China has always followed the U.S. military’s strategic as well as operational innovations. That is an important basis for its emergence as a rival of the American armed forces in the distant future. That very fact also bothers the U.S. military. Reading China’s latest White Paper (“China’s National Defense in 2010”), once again, convinces one about the commitment and resolve of its leaders to close the power gap between China and the U.S. military. Exactly when that gap will be closed is matter of guesswork: the optimists (from the PRC’s point of view) give it another twenty or so years, while the pessimists assign a longer period of catching up.
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