James Char - Böcker

This edited volume examines the recalibration of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) roles and missions in China’s domestic and foreign policymaking since Xi Jinping’s ascension to power in late 2012.This book explores how China’s growing military prowess, along with Beijing’s ongoing shift away from "keeping a low profile," owes much to the policies of the China’s Communist Party under Xi Jinping’s leadership. The chapters in the book share a central theme: the recalibration of the PLA roles and missions since Xi Jinping assumed the trifecta of party-state-military power. These contributions seek to explore in depth some of the key issues and scrutinize the enhancements in the PLA’s operational capabilities, both in terms of its hardware as well as its "heartware" – the human elements of its development such as operational culture and doctrine. In all, the chapters document the transformative change the PLA has undergone since the profound realization of its previous limitations vis-à-vis the United States’ advanced military operations of the previous century as well as pointing to continuity amid change.This book will be of much interest to students of strategic studies, Chinese politics, Asian security, defense studies, and international relations, in general.

This volume examines the progress made by the Chinese military (the People’s Liberation Army, PLA) as it strives to meet its commander-in-chief’s directive to transform itself into a more capable fighting force.The book tracks the reforms undertaken by the PLA in meeting its commander-in-chief’s grand objectives set at the 2015 Central Military Commission Reform Work Meeting: for China’s armed forces to transform themselves into a more professional and modern military. Focusing on those changes since late 2016 at corps level and below, the first and second sections of the volume document the subsequent force structure and operational changes to the PLA’s four conventional services, and two newly established PLA branches: the Strategic Support Force and Joint Logistic Support Force. To that end, the contributors examine the reforms promulgated by the Chinese high command and measure them against observable developments in the PLA’s power-projection capabilities. In view of how the instrumentalization of military power is writ large in Beijing’s strategic calculus and in regional hotspot issues, the final part of the book also provides pathbreaking insights into two critical but not so well-understood phenomena: the now regular PLA aerial activities in the Taiwan Strait and the PLA Navy’s submarine operations in the South China Sea.This book will be of much interest to students of East Asian security, Chinese politics, and military and strategic studies in general.

This volume examines the progress made by the Chinese military (the People’s Liberation Army, PLA) as it strives to meet its commander-in-chief’s directive to transform itself into a more capable fighting force.The book tracks the reforms undertaken by the PLA in meeting its commander-in-chief’s grand objectives set at the 2015 Central Military Commission Reform Work Meeting: for China’s armed forces to transform themselves into a more professional and modern military. Focusing on those changes since late 2016 at corps level and below, the first and second sections of the volume document the subsequent force structure and operational changes to the PLA’s four conventional services, and two newly established PLA branches: the Strategic Support Force and Joint Logistic Support Force. To that end, the contributors examine the reforms promulgated by the Chinese high command and measure them against observable developments in the PLA’s power-projection capabilities. In view of how the instrumentalization of military power is writ large in Beijing’s strategic calculus and in regional hotspot issues, the final part of the book also provides pathbreaking insights into two critical but not so well-understood phenomena: the now regular PLA aerial activities in the Taiwan Strait and the PLA Navy’s submarine operations in the South China Sea.This book will be of much interest to students of East Asian security, Chinese politics, and military and strategic studies in general.

This edited volume examines the recalibration of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) roles and missions in China’s domestic and foreign policymaking since Xi Jinping’s ascension to power in late 2012.This book explores how China’s growing military prowess, along with Beijing’s ongoing shift away from "keeping a low profile," owes much to the policies of the China’s Communist Party under Xi Jinping’s leadership. The chapters in the book share a central theme: the recalibration of the PLA roles and missions since Xi Jinping assumed the trifecta of party-state-military power. These contributions seek to explore in depth some of the key issues and scrutinize the enhancements in the PLA’s operational capabilities, both in terms of its hardware as well as its "heartware" – the human elements of its development such as operational culture and doctrine. In all, the chapters document the transformative change the PLA has undergone since the profound realization of its previous limitations vis-à-vis the United States’ advanced military operations of the previous century as well as pointing to continuity amid change.This book will be of much interest to students of strategic studies, Chinese politics, Asian security, defense studies, and international relations, in general.

The advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution amidst the increasingly intensified global competition between the United States and China promises to be a major inflection point in human history. The authors assembled in this volume provide a sober assessment of this techno-nationalist contest and their implications for the rest of the world.