China is betting on an AI-powered army

The country is preparing for a new era of technological and strategic competition

Every spring, China’s Two Sessions – the combined annual plenary sessions of the National People’s Congress and of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference – provide a window into the country’s political priorities.

This year’s gathering delivered a particularly clear signal: In a world of growing geopolitical turbulence, Beijing is placing security and military modernization firmly at the center of its long-term strategy.

The 2026 sessions unfolded against a complicated economic backdrop. China’s economy continues to grow, but at a slower pace than in previous decades. Yet the meetings made clear that economic caution does not mean strategic hesitation. Instead, the leadership is doubling down on the idea that development and security must reinforce each other.

President Xi Jinping underscored this point by placing the modernization of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at the core of China’s future planning. The military, in fact, is expected to play a substantial role in the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan, which will guide development from 2026 to 2030.

This plan reflects a fundamental shift in China’s strategic thinking: The alignment of economic policy with national security priorities. At the heart of this approach is technological self-reliance – especially in sectors linked to defense, advanced manufacturing, and AI.

For the PLA, the next stage of modernization is already taking shape. Chinese strategists describe it as ‘intelligentization’, the integration of AI, autonomous systems, and advanced data networks into military operations. The concept represents the third phase of China’s military transformation, following earlier stages of mechanization and informatization.

In practical terms, intelligentization means using AI-driven technologies to accelerate battlefield decision-making, improve command and control systems, and give military commanders greater situational awareness. The aim is to achieve “decision-making dominance” – the ability to process information faster and act more effectively than potential adversaries.

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This vision also reflects how Beijing sees the future of warfare. Conflicts are no longer expected to unfold solely on traditional battlefields. Instead, they may span multiple domains simultaneously, blending physical, virtual, and cognitive spaces. Chinese analysts increasingly refer to these future conflicts as ‘meta-wars’, where cyber operations, information warfare, AI, and psychological influence combine with conventional military power.

To prepare for this environment, the PLA has been instructed to focus on a series of cutting-edge technologies. AI sits at the center of the agenda, alongside quantum computing, hypersonic weapons, and advanced surveillance systems. Together, these capabilities are expected to help China secure the strategic high ground in a world defined by intensifying technological competition.

One of the key tools for achieving this transformation is military-civil fusion. The concept – long promoted by the Chinese leadership – seeks to break down barriers between civilian innovation and military research. By integrating universities, private companies, and state-owned industries into defense development, Beijing hopes to accelerate technological breakthroughs while strengthening the country’s broader industrial base.

At the same time, the Two Sessions highlighted the importance of discipline and oversight within the military itself. Addressing a plenary meeting of the PLA and People’s Armed Police delegation at the National People’s Congress on March 7, Xi stressed the need for strict supervision of military projects and financial flows during the upcoming planning cycle.

The message was unmistakable: Modernization requires accountability. Xi called for tighter monitoring of major military programs, stricter control over the use of funds, and stronger oversight of military-civil integration projects. In his words, there must be “no place” in the armed forces for corruption or political disloyalty.

The remarks come amid the most significant reshuffling of China’s senior military leadership in decades. Over the past several years, dozens of high-ranking officers have been removed from their posts or stripped of political positions following disciplinary investigations.

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Official figures show that since the Communist Party’s 20th Congress in 2022, at least 36 senior officers have lost their status as delegates to the National People’s Congress. Some analysts estimate that more than 100 senior PLA officers may have been investigated or purged during the same period.

While corruption charges have often been cited, the campaign reflects broader strategic objectives. Since coming to power in 2012, Xi Jinping has made military reform one of his central priorities. Corruption, in his view, undermines operational effectiveness and slows the modernization process.

Equally important is political cohesion. Unlike many national militaries, the PLA is formally loyal not to the state but to the Communist Party. Ensuring ideological discipline within the officer corps is therefore seen as essential to maintaining stability and unity during a period of rapid transformation.

Despite the scale of these changes, there is little evidence that they have disrupted the military’s operational capabilities. Instead, they appear aimed at ensuring that the officers responsible for implementing China’s modernization agenda are both capable and politically reliable.

Alongside internal reform, China’s defense budget continues to expand at a measured pace. For 2026, Beijing announced military spending of roughly 1.9 trillion yuan – around $278 billion – representing an increase of around 7%. This follows three years of similar growth.

While China’s share of Asia’s military expenditure has risen significantly – reaching nearly 44% in 2025 – the country’s defense spending remains modest compared with that of the United States. Washington’s military budget stands at around $1.01 trillion, more than three times China’s.

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Relative to the size of its economy, China allocates around 1.26% of GDP to defense, far below the roughly 3.5% spent by the US. The country’s defense spending remains moderate, transparent, and economically sustainable.

The emphasis is not on building a global military presence comparable to that of the US, which maintains hundreds of overseas bases. Instead, Beijing’s priority is to ensure credible deterrence and protect national sovereignty while maintaining stability in its surrounding region.

Much of the new funding will go toward advancing the PLA’s technological capabilities. Investments are expected to support the development of advanced missiles, next-generation naval platforms, submarines, and sophisticated surveillance systems, while also accelerating the integration of smart technologies into military operations.

In other words, China’s defense strategy increasingly prioritizes quality over quantity – leveraging innovation to enhance strategic effectiveness without dramatically expanding overall spending.

The broader context for these decisions lies in the rapidly changing global security landscape. Chinese policymakers see the international system moving away from a unipolar order dominated by a single superpower toward a more complex multipolar arrangement.

Insights into this worldview were recently articulated by China’s minister of state security, Chen Yixin. In remarks outlining the country’s broader security outlook, Chen argued that the decline of unipolar dominance and the rise of multipolarity – particularly with the growing influence of the Global South – are reshaping global politics.

At the same time, he warned that this transition is generating instability. Geopolitical rivalries are intensifying, technological competition is accelerating, and economic fragmentation is deepening. In this environment, securing key technologies, strategic resources, and industrial supply chains has become a national security priority.

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China’s leadership has therefore embraced what it describes as a comprehensive approach to security. The concept, sometimes summarized as building an “impenetrable Great Wall of national security,” emphasizes the integration of economic resilience, technological innovation, social stability, and military strength.

Within this framework, Taiwan remains a central concern. Chinese officials consistently describe national reunification as essential to the country’s long-term development goals, even as Beijing continues to emphasize peaceful reunification as its preferred path.

At the same time, China is increasingly focused on protecting the overseas interests that accompany its role as the world’s largest trading nation. From maritime trade routes to infrastructure projects abroad, safeguarding economic connectivity has become an important dimension of national security.

Taken together, the signals from the 2026 Two Sessions reveal a leadership focused on long-term strategic preparation. China is not simply expanding its military capabilities – it is reshaping the relationship between security, technology, and development.

China’s answer to the existing challenges appears to be a strategy of calibrated strength: Investing in advanced technologies, strengthening national security institutions, and maintaining steady – but restrained – defense spending.

In an increasingly uncertain world, Beijing’s message is clear. Security and development are no longer separate ambitions. They are two sides of the same strategic coin.