Forging China's Military Might: A New Framework for Assessing Innovation

Experts examine how innovation and technology are transforming China’s defense industry.

Among the most important issues in international security today are the nature and the global implications of China’s emergence as a world-class defense technology power. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Chinese defense industry has reinvented itself by emphasizing technological innovation and technology. This reinvention and its potential effects, both positive and negative, are attracting global scrutiny. Drawing insights from a range of disciplines, including history, social science, business, and strategic studies, Tai Ming Cheung and the contributors to Forging China's Military Might develop an analytical framework to evaluate the nature, dimensions, and spectrum of Chinese innovation in the military and broader defense spheres.

Forging China's Military Might provides an overview of the current state of the Chinese defense industry and then focuses on subjects critical to understanding short- and long-term developments, including the relationship among defense contractors, regulators, and end-users; civil-military integration; China’s defense innovation system; and China’s place in the global defense economy. Case studies look in detail at the Chinese space and missile industry.

Tai Ming Cheung is director of the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation at the University of California, San Diego, and the leader of its project on the study of innovation and technology in China. He is author of Fortifying China: The Struggle to Build a Modern Defense Economy.