China’s Quest for Military Supremacy

China’s military has entered a new era. It has acquired modern weapons to rival the world’s finest, undergone a massive restructuring under Xi Jinping, and been on the frontlines of territorial disputes with Japan, India, Vietnam, and the Philippines. It is readying forces to be able to seize Taiwan sometime in the next decade. It aims to be a ＂world-class＂ military on par with the United States.

China’s Quest for Military Supremacy provides a broad and accessible exploration of Chinese military power, including relations between the Chinese Communist Party and its army, the strategic worldview of Chinese leaders, military strategy and resourcing, conventional and nuclear modernization, military diplomacy and coercion, preparations for war, and the People’s Liberation Army’s emerging global role. It also identifies the challenges facing China’s military and shows how its focus on supremacy in the region means that it is not yet prepared to fight with the same lethality beyond Asia. Different futures are possible, and the book concludes with a preview of what it might take for a truly ＂world-class＂ Chinese military to take the global stage.

Dr. Joel Wuthnow is a senior research fellow in the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the U.S. National Defense University. He also serves as an adjunct professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. His research focuses on Chinese foreign and security affairs, the People’s Liberation Army, and strategic developments in East Asia. His recent books include Crossing the Strait: China’s Military Prepares for War with Taiwan (2022), Gray Dragons: Assessing China’s Senior Military Leadership (2022), and The PLA Beyond Borders: Chinese Military Operations in Regional and Global Context (2021). Prior to joining NDU, Dr. Wuthnow was a China analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses and a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University, an M.Phil. in Modern Chinese Studies from Oxford University, and an A.B. in public and international affairs from Princeton University.

Dr. Phillip C. Saunders is director of the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs at the U.S. National Defense University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies. He also serves as an adjunct instructor at the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Saunders is co-author with David Gompert of The Paradox of Power: Sino-American Strategic Restraint in an Era of Vulnerability (2011) and has edited or co-edited nine books on Asian security issues. Prior to joining NDU, Dr. Saunders directed the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and served as an officer in the United States Air Force. He holds an A.B in history from Harvard College and a M.P.A. and Ph.D. in public and international affairs from Princeton University.