COVID-19 pandemic that brought challenges for the PRC's diplomatic, cultural, and economic influence abroad. PRC leadership also took diplomatic measures to manage increased global concern about PRC rhetorical and diplomatic alignment with Russia before, immediately following, and during the war on Ukraine, as well as concern for the PRC's growing assertive and coercive economic and military actions. PRC leaders continue to believe that global trends, especially perceived U.S. decline, are generally conducive to their long-term interests.
As PRC leadership views a divided China as a weak China, they argue that "full reunification"—including the resolution of the 'Taiwan question' by 2049 and solidifying the PRC's "overall jurisdiction" over Hong Kong—is one of the fundamental conditions of national rejuvenation. Beijing views as an imperative that China field a "world-class" military by 2049 that can "fight and win" and "resolutely safeguard" the country's sovereignty, security, and development interests. In support of this goal, on 26 December 2020 the National People's Congress passed revisions to the PRC's National Defense Law, which broadened the legal justification for PLA mobilization to include defense of China's "development interests." The codification of this language in PRC law is intended to add legitimacy to the use of military force to safeguard the PRC's overseas interests.
China's leaders claim national rejuvenation requires the PRC to "take an active part in leading the reform of the global governance system" as many rules and norms were established, in the PRC's view, during a time of PRC weakness and without the PRC's consultation and input. The Party views aspects of the prevailing international rules-based system as constraining the PRC's strategic ambitions and incompatible with its sovereignty, security, political preferences, and development interests. To the PRC's leaders, revisions are necessary to accommodate the PRC's development and should reflect the CCP's preferred transformation in the distribution of power to forge an external environment more favorable to the PRC's political governance system and national interests.
Key Objectives and Milestones. For decades, the PRC's leaders have framed their pursuit of modernity and power as advancing China along a specific trajectory, with the PRC’s centenary in 2049 serving as the target for achieving national rejuvenation and becoming a "great modern socialist country." From the PRC’s perspective, the PRC is a developing nation that must transition into a "fully developed and highly advanced" socialist society, and this trajectory involves the Party leadership shepherding the PRC through different stages of gradual but systematic modernization and development. The Party demarcates the stages of the PRC's strategy with milestones accompanied by objectives and priorities determined by the Party's long-term planning processes.
Reflecting on the PRC's progress at the 19th Party Congress in 2017, Xi declared that China had assumed "...a leading position in terms of economic and technological strength, defense capabilities, and comprehensive national strength" and, therefore, "crossed the threshold into a new era." Xi's declaration that the PRC had entered a "New Era" was not a change in strategic objectives, but an important signal of confidence that the PRC's progress was sufficient to tackle
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OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China
