Revolution in Military Affairs: A New Guide for China's Military Modernisation

The Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) has become the biggest challenge to China's economic development and military modernisation at the turn of the new millennium. To the Chinese political and military leaders RMA is not only a new military theory, it also promises a new type of war of mass destruction. The Chinese leadership has genuine reasons to be worried. The countries most vigorously advancing RMA and most capable of bringing the theory into reality are all China's potential opponents. The US is particularly using RMA to consolidate its military superiority in the decades to come. [1] Worse still, for a long time to come the PLA will have very limited capabilities to deal with the war of mass destruction brought about by RMA, nor will it be able to achieve breakthroughs in military technology necessary for applying RMA in its own defence modernisation. It is likely that China may be left further behind, as RMA helps the superpower achieve a new qualitative leap in its power p...