forces. But this seems related mainly to Taiwan and the perception that it needs a modern, high-tech military capable of waging war like the U.S. is able to. That doesn't mean against the U.S. Anyway, the report is suprisingly, highly readable and talks not only about force size but about strategic motivations. It's only about 45 pages. Take a look.