WASHINGTON — The Chinese military is in the midst of a “historic military buildup” that has made the U.S. homeland “increasingly vulnerable,” according to the latest edition of a Pentagon report on the capabilities of the Chinese military, presenting a challenge to President Donald Trump’s plans for new limitations on U.S., Chinese and Russian nuclear arsenals.
The congressionally mandated report, posted on the Pentagon website Tuesday, is the first version issued during the second Trump administration. It describes a Chinese military that is increasingly sophisticated and resilient, wary of large-scale agreements with the U.S. and learning lessons from Russia’s setbacks in Ukraine as it increases pressure on Taiwan.
And while the report notes China and Russia continue to deepen their strategic partnership, “almost certainly driven by a shared interest in countering the United States,” that cooperation is hindered by both sides harboring a “mutual distrust” of each other.
Experts have warned that China is outpacing the U.S. on the development of hypersonic weapons. Trump’s planned “Golden Dome” system is intended to defend against those and other innovative threats, as well as more traditional ballistic missiles.
The most recent edition of the report, published in December 2024 by the Biden administration, warned that China was the only competitor to the U.S. that has “the intent and, increasingly, the capacity to reshape the international order.” It emphasized the importance of meeting the challenge of China’s “increasingly capable military.”
During the first Trump administration, a September 2020 iteration of the report found that Beijing was engaged in “a determined pursuit of political and social modernity that includes far-ranging efforts to expand China’s national power, perfect its governance systems, and revise the international order.”
The report’s release follows the issuance of the National Security Strategy, which focused less on the threat from China than on the Western Hemisphere and domestic issues. The Biden administration’s 2022 National Defense Strategy defined China as the main geopolitical “pacing challenge” for the U.S. military in terms of military competition.
Reuters earlier reported on the findings of a draft version of the report, which has been required since the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2000. The Defense Department issues a classified version of its findings to Congress and releases an unclassified summary to the public.
