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Introduction

The People's Republic of China (PRC) is seen by many as an economic powerhouse with the world's largest standing military that has the potential to translate economic power into the military sphere.

The Western order

For China's leaders, the economy is the most important factor determining future military power. The director of the political department of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Guangzhou Military Region described national power as a combination of economic strength and the "level of defense modernization." Chinese leaders believe that economic growth will stagnate if resources are poured into military modernization at the expense of broader economic development.

Bretton Woods, 1994

It also means that domestic stability must be ensured because no foreign country or banking house will invest in an unstable political environment. When Chinese military and civilian leaders claim that their priority is economic growth and stability, they mean it; the primary mission of the PLA and the People's Armed Police (PAP) is internal security and stability.

American power

Potential military power is derived from a complicated set of factors including the numbers and types of forces; level of economic development; technological characteristics of weapons and equipment; discipline; morale; training; combat experience; command, control and leadership;geography; industrial capacity; national resources; and the national will to

More liberal than imperial

Approximately 1 million reservists and some 15 million militia members back them up. This manpower alone makes the PRC a very significant military power. With a population of 1.2 billion people, China also has a potential manpower base of another 200 million males fit for military service available at any time.

Success of emerging nations

Chinese term for hegemony means nothing to those countries that are directly threatened by China's military might. Mongolia, India, Vietnam, and the various other claimants to the Spratly Islands, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia, and Burma understand very well what hegemony means.

The Marshall Plan

The PLA's conventional military force cannot project itself beyond China's periphery; the economy is fragile; the location is geostrategic in a continental sense, but regionally and in a global sense only if China can project sufficient naval force; and the nuclear arsenal is a minimal deterrent. Lees really gets at the potential for becoming a superpower; his argument that China is a superpower is not accepted by many of those who "watch China."

Financial assistance

For China's leaders, the economy is the most important factor determining future military power. This approach is not surprising from a country that is ruled by a communist party. In the Chinese Communist Party's publication, Qiu Shi, the director of the political department of the PLA's Guangzhou Military Region characterized the components of national power as a combination of economic strength and the "level of defense modernization" (guofang xiandaihua shuiping).

Japan and other Eastern Nations

For Japan leaders, the economy is the most important factor determining future military power. This approach is not surprising from a country that is ruled by a communist party. In the Chinese Communist Party's publication, Qiu Shi, the director of the political department of the PLA's Guangzhou Military Region characterized the components ...