“The US and China face a critical need to improve their understanding of how each nation is developing its military power, and how to avoid forms of military competition that could lead to rising tension or conflict between the two states. One key tool in building this understanding is to create an unclassified dialogue on the military developments in each country, and as to the size of each country’s current and planned military forces. The Burke Chair has developed a detailed analysis of the unclassified data on the trends in Chinese military forces since 1990, examining how these trends interact with the trends in Chinese military spending and strategy. This paper is written by Nicholas S. Yarosh – who carried out the detailed force analysis – and by and Anthony H. Cordesman. It is entitled Chinese Military Modernization and Force Development: A Western View.”