Features

April 1, 2008  

Contending with CHINA

The Defense Department’s new China Military Power Report, released in March, portrays China as a rising military power, but one whose intentions are unclear. Uncertainty over China’s future course and how that military power might be used is driving the U.S. to hedge against the unknown.

Lyle Goldstein examines how the U.S. Navy’s strategy should both reach out for a durable security partnership with China and also worry about worse-case scenarios from the Chinese Navy buildup.

Chris Griffin and Joe Lin examine China’s extraordinary progress in space and missile capabilities and ask whether the U.S. should rethink its transatlantic partnerships given that much of China’s space technology is gained via Europe.

And Bill Matthews analyzes the Air Force’s continued quest for more fighter aircraft, based largely on what it sees as China’s challenge to its air dominance.