Wuthnow, Joel and Phillip C. Saunders (2025) China’s Quest for Military Supremacy. Polity Press.
China’s military has entered a new era. It has acquired modern weapons to rival the world’s finest, undergone a massive restructuring under Xi Jinping, and been on the frontlines of territorial disputes with Japan, India, Vietnam, and the Philippines. It is readying forces to be able to seize Taiwan sometime in the next decade. It aims to be a “world-class” military on par with the United States.
China’s Quest for Military Supremacy provides a broad and accessible exploration of Chinese military power, including relations between the Chinese Communist Party and its army, the strategic worldview of Chinese leaders, military strategy and resourcing, conventional and nuclear modernization, military diplomacy and coercion, preparations for war, and the People’s Liberation Army’s emerging global role. It also identifies the challenges facing China’s military and shows how its focus on supremacy in the region means that it is not yet prepared to fight with the same lethality beyond Asia. Different futures are possible, and the book concludes with a preview of what it might take for a truly “world-class” Chinese military to take the global stage.
Back of the book
Précis
The purpose of China’s Quest for Military Supremacy is explained in the Introduction this way:
This book chronicles the development of Chinese military power in the new era. The general aim is to provide national security practitioners, students, and general readers with enough knowledge about how the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] functions as an institution – its capabilities, structure, and operations – to place recent developments in context, understand how the military instrument supports the strategic goals of the CCP [Chinese Communist Party], and more effectively develop and analyze policies and strategies.
p. 2
Wuthnow and Saunders argue in China’s Quest for Military Supremacy that, “The main contention in this book is that the PLA is stronger and more confident today than at any other point it its history, although it also has intrinsic flaws that neither technology nor money will solve, and that create vulnerabilities should the PLA ever be ordered to combat” (p. 3).
Ponderings
A comprehensive, yet not overly detailed study of China’s military development. Coming in at just over 200 pages of content (i.e. not counting end matter such as notes and index), China’s Quest for Military Supremacy is a very approachable read that hits many key themes (Party, Threat, Strategy and Resources, Forces, Taiwan and Global Reach) for understanding. In China’s Quest for Military Supremacy, Wuthnow and Saunders do not quite make the PLA out to be a 10-foot tall untouchable gorilla, but neither do they shortchange the threat.
Wargaming connection
Given the authors of China’s Quest for Military Supremacy want to deliver, “enough knowledge…to place recent developments in context” wargamers likely will find the book useful for the background of a potential conflict though not detailed enough for order of battle development or the like. Reading China’s Quest for Military Supremacy ahead of playing a wargame almost certainly will enhance a player’s understanding of the context. For a wargame on conflict with the PLA there are several options—some of the more recent are listed below:
- For a grand tactical level wargame from a US perspective focused on Joint Force capabilities, see Sebastian Bae’s Littoral Commander: Indo-Pacific from The Dietz Foundation.
- For a grand tactical-level wargame on combat from a Chinese perspective, see Joint All Domain Operation from War Drum Games.
- For a naval-focused grand tactical (nee operational) wargame on situations in the South China Sea from a US perspective, see Breaking the Chains 2.0 from Compass Games.
- For an campaign-level wargame on an invasion of Taiwan from a US-perspective, see Next War: Taiwan from GMT Games.
- For a wargame that shows the evolving global reach of the PLA, see Red Dragon Green Crescent Deluxe Edition from Decision Games.
Feature image courtesy sinodefenceforum.com
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