[Salon] Pentagon says China’s ‘historic’ military build-up has made US ‘increasingly vulnerable’

[Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com>]

Pentagon says China’s ‘historic’ military build-up has made US ‘increasingly vulnerable’

America does ‘not seek to strangle, dominate, or humiliate China’ but PLA’s growing arsenal is a direct security threat, report states

SCMP

Mark Magnierin New York

Published: 10:21am, 24 Dec 2025Updated: 3:15pm, 24 Dec 2025

Washington is not pursuing a forceful strategy towards China but Beijing’s “historic” military build-up is making the US increasingly vulnerable, the Pentagon said in its annual report to Congress on military developments related to China.

“We do not seek to strangle, dominate, or humiliate China … We seek only to deny the ability of any country in the Indo-Pacific to dominate us or our allies,” the 100-page report released on Tuesday said.

“China’s historic military build-up has made the US homeland increasingly vulnerable,” it added, citing Beijing’s growing arsenal of nuclear, maritime and conventional long-range strike, cyber and space capabilities “able to directly threaten Americans’ security”.

The readout, which dropped late in the day during a holiday week, argued that America’s goal is to be so strong that aggression by its adversaries is not even considered, “and that peace is therefore preferred and preserved”.

In keeping with an oft-repeated theme by the Trump administration, the report argued that US-China military relations had rarely been in better shape than under Washington’s current leadership.

“Under President [Donald] Trump’s leadership, relations between the United States and China are stronger than they have been in many years,” the report said, adding that the Pentagon would “support efforts” to build on that momentum with the People’s Liberation Army.

“We will do so in part by opening a wider range of military-to-military communications with the PLA with a focus on strategic stability as well as de-confliction and de-escalation, more broadly. We will also seek other ways to make clear our peaceful intentions.”

The report points to China’s growing capability as a cause for concern and potential instability. It touts Beijing’s foremost military strategy as overcoming the US through “national total war”, using a whole-of-nation mobilisation campaign.

Titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China”, the report said the Chinese military continued to make steady progress towards three 2027 goals: to be able to achieve “strategic decisive victory” over Taiwan; to gain “strategic counterbalance” against the US in nuclear and other strategic domains; and “strategic deterrence and control” against other regional countries.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-ruled island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.

While the annual report notes that Beijing and Moscow continue to deepen their ties, possibly “driven by a shared interest in countering the United States”, it says that cooperation is undercut by their mutual distrust.

The Tuesday report came a few weeks after the release of the US National Security Strategy – also dropped without much fanfare on a Friday – which was less focused on China than on domestic issues and what the administration has termed the “Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine” that emphasises the strategic importance of the western hemisphere.

Analysts said Tuesday’s report appeared to have been put together quickly. It lacks a table of contents, and some sections seem to be dated. It cites, for instance, tepid relations between China and North Korea “with minimal high-level exchanges”, without mentioning that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un featured prominently at China’s showcase military parade in early September.

That said, the report provides insight into how the Pentagon and the White House see bilateral relations, according to analysts.

“The tone is notably constructive towards China, stressing that bilateral relations are ‘stronger’ than they have been in years,” said Jeremy Chan, senior analyst with the Eurasia Group.

“While this claim is dubious, it is also a revealing signal of how Trump views his policy towards China and his reluctance to press any claims with Beijing that might disrupt the detente reached in Busan [South Korea] in October.”

The report recognises China’s military ambitions and steady progress but does not attempt to project too far into the future, added Chan, a former official in the US consulate in Shenyang, Liaoning province.

“It is only a matter of time until China’s power projection goes global,” he said. “This recognition of China’s expanding military capabilities will have potentially far reaching implications for US defence commitments in the western Pacific.”

Mark Magnier

Before joining the Post in Washington, Mark worked in China, India and Japan for the Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times and was a Knight-Wallace journalism fellow. He’s covered economic, social and political issues throughout Asia and conflicts in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, including weeks spent camping under Saddam Hussein’s bridges.