Pentagon’s 2022 China Military Power Report Focuses on Growing CCP Global Bullying

ANALYSIS – The U.S. Defense Department’s annual report to Congress on China’s military power has just dropped, and it focuses a lot on China using its mushrooming military capabilities to increase its global coercion and bullying.

However, it also delves into the myriad other threats China poses to the United States, its allies, Taiwan and the entire global system.

These threats could potentially lead to a direct military conflict with the United States as early as next year, but increasingly so by 2027 and beyond. (RELATED: China Plans for Global Dominance)

The 2022 report calls the communist superpower a “pacing challenge” and the “most comprehensive and serious challenge to U.S. national security.”

I wish DoD would call China an adversary, enemy or threat, but I digress.

These reports follow on, and are similar to, the first-of-its-kind ‘Soviet Military Power’ reports initially produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in 1983 during the Reagan administration.

That report was then published annually until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The ‘China Military Power Report’ has been published since the early 2000s. And each year’s version has been increasingly more concerning. (RELATED: Will China Nuke Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellites?)

Here are the key takeaways and the conclusion from the 2022 report:

Key Takeaways 

Expanding PRC National Power to Transform International System. The PRC increasingly views the United States as deploying a whole-of-government effort meant to contain the PRC’s rise, which presents obstacles to its national strategy. The PRC’s strategy aims to achieve “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” by 2049 in a determined pursuit to amass its national power to transform an international system more favorable to the PRC’s political governance system and national interests.

Increasing PRC Military Coercion. Over the course of 2021, and as seen in 2022, the CCP has increasingly turned to the PLA as an instrument of statecraft in support of its national strategy and global ambitions. The report highlights that the PLA has adopted more dangerous, coercive and aggressive actions in the Indo-Pacific region.

Strengthening PLA Nuclear, Space and Counterspace Capabilities. The PRC has clearly stated its ambition to strengthen its “strategic deterrent,” and has continued to accelerate the modernization, diversification and expansion of its nuclear forces, as well as the development of its space and counterspace capabilities.

Intensifying Diplomatic, Economic, Political and Military Pressure Against Taiwan. The PLA will likely continue to increase military pressure — in concert with diplomatic, information and economic pressure — in an attempt to compel Taiwan toward unification.

Conclusion

This report illustrates how the Chinese Communist Party has frequently turned to the People’s Liberation Army in support of its global ambitions, and provides an assessment of PLA capabilities that underscores why the PRC represents the Defense Department’s pacing challenge.

In addition to continuing to monitor the PRC’s evolving military strategy, doctrine and force development, the United States – alongside allies and partners – will continue to urge China to be more transparent about its military modernization program. The Department remains focused on the operational concepts, capabilities and resources necessary for meeting this pacing challenge.

While the unclassified data and analysis in this report are good, the conclusions seem a bit weak to me, and “pacing challenge” is a feeble term for adversary, enemy or threat.

Keep in mind that China’s leader-for-life, Xi Jinping, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) which he leads as chairman, have three milestone years in mind for their military power expansion.

Those increasingly dangerous years are 2027, 2035 and 2049.

Per their own admissions, China plans to accelerate the integrated development of the country’s armed forces by 2027 and then achieve a “complete modernization” of its military by 2035. (RELATED: Brutal US War With China Over Taiwan is ‘Imminent,’ Experts Warn)

Per the report, and my own reporting, China “probably accelerated its nuclear expansion” last year, noting that DoD currently estimates the communist nation has more than 400 operational nuclear warheads today and could increase that number 300% to roughly 1,500 by that all-important 2035 marker year.

This will allow Xi and the CCP to achieve their national grand strategy goal to fully complete “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” by 2049.

Meanwhile, the other important year for China is 2027. And that year is just four years away.

Many experts believe China, once it fully integrates its new armed forces, could attempt to take or blockade Taiwan, the self-governing island nation and U.S. ally, by that year.

“If realized, this 2027 objective could give the PLA capabilities to be a more credible military tool for the CCP to wield as it pursues Taiwan reunification,” a senior U.S. defense official told reporters.

And this could create the most dangerous confrontation and conflict the world has seen since WWII. (RELATED: China’s Repression Comes to US – CCP Police Are in NYC)

This is why it is imperative that the U.S. and its allies immediately and aggressively focus on building their military capabilities and efforts to deter or, if needed, defeat China in any conventional military conflict.

This conflict may be here sooner than most think. ALD

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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