China’s Military Modernization

As President Barack Obama was meeting with leaders from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) this week, U.S. satellite imagery confirmed China has deployed surface-to-air missiles on an island in the Paracel chain in the South China Sea. The Paracel island chain is claimed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan, and Vietnam. Though Beijing’s “island building” in the South China Sea have remained in the spotlight for months, few have acknowledged the military forces carrying out these actions, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and the fundamental and structural changes occurring within them.

On paper, the PLA stacks up pretty well when compared to the U.S. military, with about a million more active military members and similar scaled land forces. Beijing has also been recently investing heavily in its naval fleet and now has an estimated 200 more vessels than the United States and a new submarine program. Beijing attempted to show the world just how strong the PLA is during last September’s Military Parade, which marked the 70^th anniversary of the end of World War II and involved more than 12,000 troops, 500 pieces of military hardware, and 200 various aircraft types. But in a competition that historically favors quality over quantity, size doesn’t always matter—particularly in today’s technology driven warfare.