Table Of ContentTHE PL A BEYOND
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Edited by
Joel Wuthnow, Arthur S. Ding, Phillip C. Saunders,
Andrew Scobell, Andrew N.D. Yang
THE PLA BEYOND BORDERS
THE PLA BEYOND BORDERS
Chinese Military Operations in
Regional and Global Context
Edited by
Joel Wuthnow
Arthur S. Ding
Phillip C. Saunders
Andrew Scobell
Andrew N.D. Yang
National Defense University Press
Washington, D.C.
2021
Published in the United States by National Defense University Press. Portions of
this book may be quoted or reprinted without permission, provided that a stan-
dard source credit line is included. NDU Press would appreciate a courtesy copy of
reprints or reviews.
Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely
those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Depart-
ment of Defense or any other agency of the Federal Government. Cleared for public
release; distribution unlimited.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021935171
ISBN: 978-0-9968249-7-2 (paperback)
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Book design by John Mitrione, U.S. Government Publishing Office
Cover image: Commissioning ceremony of China’s first domestically built aircraft
carrier, Shandong (Hull 17), takes place at naval base in Sanya, in Hainan Province,
China, December 17, 2019 (Li Gang/Xinhua/Alamy Live News)
CCOONNTTEENNTTSS
Acknowledgments ..........................................................................................vii
Introduction
THE PLA BEYOND BORDERS
Joel Wuthnow ......................................................................................................1
Part I: Enabling Operations: Capabilities, Infrastructure, and
Organizations
1 The PLA’s Expeditionary Force: Current Capabilities and Future Trends
Kristen Gunness ..........................................................................................23
2 Crossing the Strait: Recent Trends in PLA ‘Strategic Delivery’ Capabilities
Chung Chieh and Andrew N.D. Yang ........................................................51
3 China’s Overseas Base, Places, and Far Seas Logistics
Isaac B. Kardon ............................................................................................73
4 PLA Command and Control of Overseas Operations
Phillip C. Saunders ....................................................................................107
5 China’s Air and Maritime ISR in Coastal Defense and Near Seas
Operations
Shinji Yamaguchi ......................................................................................127
6 The PLA Strategic Support Force: A “Joint” Force for Information
Operations
John Chen, Joe McReynolds, and Kieran Green .....................................151
vi
Part II: Into Action: PLA Operational Concepts and Practice
7 Reassessing China’s Use of Military Force
Andrew Scobell .........................................................................................183
8 Bomber Strike Packages with Chinese Characteristics
Nathan Beauchamp-Mustafaga ...............................................................199
9 PLA Operational Lessons from UN Peacekeeping
Joel Wuthnow ............................................................................................235
10 China’s Security Assistance in Global Competition: The Case of Africa
Jonah Victor ...............................................................................................263
11 A New Type of Cross-Border Attack: The PLA’s Cyber Force
Ying-Yu Lin.................................................................................................295
12 Space and Chinese National Security: China’s Continuing Great Leap
Upward
Dean Cheng ...............................................................................................311
About the Contributors .....................................................................................339
Index ................................................................................................................345
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T
his volume is the most recent product of a longstanding annual con-
ference series on the People’s Liberation Army jointly sponsored by
the U.S. National Defense University (NDU), the RAND Corpora-
tion, and Taiwan’s Council of Advanced Policy Studies (CAPS). The editors
are grateful to the leaders of their institutions for their continued support,
including NDU presidents Vice Admiral Frederick J. Roegge and Lieutenant
General Michael T. Plehn, NDU Institute for National Strategic Studies direc-
tor Laura Junor and acting director Denise Natali, RAND president Michael
Rich, and CAPS secretary-general Andrew Yang.
It takes hard work by many people to make these conferences and this
publication possible. We would like to acknowledge, in particular, Mark
Cozad and Derek Grossman from RAND, and Yi-Su Yang and Polly Shen from
CAPS. At NDU, Catherine Reese went to heroic lengths to get service con-
tracts and travel approved and honoria paid.
Most chapters in this volume were originally presented at the 2019 con-
ference, which was held in Taipei. For helpful feedback during and after the
conference, the editors thank the participants and discussants, including Cor-
tez Cooper, Arthur Ding, T.X. Hammes, Scott Harold, Alexander Huang, Taiho
Kim, Ma Chengkun, Bonny Lin, and Mark Stokes. Chapter 6, by Nathan Beau-
champ-Mustafaga, was presented at the 2018 conference in Washington, DC,
and benefited from feedback from Lonnie Henley and Jackie Newmeyer Deal.
NDU Press, which has published several previous books from this confer-
ence series, once again worked tirelessly to bring this volume across the finish
vii
viii Acknowledgments
line. Special thanks go to director William T. Eliason, executive editor Jeffrey D.
Smotherman, and senior editor John J. Church. Lisa Yambrick, an independent
contractor, copyedited the text. Susan Carroll did the first round of proofread-
ing and indexed the book. At GPO Creative Services, John Mitrione designed
the book. William Eliason and Joanna Seich worked with Cameron Morse and
others at the OSD Security Review Office to obtain clearance for publication.
The editors thank the following individuals for assistance with proof-
reading: Samantha Arnett, Alex Barker, Josh Baughman, Paul J. David-Albert,
Jerry Epstein, T.X. Hammes, Jackie Kerr, Eric Kingsepp, Thomas F. Lynch III,
Lieutenant Colonel Patrick McClintock, USAF, Amy Nelson, Austine Rawllins,
Shane Smith, Brett Swaney, and Cynthia Watson.
INTRODUCTION
THE PLA BEYOND BORDERS
By Joel Wuthnow
T
he past decade has witnessed a series of “firsts” in China’s demon-
strated ability to deploy military units of various sizes and types far
from its own borders. In September 2012, the People’s Liberation
Army (PLA) Navy commissioned its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, a ship
that made its maiden voyage into the Western Pacific in December 2016.1 In
September 2013, a PLA naval aviation H-6 bomber flew past the First Island
Chain for the first time, while the air force began sending its H-6K variant
on overwater training missions in March 2015, including some that circum-
navigated Taiwan.2 The Chinese ground forces, which had been contributing
noncombat troops to United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions since the
late 1980s, deployed their first infantry battalion to a UN mission, in South
Sudan, in February 2015.3 On August 1, 2017—the PLA’s 90th anniversary—
China opened its first overseas military base, in Djibouti, manned by a mech-
anized marine company.4 In December 2019, the navy commissioned its first
domestically built carrier, the Shandong.5
These examples represent only a few milestones in the increasing range
and pace of Chinese overseas military operations. For most of its existence,
the PLA was primarily responsible for internal stability and border defense
1
