Learning By Doing: The PLA Trains at Home and Abroad - People's Liberation Army, Chinese Military, China's Navy, Armed Police Force, Defending Borders, Exercises and Training, Logistics Lessons

The papers presented here are a timely and critical look at an evolving and expanding Chinese military and provide context for the changes we may yet see as the PLA continues to modernize. As the USPACOM Commander, I seek to better understand China in aspects that further our ability to find common areas of interest, reduce miscalculation, and contribute to regional stability. Greater insight into the PLA is essential to this effort. As the Chinese military matures, grows, and ventures farther from China's territory, the regional and global implications for the United States and USPACOM, as well as our allies and partners will be complex, yet critical to our understanding of China's evolving international role and influence. Therefore, accurate and timely assessments of the changes taking place within the PLA are essential to understanding how the Chinese are matching military power with their broader policy aims. The outstanding scholarship in this jointly-sponsored study by SSI, NBR, and USPACOM is an important contribution toward this end. The judgments in this volume provide unique and valuable insights on how the PLA is adapting its training to its perception of the security environment. This does not just include how it is resourcing, organizing, and training its forces, but also how the PLA thinks about warfare and the threats they currently face. Through participation in international military exercises, as well as peacekeeping operations (PKO) and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) missions abroad, the PLA is gaining greater experience in carrying out a broader spectrum of missions. For example, the lessons learned from counter-piracy missions in the Gulf of Aden as well as internal, transregional deployment exercises are impacting the way China responds to issues ranging from domestic natural disasters to cooperative security efforts requiring the projection and sustainment of military power beyond China's borders. Monitoring these developments is not only key to our understanding of China's perceptions of the security environment, but also to identifying opportunities to further develop cooperative capacity in the areas of nontraditional security threats — a growing area of cooperation between our two militaries.

1. Introduction: PLA Lessons Learned From Increasingly Realistic Exercises * 2. China's Navy Prepares: Domestic Naval Exercises, 2000-10 * 3. PLA Naval Exercises with International Partners * 4. "Controlling the Four Quarters": China Trains, Equips, and Deploys a Modern, Mobile People's Armed Police Force * 5. Clarity of Intentions: People's Liberation Army Transregional Exercises to Defend China's Borders * 6. Looking Good on Paper: PLA Participation in the Peace Mission 2010 Multilateral Military Exercise * 7. PLA Engagement with International Partners: PLA Involvement in International Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief * 8. PLA Logistics 2004-11: Lessons Learned in the Field * 9. The Agony of Learning: The PLA's Transformation in Military Affairs

In addition to the China paper, this unique collection of American military documents provides a special view of recent Chinese military and policy developments. Contents: China Shaping the Operational Environment - A Disciple on the Path of Deception and Influence * The "People" in the PLA: Recruitment, Training, and Education in China's 80-Year-Old Military * China's Maritime Quest * The PLA At Home and Abroad: Assessing The Operational Capabilities of China's Military * Arms Sales To Taiwan: Enjoy The Business While It Lasts * China's Role In The Stabilization Of Afghanistan * The Coming of Chinese Hawks * Turkey and China: Unlikely Strategic Partners. This ebook also includes the annual U.S. intelligence community worldwide threat assessment in Congressional testimony by Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr.