WASHINGTON — Bolstered by the development of a new stealth fighter, an aircraft carrier and a record number of space launches over the past year, China is on pace to achieve its goal of building a modern, regionally focused military by 2020, according to a Pentagon report.
The report, released Wednesday, said Beijing has closed critical technological gaps and is rapidly modernizing its military equipment, all with an eye toward preventing possible U.S. and allied intervention in a conflict with Taiwan.
It also warns that the military expansion could increasingly stretch to the western Pacific in a move to deny U.S. and allied access or movement there.
“The pace and scope of China’s sustained military investments have allowed China to pursue capabilities that we believe are potentially destabilizing to regional military balances, increase the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation and may contribute to regional tensions and anxieties,” said Michael Schiffer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for East Asia.
The report comes and the U.S. and China struggle to restore their strained and volatile relations amid ongoing worries about the largely unexplained military buildup, America’s continuing support for Taiwan, and persistent fractures over what are believed to be China-based cyber intrusions into American government and defence-related networks.
China froze military contacts with the U.S. last year in protest of an arms sale to Taiwan worth more than $6 billion. China claims the self-governing island democracy as its own territory, but Washington is committed to providing arms to Taiwan.
The Pentagon’s report acknowledges that political relations between China and Taiwan may be warming, but that has not slowed Beijing’s efforts to expand its military options to protect and deny allied intervention within the Taiwan Strait.
During the past year, China marked several dramatic advances, including the test flight of a new stealth fighter and recent sea trials of its first aircraft carrier. China refurbished the former Soviet carrier and completed the trials this month.
Schiffer said officials expect the carrier to become operational next year, but it will take longer than that to base aircraft on the ship. He added that China is working to build multiple carriers and support ships during the next decade.
Early this year, China staged a test flight of its new J-20 stealth fighter during former Defence Secretary Robert Gates’ visit to Beijing. At the time, Gates said China faces a “long road” before deploying the fighter in any numbers, and predicted a continuing “huge disparity” compared with America’s fleet of low-observable aircraft.
The Pentagon’s new report warned, however, that the new stealth fighter along with longer-range missiles and other military improvements could give Beijing the ability to strike regional air bases and other facilities.
It noted that China completed a record 15 space launches in 2010, including both civil and military flights.
On Wednesday, Schiffer said it is not solely the fighter, the carrier or any one program that raises worries, but the steady increase in military development and weaponry that could be destabilizing and “raise the blood pressure” of nations in the region.
China’s cyber activities have also been an increasing point of tension.
In 2010, the report said, a number of computer systems, including US networks, were the target of intrusions that appeared to originate in China. The breaches were aimed at stealing data, but they exhibit the same skills needed for more destructive network attacks.
The Pentagon estimates that China spent more than $160 billion for its military in 2010. U.S. defence spending for 2010 was about $550 billion, not including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Defence officials have urged China repeatedly to be more transparent about its intentions surrounding the military buildup, but the report also notes that Beijing continues to profess that the growth is peaceful.