Who is the primary target of China's shiny, new military?
I've long noted that the Chinese Communist Party's primary objective is CCP dominance:
The Chinese Communist Party is setting up a committee to address all threats to party control of China. This blending of domestic and foreign threats is dangerous.
As I've noted, defense of the Chinese Communist Party is the Chinese military's primary job. The primacy of party over nation is clearest when you note that Russia's communists gave up large amounts of Russian territory to Germany in 1918 in order to preserve the new Bolshevik government.
So I have doubts that China intends to launch a war any time soon.
Is China getting ready for war against America, a neighbor, or its own people?
“The PLA remains fundamentally focused on upholding Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule rather than preparing for war,” wrote Timothy Heath, a longtime China expert with RAND, in the report, titled “The Chinese military’s doubtful combat readiness.”
As an aside, don't forget the PAP when you look at holding power against an angry population.
Well, not directly against its people--unless things get really bad. More like being nice and shiny to bolster pride and confidence that the CCP has erased the Century of Humiliation of Western exploitation. Except when reviving it is tactically useful for foreign policy or CCP rule, of course.
Still, whatever problems China would have successfully fighting America, if China thinks it can isolate the target--primarily I'm thinking of Taiwan--I suspect the PLA is good enough to win. And as that CNN article asks, how do you define a Chinese victory over Taiwan, as I discussed in Military Review?
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
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NOTE: I made the image with Bing.
