China’s Military Modernization

Space, Cyber, and Autonomous Systems and Impacts on Indo-Pacific Security

On June 22, 2022, the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) held a briefing for the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) on how Indo-Pacific allies and partners assess China’s military modernization, with emphasis on developments of space, cyber, and autonomous systems capabilities, and how the United States and its partners and allies can collectively respond.

NBR has been conducting a multi-year study and track 1.5 dialogue assessing allied perceptions of China’s military modernization and steps the United States can take with allies to counter Chinese advances. The report from year one has been published: Meeting China’s Military Challenge: Collective Responses of U.S. Allies and Partners. This year’s report will focus on emerging technologies: space, cyber, and autonomous systems.

NBR’s experts provided perspectives from Taiwan, Japan, India, Vietnam, and Australia on China’s capability developments and deployments which present the greatest threats to their security and assessed the implications of China’s emerging capabilities for the United States’ ability to achieve operational advantage and project power. Experts also discussed the benefits of deeper, more meaningful U.S. relationships with existing allies and partners and offered recommendations for joint (U.S.) or collective responses.

Participants

Panelists

Bates Gill, Professor of Asia-Pacific Security Studies and Head of the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia

Yisuo Tzeng, Director of Research at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei, Taiwan

Nguyen The Phuong, PHD Candidate in Maritime Security and Naval Affairs at UNSW Canberra

Rajeswari (Raji) Pillai Rajagopalan, Director of the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology, and Distinguished Fellow & Head of the Nuclear and Space Policy Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, India.

Yuka Koshino, Research Fellow for Security and Technology Policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies London, United Kingdom

Moderator

Josh Nezam, Director of Congressional Affairs, The National Bureau of Asian Research