The U.S. Department of Defense has released its 2013 Annual Report to Congress on the state and development of China's military. The comprehensive report highlights that China has dramatically improved a wide-range of military capabilities including Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/D2), C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance), survivable long-range nuclear deterrence, nuclear submarines, guided missiles, stealth fighters, complex-environment information-warfare (IW), cyber warfare, space warfare, and civil-military integration.

A further in-depth assessment of China's military fortes is attempted by Professor Andrew Erickson of the Naval Defense College, highlighting China's nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines (SSBNs) and nuclear attack submarines, the world's only long-range anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBMs) with a range over 1,500 km，and development of multiple aircraft carriers with distant ""access points" in the form of agreements for refuelling, replenishment, crew rest, and low-level maintenance possibly in the Malacca, Lombok and Sunda Straits, together with world-class shipbuilding and nanotechnology capabilities.

The DoD Report nevertheless notes that China's military is primarily defensive, in particular over Taiwan and its other terrritorial claims in the East and South China Sea, as well as guarding its vital Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC). The latter, however, necessitates the expansion of China's blue water navy and its longer-range military projection, supported by the development of longer-range tranport planes.

The Report highlights the efforts of China's military to provide commong goods such as anti-priracy, UN peace-keeping operations, and confidence-builidng joint miliary exchanges and exercies, includng the United States and other non-allied nations.

The Report also refers to China's identification of the first two decades of the 21st century as a rare window of opportunity to grow "Comprehensive National Power" in attaining its status as a global power. It emphasizes the need for the United States to remain vigilant in managing US-China relations during China's trajectory to safeguard American interests as well as world peace and regional stability in the Asia Pacific.

Download Military and Security Developments involving the PRC 2013 – Annual Report to Congress

The following is its Exective Summary –

EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY

“The People’s Republic of China (PRC) continues to
pursue a long-term, comprehensive military modernization program designed to
improve the capacity of its armed forces to fight and win short-duration,
high-intensity regional military conflict. Preparing for potential conflict in
the Taiwan Strait appears to remain the principal focus and primary driver of
China’s military investment.

However, as China’s interests have grown and as it
has gained greater influence in the international system, its military
modernization has also become increasingly focused on investments in military
capabilities to conduct a wider range of missions beyond its immediate
territorial concerns, including counter-piracy, peacekeeping, humanitarian
assistance/disaster relief, and regional military operations. Some of these
missions and capabilities can address international security challenges, while
others could serve more narrowly-defined PRC interests and objectives,
including advancing territorial claims and building influence abroad.

To support the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s
(PLA) expanding set of roles and missions, China’s leaders in 2012 sustained
investment in advanced short- and medium-range conventional ballistic missiles,
land-attack and anti-ship cruise missiles, counter-space weapons, and military
cyberspace capabilities that appear designed to enable anti-access/area-denial
(A2/AD) missions (what PLA strategists refer to as “counter-intervention
operations”). The PLA also continued to improve capabilities in nuclear deterrence
and long-range conventional strike; advanced fighter aircraft; limited regional
power projection, with the commissioning of China’s first aircraft carrier, the
Liaoning; integrated air defences;
undersea warfare; improved command and control; and more sophisticated training
and exercises across China’s air, naval, and land forces.

During their January 2011 summit, U.S. President
Barack Obama and then-PRC President Hu Jintao jointly affirmed that a “healthy,
stable, and reliable military-to-military relationship is an essential part of
[their] shared vision for a positive, cooperative, and comprehensive U.S.-China
relationship.”

Within that framework, the U.S. Department of
Defense seeks to build a military-to-military relationship with China that is
sustained and substantive, while encouraging China to cooperate with the United
States, our allies and partners, and the greater international community in the
delivery of public goods.

As the United States builds a stronger foundation
for a military-to-military relationship with China, it also will continue to
monitor China’s evolving military strategy, doctrine, and force development and
encourage China to be more transparent about its military modernization
program. In concert with its allies and partners, the United States will
continue adapting its forces, posture, and operational concepts to maintain a
stable and secure Asia-Pacific security environment”.