Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that he is leading the country's economy and military to surpass the United States by 2050. The significant changes in the country's military advancements prove the leader's prediction.
The China-US Economic and Security Review Commission reported that China is progressing highly in terms of military capabilities. According to the annual congressional report of the commission released on Wednesday, the country has advanced hypersonic weapons, cyber abilities, and space defense. The commission updates the lawmakers of the annual developments in China.
The Chinese president is currently implementing a "joint" military model similar to America and other countries which mean that the branches of its military cooperate in providing military services to the country. The model aims to integrate information and resources essential to each branch security services.
Robin Cleveland, the commission's chairman, told reports on Tuesday that they are seeing a massive reorganization in China's military in order to provide more guidance from the top.
The commission included the developments to what they called the "partyificaton" of China. The changes in the country were aimed at widening the president and the Communist Party's influence over the major economic and security organizations in the country. According to critics, it gives President Xi a chance to use China's military power with great authority.
Abigail Grace, a China expert at the Center for a New American Security and President Trump's National Security Council former member, said that the new structural changes are enabling the party to assert more active and enduring control of military decision-making and operations. She added that it means that Chinese military modernization efforts are inseparable from revisionist aims by the county's Communist Party. She also claimed that the military is an instrument of the party to protect itself and not by the state.
According to reports, China increased its military budget this 2018 to $175 billion - an 8.1 percent increase compared to 2017. According to Adam Ni in his article for the National Interest, China is already making progress in developing drones, stealth warplanes, missiles, and more. He also wrote that the country is making great advancements in artificial intelligence and quantum computing that could give the country's military an edge over the technology used by the U.S. troops.
The commission, however, noted that the real advancement in China's military is in its hypersonic missiles that fly six times faster than the speed of sound.
