The PLA at Home and Abroad - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

the PLA University of Science and Technology began
a 2-month course for 40 Afghani and Iraqi officers in
mine clearing operations. 89
These examples are not included among combined
exercises that are the main subject of this chapter, but
they provide a degree of insight into PLA relations
with other countries and topics of contemporary interest
to the Beijing leadership.
CONCLUSIONS
In general, Chinese armed forces training focuses
on accomplishing “diversified military tasks.” According
to a December 2008 article in Guofang Bao, diversified
military tasks “cover both war operations and
non-war military actions.” The PLA’s core mission is
preparing to win local wars under informatized conditions.
Nonwar military actions include deterrence;
counterterrorism; safeguarding stability; border closing
and control; emergency response; disaster rescue;
peacekeeping; sea and air security protection; and nuclear,
biological, and chemical protection and rescue.
Based on conclusions attributed to the U.S. Army, this
report also states that “improving the capability to
perform non-war military actions does not necessarily
mean improvement in, and may even negatively
impact, the core military capability.” 90 Despite this
warning, the PLA leadership believes the risk to performing
the core mission is worth the gain that comes
from training in non-war actions – missions that the
Chinese armed forces have found themselves actively
and increasingly undertaking in the real world.
Combined training with foreign countries contributes
to improving PLA capabilities both to fight local
wars and to conduct nontraditional security missions,
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