News Analysis China has made the “aligning of civil and defense technology development” a national priority. The Chinese military is pursuing “intelligentized” (or “intelligent”) warfare. For the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), this entails creating “intelligent weapons.” This includes such weapons as autonomous drones, capable of operating without human controls. It also entails automated systems for gathering and processing intelligence—both strategic and tactical—for military use. These capabilities rely heavily on so-called fourth-industrial (4IR) technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine-learning, big data, quantum computing, and the like. China particularly values AI as a critical technology that could prove consequential to its strategic competition with the United States. The PLA believes that AI likely will be the key to surpassing the U.S. military as the world’s most capable armed force. This emphasis on the revolutionary and disruptive nature of 4IR technologies when it comes to future military advantage means that Chinese military modernization …