| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Despite the dramatic growth of China's military power since the early 1990s, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), as all branches of China's armed forces are collectively known, remains overstretched as it seeks to address the wide range of missions it is called upon to perform. "China threat" theorists worry that the PLA poses a more significant challenge to the United States and China's neighbors than it did twenty years ago, and they are right. Yet the Chinese military is far from able to successfully carry out all its most pressing military tasks within China's borders and in its immediate neighborhood, and has only begun to project significant force beyond the Asia-Pacific.1 The real test for the PLA will be how adept it proves to be at bringing together new weapon systems, equipment, and formations in response to one or more serious instances of wartime or peacetime contingencies-a broad set of requirements the Chinese have dubbed "Diversified Military Tasks."2
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