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

THE PLA AND CHINA’S FOREIGN POLICY:
AN OMNIDIRECTIONAL FOREIGN MILITARY
DIPLOMACY
A major focus of Hu Jintao’s 2004 speech had been
to outline how the PLA was to enlarge its role supporting
China’s foreign policy. He gave particular emphasis
to the armed forces’ nonwarfighting missions
in supporting this foreign policy. In December 2008,
General Liang Guanglie, a CMC member and China’s
Minister of Defense, published a PLA Daily article 17
of some length surveying PLA military diplomacy
since “reform and opening up” began in late 1978,
and outlining future directions as the PLA pursued
its “omnidirectional” foreign military diplomacy.
This diplomacy, he stated, was designed to support
China’s foreign policy through relations with foreign
defense establishments, regional security cooperation
and multilateral dialogues, military transparency, and
what is referred to as “contributing to world peace
and development.” General Liang sees the PLA’s
omnidirectional military diplomacy as a success. The
PLA now has military relations with more than 150
countries, has military attaches in 109 countries, hosts
98 countries’ attaches, sends 200 military delegations
abroad annually, and receives at least 200 delegations
annually.
Most of his article is devoted to the progress in
expanding and developing relations with foreign defense
establishments. Perhaps because on becoming
Director of the PLA General Staff Department in 2002
General Liang supervised the development of foreign
military relations strategy for the PLA when relations
with the United States and Japan were in the “midst of
setbacks,” this article is a self-assessment of his strat-
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