the post-Mao reform era and particularly after the end of the Cold War, the Party's leaders recognized their socialist system was—and would remain over the long-term—an underlying source of tension with the West. Given the Party's ambitions to "restore" the PRC's place in the world and their assessment of the PRC's relative weakness via-a-vis rival states, CCP leaders recognized the PRC's growing strength could threaten to aggravate tensions with others without careful management. Deng Xiaoping's reputed approach to this dilemma, as attributed by other Party leaders, was for China to, "hide our capacities and bide our time, be good at maintaining a low profile; and never claim leadership." Although the PRC's leaders have consistently pursued national rejuvenation as their goal, they have demonstrated a degree of strategic adaptability to seize opportunities and manage threats to their overall strategic objectives.
Over time, the PRC has characterized China’s view of strategic competition in terms of a rivalry among powerful nation states, most importantly the United States, as well as a clash of opposing ideological systems. The PRC's leaders have indicated they view competition as entailing aspects of cooperation and conflict and that the Party would need to be adaptable, flexible, and above all patient. The PRC's leaders have also offered a view of competition based on relative levels of economic, technological, and military power. Speaking to the CCP Central Committee in 2013, Xi remarked that the Party needed to "appreciate" that "developed Western nations" would continue to possess "real, long-term advantages" over China in the economic, technological, and military domains. Xi argued that China would need to "prepare for a long period of cooperation and of conflict between these two social systems in each of these domains." Xi also alluded to the core elements of "national rejuvenation" as the PRC's approach to this competition. Xi stated, "Most importantly, we must concentrate our efforts on bettering our own affairs, continually broadening our comprehensive national power, improving the lives of our people, building a socialism that is superior to capitalism, and laying the foundation for a future where we will win the initiative and have the dominant position."
CCP Views of Geostrategic Shifts. In the past two years, General Secretary Xi has presented his thoughts on the PRC's strategic environment on numerous occasions. In 2020, CCP leaders, including Xi himself, convened several meetings on "growing risks" and, in the communique following the 5th Plenum in October 2020, stressed that the PRC is on the brink of "changes unseen in a century," but also that China would benefit from a "profound adjustment in the international balance of power." In his CCP 100th anniversary speech, Xi asserted that, as the world experienced "once-in-a-century changes," China had to adopt "a holistic approach to national security that balances development and security imperatives" and implement "the national rejuvenation." In his 2022 New Year’s speech, Xi stated that China needed to "remain mindful of potential risks" while maintaining "strategic focus and determination."
Since just prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, PRC leaders have consistently characterized China’s security environment as undergoing intense changes and viewed the international order as shifting toward a multipolar system more commensurate with the PRC’s development. The Party views a shift toward a multipolar system as consistent with its perception of global power trends. This shift is vital for the PRC to advance its strategy, perceiving U.S. power as a constraint that
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OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China
