Nerd Analysis: China's Military, Taiwan, the Projection of Chinese Power

Read the new Pentagon report first.

Check out analysis from Dignified Rant.

Then take a look at this paper by Professor Emeritus Ellis Joffe, who taught Chinese affairs at Hebrew University.

Here's an observation that as comfortable as a porcupine corset: although China has other objectives for its military, "Taiwan remains the Chinese army’s main mission." Well, that's just great.

As for those other military objectives, they're not exactly made of puppies and cupcakes either:

Now the Chinese admirals apparently want to move beyond defensive perimeters and to position the navy as the prime military supporter of China's aspiration to gain recognition as a great power. This was an angle highlighted by Chinese comments on the dispatch of Chinese warships off the Somalia coast to participate in international efforts to protect shipping from pirates.

More important have been renewed reports that the navy is embarking on a program to build aircraft carriers--an issue that has been unresolved for years. If the Chinese go ahead, it is clear that the mission of their aircraft carriers will not be to defend China against the U.S. or to protect sea lanes in wartime. The mission, at immense cost, will be to augment China’s dominant political and military presence in the region and to bolster its international prestige.