Building upon their earlier studies that explored the development of China's military technologies and their influence on the People's Liberation Army's plans and objective, Lewis (emeritus, Chinese politics, Stanford U.) and Xue Litai (Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford U.) here examine the decision processes and operations of the Chinese military and security establishment, focusing particularly on how military planning relates to the mission to retain Taiwan as part of one China. They first discuss the traditional military culture of China stretching from Sun Tzu to Mao Zedong. Subsequent chapters look at the structures of China's national command authority, the military's command-and-control system, the Second Artillery, and the air force from the 1970s to the present. A discussion of the primary weapons systems that have changed in response to recent concerns about Taiwan and American "interventionism" follows and the text concludes with a summary of Beijing's overall national strategy and preparations for war. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Read Less