NPR has broadcast the last in a seven-part series on China. The final installment looked at the country’s military growth:
The evidence of China’s military modernization is ample: double-digit increases for military spending since 1989; the rapid expansion of China’s cruise and ballistic missile force and the deployment of hundreds of missiles along China’s coast across from Taiwan; the rapid expansion of China’s submarine force and the modernization of the missiles those submarines carry; and last year, China’s destruction of one of its own satellites by a land-based missile, announcing China’s unexpected capability in anti-satellite warfare.
With its rapidly expanding economy, its growing thirst for energy and its own perception of itself as an emerging power, it makes perfect sense that China should modernize its military capabilities, says Ralph Cossa, director of the Pacific Forum, a think tank in Honolulu.
…Still, some in the United States are frightened. They see China’s expansion of its military as a direct challenge to the United States. Just peruse the titles of several new books: The Coming War with China, Showdown: Why China Wants War with the United States and China Shakes the World: A Titan’s Rise and Troubled Future.
