Perhaps the most worrying news out of the People's Republic of China is its rapid military expansion. A headline in The Daily Telegraph reads: " Beijing 's Military Will Soon Match Its Rivals, Say Experts" (Sept. 29, 2008). Defense correspondent Thomas Harding further wrote that "China is rapidly developing a highly modern military that will be the equal of Western armies" (ibid.).

Christopher Foss, editor of Jane's Armour and Artillery, related that "China is developing a modern, highly manoeuvrable force able to operate anywhere as well as, if not better than, Western armies." By 2015 the expectation is that China will possess six Jin-class submarines with the capacity "of firing the JL2 ballistic nuclear missile that could threaten both the western and eastern American seaboards" (ibid.).