Is China a challenge to U.S. national security?

Abstract

China and the actions of its leadership have been increasingly seen as a challenge to U.S. national security. This belief is held in common by high-level state officials throughout their official statements as well as by the general public in polls about China’s perceived threat. This article seeks to examine the extent to which China poses as a challenge to U.S. national security, describe how the nation-state might likely do so, and how this threat may change over time. While China remains an active and largely peaceful member of the international community that is constantly evolving in terms of its own foreign policy, it currently has the capabilities to directly challenge U.S. homeland security as well as indirectly degrade U.S. foreign interests as well. Rather than through traditional military means, this threat China poses to U.S. homeland security stems from a rising level of economic influence within the U.S. domestic sphere, as well as a robust cyberwarfare and counter-space program that has the potential to damage U.S. civilian, military, and commercial sectors. However, China has become more and more adept at challenging the U.S. alliance network and overseas bases through both non-conventional and conventional military means, posing a threat to U.S. objectives of free trade as well as allied nations’ political integrity that may lead to direct conflict in the future.