Even as today’s military-related headlines focus largely on developments in Venezuela, America’s defense community is keeping an unblinking eye on China.

On Wednesday, China’s People’s Liberation Army completed two days of military exercises in the waters off Taiwan.

The maneuvers were likely aimed at asserting its sovereignty over the island just days after the United States announced a package of arms sales to Taiwan — a move criticized sharply by Beijing, according to the Associated Press.

And last week, the Department of Defense released its annual update on the Chinese military, asserting that the Asian nation’s historic military building “has made the U.S. homeland increasingly vulnerable.”

“China maintains a large and growing arsenal of nuclear, maritime, conventional long-range strike, cyber, and space capabilities able to directly threaten Americans’ security,” the report noted.

“In 2024, Chinese cyberespionage campaigns such as Volt Typhoon burrowed into U.S. critical infrastructure, demonstrating capabilities that could disrupt the U.S. military in a conflict and harm American interests.”

For decades, China’s People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, has marshaled resources, technology and political will to achieve its vision of a world-class military. “The PLA is a key component of China’s ambition to displace the United States as the world’s most powerful nation,” according to the DOD report.

“The PLA measures its concepts and capabilities against the ‘strong enemy’ of the United States. Moreover, China’s top military strategy focuses squarely on overcoming the United States through a whole-of-nation mobilization effort that Beijing terms ‘national total war’.”

‘Projecting power worldwide’

China’s current military focus, according to the lengthy DOD report, is the First Island Chain that stretches from the Japanese archipelago to the Malay Peninsula in southwest Asia. The region is the “strategic center of gravity” for its regional goals.

The DOD’s China/military report to Congress states, optimistically, that under President Donald Trump’s leadership, relations between the U.S. and China are “stronger than they have been in many years” — adding that the department plans to build on those positive signs, focusing on stability and de-escalation.

At the same time, the report added, America’s military is “always ready and able” to defend U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific.

“We do not seek to strangle, dominate, or humiliate China.

“Rather, as laid out in President Trump’s National Security Strategy, we seek only to deny the ability of any country in the Indo-Pacific to dominate us or our allies. That means being so strong that aggression is not even considered, and that peace is therefore preferred and preserved.”

Trump is expected to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, next April in Beijing. In turn, Trump invited Xi to the White House for a state visit later in 2026.

In a Truth Social post last month, Trump wrote: “Our relationship with China is extremely strong!”

China’s intent for Taiwan reunification

China’s central goal — at least in the short term? Reclaiming Taiwan, which it considers a “breakaway province.”

“The PLA continues to make steady progress toward its 2027 goals, whereby the PLA must be able to achieve ‘strategic decisive victory’ over Taiwan, ‘strategic counterbalance’ against the United States in the nuclear and other strategic domains, and ‘strategic deterrence and control’ against other regional countries.

“In other words, China expects to be able to fight and win a war on Taiwan by the end of 2027.”

The PLA’s modernization is propelled by China’s defense spending and technological development.

“Since the first full year of Xi Jinping’s term as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, China’s announced defense budget has nearly doubled,” according to the report.

“China continues to accelerate its development of military technology, including in military artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, and hypersonic missiles.”

China’s tenuous partnership with Russia

The DOD report also identified a deepening strategic partnership between China and Russia, likely driven by shared interest in countering the United States.

That partnership has included combined military exercises and sharing of some military technologies.

But despite continued growth in their relationship, Beijing and Moscow remain unwilling to establish a formal defense alliance with mutual security guarantees, the DOD report asserts.

“China and Russia continue to harbor a mutual distrust of each other, which likely prevents cooperation on areas each side perceives as sensitive. China also has stopped short of providing Russia with lethal aid for use in its war against Ukraine.”

Countering the U.S. through AI, critical technologies — and targeting intelligence

The DOD’s report also emphasized China’s aggressive efforts to achieve global leadership in science and technology — focusing on emerging technologies such as AI, biotechnology, quantum technology, advanced semiconductors, and advanced energy generation and storage.

“China believes that advances in AI technology will be critical to a new round of industrial change and the next revolution in military affairs,” according to the report.

“However, in 2024, China’s AI sector remained constrained by its limited access to high-performance AI accelerators.”

The country, the DOD report noted, is now utilizing a series of strategies to overcome such limits.

Additionally, the PLS is developing and employing “a vast array of intelligence collection capabilities” to enhance its military readiness — targeting U.S. intellectual property and defense technology.

“China has a multi-faceted approach to undermining the U.S. through covert operations and clandestine actions — including economic espionage, cyber-intrusions, and the use of illegal agents.

“These activities, combined with China’s substantial investments in its military and intelligence apparatus, reveal a long-term strategy of preparing to counter the United States.”