| Summary/Abstract |
For more than a decade, China’s military modernization has cast a shadow across the Indo-Pacific. For instance, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has fielded a variety of missiles and aircraft that have heightened the vulnerability of the United States, its allies, and its partners to conventional precision strikes. Moreover, an expanding fleet of surface vessels, amphibious platforms, and submarines could eventually provide Beijing with the ability to seize territory it covets and sustain military operations far beyond its neighborhood. These and other investments have not only raised questions about Washington’s ability to deter the use of force against frontline states, but also created doubts whether the United States could defeat an assault if deterrence were to fail.Footnote
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