China's rapid and comprehensive transformation of its armed forces is affecting regional military balances and holds implications beyond the Asia-Pacific region. Of particular concern is that elements of China's military modernization appear designed to challenge our freedom of action in the region.
For almost two decades, China has been modernizing its military from one with an outdated air force and limited conventional missile strike capability to one with modern aircraft and air defenses and a large, growing arsenal of conventional ballistic and land-attack cruise missiles. In its 2010 report to Congress, the Department of Defense wrote that China's Air Force "continues its conversion from a
force for limited territorial defense to a more flexible and agile force able to operate off-shore in both offensive and defensive roles.
Expert witnesses testified to the Commission that by 2020, China's Air Force will have transformed from a poorly equipped and trained service into one of the foremost in the world. Summarizing the threat from China that U.S. forces in Asia could face, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates told Congress in 2009 that China's military modernization "could threaten America's primary means of projecting power and helping allies in the Pacific: our bases, air and sea assets, and the networks that support them."
