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

and news media to observe it up close. It also appears
that the PLA is becoming increasingly sophisticated
in its ability to interact with foreign observers, using
demonstration both to reassure and to deter.
In recent years, the PLA has begun to invite foreign
news media and a greater number of military personnel
to observe exercises and demonstrations. Since the
1980s, the PLA has been allowing foreign military attachés
and some visiting military delegations to observe
small-scale exercises at various “model” units.
The PLA first began inviting journalists and foreign
military officers other than attachés to observe its
large-scale exercises in August 2003, when it invited
officers from 15 countries to observe the Beijing Military
Region’s joint exercise, “Northern Sword.” 82 The
exercise took place at the PLA’s largest combinedarms
training base, which is located in Inner Mongolia.
83
The PLA has significantly increased the number of
units it has allowed foreigners to visit since the early
1980s, but visits to most units remain highly restricted.
Examples of visits by U.S. military delegations to PLA
units during the 2000s include:
• The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs’ visit to the
PLA’s Combined-Arms Training Center in
Nanjing (November 2000);
• The PACOM commander’s visit to a reserve
infantry unit to observe a live-fire exercise in
Sichuan (December 2002);
• The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs was the first
foreigner to visit the Beijing Aerospace Control
Center (January 2004);
• The PACOM commander was the first U.S. official
to visit the 39th Group Army (May 2006);
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