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

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it appears th<strong>at</strong> foreign naval <strong>and</strong> air force <strong>at</strong>tachés st<strong>at</strong>ioned<br />

in Beijing do not have many opportunities to<br />

interact with <strong>PLA</strong> Navy (<strong>PLA</strong>N) <strong>and</strong> <strong>PLA</strong> Air Force<br />

(<strong>PLA</strong>AF). In fact, the only opportunity th<strong>at</strong> they <strong>and</strong><br />

other foreign <strong>at</strong>tachés have to interact with <strong>PLA</strong> officials<br />

is when they escort a visiting deleg<strong>at</strong>ion or when<br />

they arrange for a <strong>PLA</strong> deleg<strong>at</strong>ion to visit their country.<br />

Many PRC embassies <strong>and</strong> consul<strong>at</strong>es abroad also<br />

use their websites to provide yet another channel for<br />

the <strong>PLA</strong> to communic<strong>at</strong>e with the intern<strong>at</strong>ional community.<br />

Each website offers inform<strong>at</strong>ion in Chinese<br />

<strong>and</strong> <strong>at</strong> least one other language. <strong>The</strong> websites offer<br />

general inform<strong>at</strong>ion about the <strong>PLA</strong>, as well as inform<strong>at</strong>ion<br />

about Chinese military exchanges with th<strong>at</strong><br />

particular host country. 21<br />

It appears th<strong>at</strong> <strong>at</strong> least some of the inform<strong>at</strong>ion carried<br />

by individual embassy <strong>and</strong> consul<strong>at</strong>e websites is<br />

used as a tool for portraying the desired image of the<br />

<strong>PLA</strong>. For example, the PRC embassies in Cape Town,<br />

South Africa, <strong>and</strong> the Republic of Albania each carried<br />

the same article about the <strong>PLA</strong> Navy’s history following<br />

the <strong>PLA</strong>N’s 60th anniversary in April 2008. 22<br />

<strong>The</strong> article painted a highly positive picture of the<br />

<strong>PLA</strong>N, placing particular emphasis on its role as an<br />

intern<strong>at</strong>ional envoy of “world peace.” In addition, the<br />

websites of the PRC embassies in Grenada <strong>and</strong> L<strong>at</strong>via<br />

published short articles showcasing senior <strong>PLA</strong> deleg<strong>at</strong>ions<br />

th<strong>at</strong> visited those countries during 2006. 23<br />

Ministry of N<strong>at</strong>ional Defense Inform<strong>at</strong>ion Office <strong>and</strong><br />

Website. <strong>The</strong> new Ministry of N<strong>at</strong>ional Defense (MND)<br />

Inform<strong>at</strong>ion Office serves as a perception management<br />

tool by cre<strong>at</strong>ing a direct interface between the <strong>PLA</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />

the intern<strong>at</strong>ional media. <strong>The</strong> MND Inform<strong>at</strong>ion Office<br />

<strong>and</strong> spokesman system represent a rel<strong>at</strong>ively new<br />

437

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