Modernising the Peoples Liberation Army

This volume examines the progress made by the Chinese military (the Peoples Liberation Army, PLA) as it strives to meet its commander-in-chiefs directive to transform itself into a more capable fighting force. The book tracks the reforms undertaken by the PLA in meeting its commander-in-chiefs grand objectives set at the 2015 Central Military Commission Reform Work Meeting: for Chinas 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 PLAs 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 PLAs power-projection capabilities. In view of how the instrumentalization of military power is writ large in Beijings 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 Navys 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.