China's military buildup remains focused on preventing Taiwan's independence but is expanding to include other regional military goals, including securing the flow of oil from overseas, according to an annual Pentagon study.

The 42-page report, required by Congress, found that Beijing's investment in offensive military capabilities along the Taiwan Strait has continued unabated. It has deployed more than 100 additional short-range missiles in the region over the past year, bringing its total aimed at Taiwan to about 900. China also has 400,000 of its 1.4 million soldiers based in the three military regions opposite Taiwan, the study said.

But Beijing's investment in military modernization -- which might have reached as much as $125 billion last year, according to the Defense Intelligence Agency, or triple the official $45 billion declared by Beijing -- has produced military systems that enable China to project force well beyond its shores.

Of particular concern, the report said, is the increasing ability of the People's Liberation Army to strike at an adversary's forces in the Pacific Ocean, a clear reference to U.S. bases in Asia and American naval forces that constantly patrol the region and that would rush to Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. Read More

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