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

ization, has caused anxiety among the international
community concerning the PRC’s intentions and aspirations
as a rising power. This is one of the key drivers
behind the Chinese government’s decision to adopt a
general policy of reassurance and “good neighborliness”
toward other nations. Part of this reassurance
effort consists of characterizing China’s rising power
in nonthreatening terms such as “peaceful development.”
6 PLA military diplomacy plays a vital role in
these reassurance efforts. It also serves to further a
number of other PRC foreign policy objectives.
What is PLA Military Diplomacy?
The PLA Encyclopedia defines military diplomacy
as “diplomatic activities that represent the military interests
of the nation.” 7 According to David Finkelstein
and Michael McDevitt, “The PLA’s conduct of foreign
military relations is considered a strategic-level activity
that is expected to help achieve the national security
objectives of the People’s Republic of China.” 8
Based on these definitions, PLA military diplomacy
is a strategic political activity conducted for the purpose
of furthering the Chinese government’s national
objectives. 9 The following statement from Xinhua, the
PRC’s state-run news agency, further supports this assessment:
China’s military diplomacy will continue to be an independent
foreign policy of peace, serve the state’s overall
diplomacy and the national defense and army modernization
drive, further increase mutual understanding,
friendship and cooperation with the armed forces of
other countries so as to contribute still more to world
peace and stability and common development. 10
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