Concern has grown in Congress and elsewhere since the 1990s about China's military modernization. The topic is an increasing factor in discussions over future required U.S. Navy capabilities. Several of the U.S. Navy's most expensive acquisition programs, as well as Navy initiatives for homeporting ships and for training sailors, are for developing or maintaining capabilities that could be useful or critical in countering improved Chinese maritime military capabilities in coming years. The issue addressed in this report is as follows: How should China's military modernization be factored into decisions about U.S. Navy programs. Several elements of China's military modernization have potential implications for future required U.S. Navy capabilities. These include theater-range ballistic missiles (TBMs), land- attack cruise missiles (LACMs), anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs), surface-to- air missiles (SAMs), land-based aircraft, naval mines, submarines, surface combatants, amphibious ships, nuclear weapons, and possibly high-power microwave (HPM) devices. China's naval limitations or weaknesses include capabilities for operating in waters more distant from China, joint operations, C4ISR, long-range surveillance and targeting systems, anti-air warfare (AAW), antisubmarine warfare (ASW), mine countermeasures (MCM), and logistics. Observers believe a near-term focus of China's military modernization is to field a force that can succeed in a short-duration conflict with Taiwan and act as an anti-access force to deter U.S. intervention or delay the arrival of U.S. forces, particularly naval and air forces, in such a conflict. Some analysts speculate that China may attain a capable maritime anti-access force by about 2010. China's naval modernization has potential implications for required U.S. Navy capabilities in terms of preparing for a conflict in the Taiwan Strait, maintaining U.S. Navy presence and military influence in the Western Pacific, and countering Chinese SLBMs.


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