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

and South China Seas, although these are important in
terms of the PLA protecting China’s sovereignty and
resources. The PLA’s primary apprehensions focus
directly on U.S. strategic intentions toward the region
and China’s place in the region. As China’s 2008 Defense
White Paper stated the problem with an obvious
but unstated reference to the United States:
China is faced with the superiority of the developed
countries in economy, science and technology, as well
as military affairs. It also faces strategic maneuvers and
containment from the outside while having to face disruption
and sabotage by separatist and hostile forces
from the inside. 58
This statement reflects a perception widely held among
Chinese policymakers and the PLA that the strategic
objective of the United States is to restrain the development
of China’s economic, diplomatic, and military
capabilities, particularly in Asia. 59
In Beijing’s eyes, there is good reason to have such
apprehensions. PLA researchers read official U.S.
documents where U.S. “hedging” against China’s
growing military capabilities are evident. Fan Gaoyue
of the PLA-AMS [Academy of Military Science] and
Rear Admiral Yang Yi of the PLA-NDU, reporting
on the latest U.S. National Defense Strategy published
in June 2008, saw the strategy as treating China as a
potential threat. Rear Admiral Yang Yi was quoted as
stating: “From US perspective, China’s development
is a threat to its hegemony.” 60 Nor do the annual reports
on China’s military capabilities released by the
Office of the Secretary of Defense provide any less of a
menace. The “Executive Summary” of the 2009 report
states:
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