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

• Reassure select countries;
• Enhance China’s image as a responsible member
of the international community;
• Gain access to foreign military technology and
expertise;
• Deter threats to stability by demonstrating the
PLA’s improving capabilities.
MILITARY DIPLOMACY IN THE CONTEXT OF
PRC FOREIGN RELATIONS
Current Chinese leaders share certain overarching
strategic objectives that shape both their domestic and
foreign policies. Key among those objectives is that of
preserving the rule of the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) in the face of the declining popularity of communist
ideology. The CCP sees modernizing China’s
economy and improving living standards as crucial to
maintaining domestic stability and ensuring regime
survival. 2 A second objective is to establish China as a
leading power in Asia, making it capable of influencing
the policies of other countries in the region. In keeping
with this goal, Chinese leaders seek to build China’s
global influence and prestige. 3 Chinese foreign policy
is therefore guided by a strategy that emphasizes the
need for a stable international and regional environment
in which it is free to pursue economic growth
and development and expand its influence abroad. 4
Since the mid 1990s, China has become increasingly
engaged in the international system and progressively
more adept at promoting its influence and protecting
its interests. 5
China’s swift rise in economic and diplomatic influence,
in conjunction with the PLA’s rapid modern-
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