11 June 2026

China and AI-Military Integration: Perspectives, Opportunities, and Challenges

Asia-Pacific Leadership Network  |  Jingdong Yuan

China is strategically pivoting towards military "intelligentisation" (ζ™Ίθƒ½εŒ–), integrating AI into the PLA to gain a decisive edge against the United States. Driven by mandates from the 20th National Congress of the CPC, Beijing is aggressively modernizing its military from information-guided and network-centric warfare to AI and automation-driven systems.

Chinese analysts view these disruptive technologies as a historic opportunity to rewrite modern military doctrine and "overtake on a curve" (弯道袅车), drawing insights from recent global conflicts where AI redefined battlefield speed. This policy brief assesses Chinese perspectives on AI's military applications, focusing on the AI-nuclear nexus, including benefits and risks in the nuclear enterprise. It reviews developments from nuclear command, control, and communication (NC3) to autonomous nuclear weapons systems, exploring potential risks and challenges the PLA faces in AI military integration.

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