China’s Incomplete Military Transformation

China’s Incomplete Military Transformation
Author: Michael S. Chase
Publisher: Rand Corporation
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2015-02-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 0833088319

Through extensive primary source analysis and independent analysis, this report seeks to answer a number of important questions regarding the state of China’s armed forces. The authors found that the PLA is keenly aware of its many weaknesses and is vigorously striving to correct them. Although it is only natural to focus on the PLA’s growing capabilities, understanding the PLA’s weaknesses—and its self-assessments—is no less important.

The People's Liberation Army and Contingency Planning in China

The People's Liberation Army and Contingency Planning in China
Author: Andrew Scobell
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2016-04-26
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 9781365073724

How will China use its increasing military capabilities in the future? China faces a complicated security environment with a wide range of internal and external threats. Rapidly expanding international interests are creating demands for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to conduct new missions ranging from protecting Chinese shipping from Somali pirates to evacuating citizens from Libya. The most recent Chinese defense white paper states that the armed forces must "make serious preparations to cope with the most complex and difficult scenarios . . . so as to ensure proper responses . . . at any time and under any circumstances." Based on a conference co-sponsored by Taiwan's Council of Advanced Policy Studies, RAND, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and National Defense University, The People's Liberation Army and Contingency Planning in China brings together leading experts from the United States and Taiwan to examine how the PLA prepares for a range of domestic, border, and maritime...

Chinese Military Reform in the Age of Xi Jinping: Drivers, Challenges, and Implications

Chinese Military Reform in the Age of Xi Jinping: Drivers, Challenges, and Implications
Author: Joel Wuthnow
Publisher: Government Printing Office
Total Pages: 100
Release:
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780160937873

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has embarked on its most wide-ranging and ambitious restructuring since 1949, including major changes to most of its key organizations. The restructuring reflects the desire to strengthen PLA joint operation capabilities- on land, sea, in the air, and in the space and cyber domains. The reforms could result in a more adept joint warfighting force, though the PLA will continue to face a number of key hurdles to effective joint operations, Several potential actions would indicate that the PLA is overcoming obstacles to a stronger joint operations capability. The reforms are also intended to increase Chairman Xi Jinping's control over the PLA and to reinvigorate Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organs within the military. Xi Jinping's ability to push through reforms indicates that he has more authority over the PLA than his recent predecessors. The restructuring could create new opportunities for U.S.-China military contacts.

PLA Influence on China's National Security Policymaking

PLA Influence on China's National Security Policymaking
Author: Phillip C. Saunders
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2015-09-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0804796289

In recent years there have been reports of actions purportedly taken by People's Liberation Army (PLA) units without civilian authorization, and of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) civilian leaders seeking to curry favor with the military—suggesting that a nationalistic and increasingly influential PLA is driving more assertive Chinese policies on a range of military and sovereignty issues. To many experienced PLA watchers, however, the PLA remains a "party-army" that is responsive to orders from the CCP. PLA Influence on China's National Security Policymaking seeks to assess the "real" relationship between the PLA and its civilian masters by moving beyond media and pundit speculation to mount an in-depth examination and explanation of the PLA's role in national security policymaking. After examining the structural factors that shape PLA interactions with the Party-State, the book uses case studies to explore the PLA's role in foreign policy crises. It then assesses the PLA's role in China's territorial disputes and in military interactions with civilian government and business, exploring the military's role in China's civil–military integration development strategy. The evidence reveals that today's PLA does appear to have more influence on purely military issues than in the past—but much less influence on political issues—and to be more actively engaged in policy debates on mixed civil-military issues where military equities are at stake.

The Chinese Navy

The Chinese Navy
Author: Institute for National Strategic Studies
Publisher: Government Printing Office
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2011-12-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780160897634

Tells the story of the growing Chinese Navy - The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) - and its expanding capabilities, evolving roles and military implications for the USA. Divided into four thematic sections, this special collection of essays surveys and analyzes the most important aspects of China's navel modernization.

China's Evolving Surface Fleet

China's Evolving Surface Fleet
Author: Peter Dutton
Publisher: Government Printing Office
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2017
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781935352457

Over the past fifteen years, the People's Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN's) missile fast-attack craft and amphibious fleets have been significantly modernized. While these two types of vessels have not increased in numbers, their capabilities have increased exponentially. This publication examines the People's Liberation Army's (PLA's) doctrine and training strategy in order to analyze present and predict future missions by these military vessels. China's deterrence posture is improved greatly by these ships and boats, which aid coastal water defense, and threaten Taiwanese attempts to gain independence. In addition, these two fleets improve China's long-range sealift capabilities, and help with the PLA's traditional, and new, nontraditional security practices. These fleets allow the PLAN to continue offshore operations, and begin "blue-water", or "far-seas" operations, helping the United States to predict the future nature of Chinese maritime missions. Related items: China collection of publications can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/china Chinese Military Reforms in the Age of Xi Jinping: Drivers, Challenges, and Implications can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/chinese-military-reforms-age-xi-jinping-drivers-challenges-and-implications Indian and Chinese Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Comparative Assessment can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/indian-and-chinese-engagement-latin-america-and-caribbean U.S. Landpower in the South China Sea can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/us-landpower-south-china-sea

China's Strategic Support Force

China's Strategic Support Force
Author: John Costello
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 84
Release: 2018-10-11
Genre:
ISBN: 9781727834604

In late 2015, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) initiated reforms that have brought dramatic changes to its structure, model of warfighting, and organizational culture, including the creation of a Strategic Support Force (SSF) that centralizes most PLA space, cyber, electronic, and psychological warfare capabilities. The reforms come at an inflection point as the PLA seeks to pivot from land-based territorial defense to extended power projection to protect Chinese interests in the "strategic frontiers" of space, cyberspace, and the far seas. Understanding the new strategic roles of the SSF is essential to understanding how the PLA plans to fight and win informationized wars and how it will conduct information operations.