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Change
in Military Mission and Doctrine
With
the demise of the Soviet Union, the PLA abandoned their strategy of
“Peoples’ War” and what emerged was the doctrine of
“peripheral defence”, which called for limited but effective
military operations in regions bordering China28.
China sees the need to equip highly mobile units with advanced
equipment to response to local conflict areas. There is indeed a
genuine need for China to maintain integrity of it’s long coastline,
off-shore resources and investments. This new thinking involves
providing new missions and require new capability for the PLA.
Priorities were devoted to force projection capabilities such as
anti-submarine warfare, sustained naval operations, amphibious warfare
capabilities, strategic airlift, aerial refueling, improving ground
forces mobility and ground support, air defence and all weather
command and control capabilities29.
This
resulted in a leaner and better equipped Army, Airforce and Navy. The
procurement of weapons system such as the Soviet Su-27 aircraft, Luhu
class destroyers, Jiangwei
class frigates, build-up of the transport fleet and the Kilo class
Submarines, etc. is in the selected areas is congruent with the
PLA’s modernisation priorities. |
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28.
Ron
Montaperto, “China as a Military Power”, Strategic
Forum, No. 56, December 1995, p. 3.
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