China’s quest to transform the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into a “world-class military” by midcentury will upend Asia’s strategic balance and severely challenge U.S. regional strategy. Chinese military modernization, sustained since the 1990s, furnishes Beijing with warfighting options that were unavailable to it just a decade ago. China’s armed forces will be expected to command the air and the seas, project power, and wage a far wider range of wars against rivals large and small, near and far.