The United States Department of Defense issued a report titled 2022 China Military Power Report on Tuesday where it called China a “challenge to our national security and a free and open international system.” The report also examined how China uses Pakistan to display its military strength.
A senior US defence official told the reporters that China’s ambitions and intentions are clear. “It’s important to understand the contours of [Peoples’ Liberation Army] modernization to include their thinking about what the PLA’s way of war would look like, to kind of survey their current activities and modernizing capabilities and assess their future military modernization goals”, he said.
The official further said that an important element of China’s strategy “is a determined pursuit to amass and expand its national power to transform — at least — aspects of the international system to make it more favorable to the PRC’s political system and its national interests.”
The report is primarily a discussion of the military aspects of China and offers insights into how the PLA views the future of warfare.
The report argues that China relies on its partners to project its military power and economic strength. The report said China considers Pakistan as its “strategic partner” in every sense of the word.
The report states that in the past five years, China has expanded its relationship with its two main partners, Russia and Pakistan. It said that China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to build a coast and a pipeline network, is a series of “strategic checkpoints” that China will use to further its influence and reach.
China is also using the BRI to establish and maintain symbiotic relations with other countries, the report said.
The report also mentioned the suicide attack on Chinese nationals in Pakistan in 2021 where at least 10 were killed and 26 were wounded. China used this incident to establish a mutual anti-terror front and further its military reach into Pakistan.
The report also examined how China helped Pakistan in launching a satellite into space. China is also following its policy of helping the Pakistani forces in guarding the various BRI projects.
The report also mentioned the various military drills between Chinese and Pakistani forces. Beijing also supplied the Pakistani military with unmanned drones and trained its forces in using the latest, top-notch military equipment.