Beijing will seek to increase its strategic depth by first trying to deny a possible enemy access to areas adjacent to China's borders and later it may seek to develop the capability to control these areas in time of conflict. Beijing will wish to achieve victory at some distance from its borders. This does not necessarily signal any aggressive intent by Beijing, but it could be perceived in this way. It would, therefore, be useful for Washington to broaden and deepen its military engagement with China. Discussions between the navies of the two nations should receive special emphasis.
China is committed to developing modern conventional military capabilities.
In the wake of Desert Storm, the Chinese made a commitment to developing the kinds of capabilities that enabled the coalition forces to achieve their overwhelming victory. The influence of RMA advocates is strong and growing. However, Chinese thinking emphasizes Information Warfare. There is little evidence of major attention paid to other dimensions of the RMA such as networking remote sensors and smart weapons and reducing central reliance on mass and maneuver. By 2015, China might deploy a force that could begin to mirror some of the U.S. military capabilities of the early 1990s and simultaneously be capable of challenging, in limited ways, the information systems of any adversary.