A Pentagon report said the Chinese military experienced “a new wave” of corruption among its senior leaders last year, which may have hindered progress toward its military modernization goals, even though China May have increased aggression towards Taiwan and Philippines.
US Department of Defense Annual China’s military power report The release issued on Wednesday said at least 15 high-ranking military officers and defense-industry executives were removed from their posts between July and December 2023. Many of the leaders who were investigated and removed for corruption had overseen projects related to the modernization of Chinese ground-based nuclear and conventional missiles.
“I think it (corruption) is already having some impact,” said a senior defense official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity based on ground rules set by the Pentagon.
Corruption in the military is nothing new, but it became rampant in the top military leadership when Chinese National Defense Minister Li Shangfu was removed from the post in late October last year. Li headed the Central Military Commission Equipment Development Department from 2017 to 2022, where he would have signed off on all People’s Liberation Army, PLA, weapons acquisitions before serving as defense minister.
China’s military goals include completing modernization by 2035 and becoming a “world-class” military by the end of 2049. It has also set a target of 2027 as a short-term marker to ensure that its modernization plans continue to progress. In 2027, the PLA will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding.
The report calls Chinese progress toward the 2027 capability milestone “uneven” without explicitly stating whether the Chinese military is withdrawing.
“We certainly highlight and take very seriously the progress they are making in many of the areas that we noted in the report, and at the same time, we try to focus on those areas as well In which he has displayed some shortcomings,” the officer said.
Despite China’s shrinking economy, Beijing’s defense spending was projected to be 40% to 90% higher than announced in its public defense budget, amounting to $330 billion to $450 billion in total defense spending for 2024.
Chinese nuclear and missile capabilities
According to the report, China’s stockpile had more than 600 operational nuclear weapons by mid-2024, and will have more than 1,000 of these weapons by 2030. The arsenal’s growth is in line with last year’s estimate.
Based on treaty agreements, the United States maintains about 1,550 active warheads, but its nuclear arsenal and infrastructure are aging. The Pentagon plans to spend hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade to update and replace it.
Additionally, the report said, China is developing new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that would significantly improve its nuclear-capable missile forces, and it is also exploring the development of conventionally armed intercontinental-range missile systems. Has been.
“If developed and deployed, such capabilities would allow the PRC to launch conventional strikes against targets in the continental United States, Hawaii, and Alaska,” the report said, using the acronym of China’s formal name, the People’s Republic of China. “
The PRC continues to maintain the world’s leading hypersonic missile arsenal. Hypersonic weapons fly at five times the speed of sound and can maneuver and change trajectories during their glide phase, making them more difficult to defend against than ballistic missiles, which also fly at hypersonic speeds. Fly but travel along a set trajectory.
pla navy
According to the report, the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong (CV-17) made three deployments to the Philippine Sea in 2023, a record number for a Chinese carrier in a calendar year. The PLA Navy also conducted the first extended area deployment of its new Yushen-class amphibious assault ship.
The deployment shows that the PLA Navy continues to increase its ability to conduct missions beyond the first island chain that includes Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia and parts of the Philippines.
However, the senior official stressed, while the PLA has demonstrated some limited joint operational capabilities beyond the First Island Chain, its navy’s overseas activities generally do not involve its army or air force and do not involve combat operations. Are not included.
Based on the number of ships in its fleet, China has the world’s largest navy, but its numbers remained in line with last year’s assessment. The Chinese have more than 370 ships and submarines, of which more than 140 are considered major surface ships.
The report said that in terms of production of military ships, maritime weapons and electronic systems, the Chinese defense industry is “almost self-sufficient for all shipbuilding needs.”
Taiwan and Philippines
According to the report, increased Chinese military pressure against Taiwan could “continue to erode long-standing norms in and around the democratic island” in 2023.
Beijing has said it wants to be prepared to take control of the island by 2027, by force if necessary. China maintains a naval presence around Taiwan, and has stepped up incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone and conducted major military exercises nearby.
This month, China deployed dozens of navy and coast guard ships in the largest maritime exercises targeting Taiwan since the 1990s.
This week alone, China dispatched several military aircraft toward Taiwan, four of which crossed the midline of the Taiwan Strait, which forms an unofficial border between the two sides, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry.
Despite this increasingly aggressive behavior, the senior defense official told reporters that conflict with China over Taiwan was not “imminent or inevitable.”
“We think that today we have immunity that is real and strong. “We are doing a lot to keep it that way,” the official told reporters.
Tensions with the Philippines were also “significantly high” last year, the report said. Chinese naval vessels have used water cannon against Philippine ships and even rammed ships that were trying to resupply the Second Thomas Shoal.
Since late 2023, however, the Chinese military has reduced the number of risky aerial interceptions of US military aircraft, while continuing “unsafe maneuvers” near allied forces in the region, according to the report.
The change in behavior toward the US military appeared to coincide with diplomatic developments: President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to resume military-to-military communications in late 2023.
Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, warned that China’s aggressive stance toward Taiwan and the Philippines is likely to continue unless the United States and its allies bear Beijing’s cost- Benefits do not transcend the analysis.
“Any reduction in direct aggressive activity toward the United States is a temporary measure and should not be misinterpreted as Beijing’s grand strategy or a fundamental change in hostility toward the United States and its interests,” he told VOA. “
