“What does seem clear at this point is that the PLA recognizes that its reforms and modernization efforts are an ongoing effort, which will require further adjustments,” author Dean Cheng writes.
In its presidential election Taiwan may have sent a rebuke to Beijing, but in this op-ed the United States Institute of Peace’s Dean Cheng makes a closer, more nuanced examination.
2023 will mark the second year in a row that China’s defense budget is slated to increase at a faster rate than the general economy, a potentially worrisome trend for Beijing, writes analyst Dean Cheng.
With this Party Congress under way in Beijing, Xi Jinping will put in place China’s political and military leadership for the next five years, writes Dean Cheng.
Reacting to the PLA’s previous large-scale exercise in the Taiwan straits in 1995-1996, the United States deployed two carrier battlegroups in response. The Chinese undoubtedly noted that this latest exercise, which included missile overflights of the island, led to a far more muted reaction, writes Dean Cheng.
With Washington demonstrating little competency or reliability, Beijing is likely to press countries to include Huawei and other Chinese telecommunications corporations in their 5G networks, lest they alienate Beijing.
The combination of a modern long-range bomber (the H-20), and an expanded seaborne ballistic missile force, as well as this massive inflation of the land-based ICBM component, makes China’s nuclear forces look far more like their “hegemonic” counterparts in Russia and the United States than the minimal or limited deterrent presented by French or British nuclear forces.
The PLA Navy (PLAN) and PLA Air Force (PLAAF) are now the world’s largest, but China’s military modernization is not only focused on equipment. The PRC appears to be developing new strategies and doctrines. The PLA began shifting in the 1990s from preparing to fight “local wars under modern, high-tech conditions” to “local wars under…
This marks Dean Cheng’s first op-ed for us as a member of the Breaking Defense Board of Contributors. One of the world’s preeminent experts on the Chinese military, Cheng demonstrates here the sophistication and subtlety of analysis he is known for. What does the west need to do to better manage its relationships with China…
Wars and pandemics, great destroyers of the status quo, often generate enormous societal change. An outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease in the early 20th century, for example, gave the internal combustion engine a permanent lead over steam-powered automobiles. The First World War saw more improvements in aeronautical engineering and airplane manufacturing than the previous decade. The…
Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who had expressed serious reservations about Rex Tillerson, President Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of State, said Sunday afternoon they would vote for him, pretty much assuring his elevation. The most combustible part of Tillerson’s testimony was about how to handle a rising China’s actions in the South and East…
Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s recent appearance in a military uniform while touring a military command center and the attendant description of him as “commander in chief” of the facility, drew extensive Chinese and foreign media attention. Was his appearance in uniform a reflection of a militarizing China? Was the description of him as “commander in chief”…
Those of us who cover the US military in detail, those in the military and those who spend lots of time around the military tend to be at least mildly obsessed with Star Trek and Star Wars. As his opening make clear, Dean Cheng is truly one of the tribe. But his topic, freedom of…
High-performance systems generate tremendous amounts of heat that can compromise missions and make high-tech systems less effective in tactical environments. But there is a solution to this modern-age challenge.
High-performance systems generate tremendous amounts of heat that can compromise missions and make high-tech systems less effective in tactical environments. But there is a solution to this modern-age challenge.
“What does seem clear at this point is that the PLA recognizes that its reforms and modernization efforts are an ongoing effort, which will require further adjustments,” author Dean Cheng writes.
By Dean Cheng