ABSTRACT
China watchers worldwide have made a great deal of the PLA’s modernization efforts over the past decade and a half, a development that coincided with the rise of China as one of the major global economic powers and, consequently, greater assertiveness on Beijing’s part. As the beneficiary of years of double-digit growth in annual defense expenditure, the PLA embarked on a program to transform itself into a modern military capable of meeting various contingencies, including multiple scenarios involving Taiwan. All services modernized their equipment through the acquisition of advanced weapons from abroad (the main sources being Russia and Ukraine) and a rapidly expanding military-industrial complex at home.
