Officially the Pentagon regards China as the number one target for military manoeuvres. China is developing its own new missiles, including cruise missiles, and buying powerful long range fighter aircraft, submarines and sophisticated navy missile destroyers from Russia. For the first time China is acquiring the ability to project military force well beyond its own shores. Regional power play China says it has no ambitions beyond the return of Taiwan, but many of its neighbours fear its plans for regional dominance go much further. Evan Medieros, an arms control expert at the Monterey Institute in California, says the key characteristic of China's military policy and procurement is uncertainty.
Nobody knows where China is going.
In Asia the old Cold War certainties have gone, replaced by a dangerous new state of flux. America's once unquestioned dominance in the region faces a growing challenge from a newly assertive and increasingly powerful China. How Washington handles that challenge will have bearing not just on its relationship with Beijing, but on the security and stability of the whole Asia Pacific region.