In an article in Global Times, Chinese military expert Song Xiaojun discussed three major changes in the Chinese military in the last ten years. First, anti-China forces and separatist forces are rampant, e.g. the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia in 1999, the U.S. and China aircraft collision in 2001, and the "China threat theory" that has swept the world. Second, ordinary Chinese people, especially young people and Internet users, are concerned about military defense. Third, the rapid modernization of China’s weapons has attracted the world’s attention, e.g. China sent a warship to escort ships near Somalia. Song Xiaojun believes that the biggest problem with China’s military development is that it lags behind economic development, and that the Chinese military must become a global force in order to ensure China’s economic interests are not undermined.
Source: Global Times, December 30, 2009.
http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-12/675329.html