China’s Military Build-up in the Early Twenty-first Century: From Arms Procurement to War-fighting Capability

Since the late 1990s, China’s military arsenal has been dramatically modernised.
However, the actual military value of the newly developed systems has yet to be
clarified. This study attempts to do so, on the basic assumption that technological military progress per se is not sufficient to increase military strength. Instead of evaluating arms development in technological terms, it therefore adopts an alternative approach to consider its adaptability to the country’s strategic situation.
To this end, the study employs the concepts of military procurem ent and
military readiness, and makes two assumptions. First, the value of a weapon system is measured by its suitability to the country’s military, economic and technological conditions, and the degree to which it is supplied to the military in the requir ed quantities, timeframe and with the appropriate sustaining support. Second, the country’s ability to meet these requirements depends to a large extent on conditions related to the procurement process.
Exploring China's recent military procurement approaches, the study finds that
the relationship between China’s strategic conditions and its procurement efforts tends to be tenuous, China’s inclination towards self-reliance is strengthening, and the
technological ambition of its military procurement is ever -increasing. Under these conditions, the paper concludes that in remote and complex conflicts, China’s military procurement process could reduce the actual military value of the newly developed weapon systems.