Special to WorldTribune.com

Bill Gertz, Washington Free Beacon

China’s military made substantial strides in building modern armed forces but remains fundamentally weak due to problems with combat capabilities, Party controls, and corruption, according to a congressional study made public Wednesday.

Chinese military gains over the past several decades are “impressive overall, and the [People’s Liberation Army] is clearly becoming an increasingly professional and capable fighting force,” states the report done for Congress’ bipartisan U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. …

The 201-page report, written for the commission by seven China experts at the Rand Corporation, stated that … : The central problem for PLA combat capability is an inability to conduct joint ground, air, and sea military operations, a key to conducting operations outside China’s land mass. …

China is using military exchanges with the Pentagon to improve its ability to fight a conflict against the United States and find weaknesses in U.S. forces, the study said. The study also raised the possibility that Chinese military writing on the weaknesses could be used for deception but said it is unlikely because producing so much false information would confuse and mislead PLA officers.

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