1st Edition
Reshaping the Chinese Military The PLA's Roles and Missions in the Xi Jinping Era
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.
Introduction: Reshaping the Chinese Military under Xi Jinping, Richard A. Bitzinger and James Char 1. Chinese Civil-Military Relations: Xi Jinping’s Anti-Corruption Campaign and the People’s Liberation Army, James Char 2. The People’s Liberation Army and China’s Taiwan Policy under Xi Jinping: One Joint Actor without its Own Agenda, Arthur S. Ding 3. A Worsening Sino-U.S. Geostrategic Battle in Asian Maritime Domains, You Ji 4. US-China Military Relations: Competition and Cooperation in the Obama and Trump Eras, Phillip C. Saunders and Julia G. Bowie 5. The People’s Liberation Army’s Perspectives on National Security: Institutional Interests and Party-Military Relations Under Xi, Yuan Jingdong 6. Space, The New Domain: Space Operations and Chinese Military Reforms, Kevin Pollpeter 7. Innovation in China’s Defense Technology Base: Foreign Technology and Military Capabilities, Tai Ming Cheung 8. Reforming China’s Defense Industry, Richard A. Bitzinger 9. The Business of Defense: The People’s Liberation Army and Defense-Industrial Development in China, Kenneth Boutin
Biography
Richard A. Bitzinger is presently a Visiting Senior Fellow with the Military Transformations Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS). He is author of Arming Asia: Technonationalism and its Impact on Local Defense Industries (2017).
James Char is an Associate Research Fellow with the China Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. He is the principal editor of The People’s Liberation Army in the Xi Jinping Era (2017) and Reshaping the People’s Liberation Army since the 18th Party Congress (2016).
