China views the United States as a "competitor" and treats itself also as the "lone competitor", "capable of combining its economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system", said a Canada-based think tank.
Citing the detailed report, titled "Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2021," the International Forum for Rights and Security (IFFRAS) reported that "China's military strategy remains based on the concept of "active defense."
The report, however, also speculates if "China could be concerned that the US reemphasis on low-yield nuclear weapons in recent years indicates a lower threshold for nuclear use and could want to "de-escalate a nuclear conflict on its own terms by responding symmetrically or proportionately to limited US nuclear employment".
The People's Liberation Army's evolving capabilities and concepts continue to strengthen the China's ability to "fight and win wars" against a "strong enemy" (a likely euphemism for the United States), coerce Taiwan and rival claimants in territorial disputes, counter an intervention by a third party in a conflict along the PRC's periphery, and project power globally", the report said.
The report further stated that "China might worry that Washington could conduct a limited nuclear attack on China, while threatening a more massive nuclear attack should Beijing dare to retaliate with nuclear weapons. Given the US nuclear superiority, Chinese leaders might not be able to respond in kind."
That is a huge jump in analysis, particularly when the report, while basing its analysis on current data, laments the unavailability of concrete signals from the Chinese leadership about the real objective behind its strategic nuclear expansion, the report noted.
According to the report said that international analysts believe the Chinese "paramount leader seeks to achieve national unification with Taiwan by 2049" for which "the People's Liberation Army has been building up conventional forces to deter and defeat any conventional US military intervention of Chinese efforts to take over Taiwan".
Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.
The American Department of Defense (DoD) report admits China views the US as a "competitor" and treats itself also as the lone competitor "capable of combining its economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system", IFFRAS reported.
( With inputs from ANI )
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