Assessing the People's Liberation Army in the Hu Jintao Era: Nuclear Missile Policy, Propaganda, Suppression of Dissent, Cyberspace, Space, Veterans Grievances, New Historic Missions

This 2013 publication by the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) of the U.S. Army War College, the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), and the United States Pacific Command, focuses on A Retrospective of the People's Liberation Army in the Hu Jintao Era (2002-12). The papers in this book provide a valuable and insightful review of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) many impressive advances over the past decade. Solid scholarship on changes taking place in the PLA helps us understand how the Chinese view the employment of military power to support broader policy aims. A historical review of patterns and developments in training, operations, acquisitions, and political military relations can greatly assist that understanding. The outstanding work in this jointly sponsored study is an important contribution toward this end.

This volume provides unique insights into the PLA's achievements over the span of Hu Jintao's tenure as Central Military Commission Chair from 2002 to 2012. This period saw a remarkable growth in capabilities and a critical expansion in the military's missions. The PLA increased its adoption of information technologies and advanced sensors into its modernization efforts. It also improved its ability to carry out joint training and missions other than war. Reflecting developments in the Chinese Communist Party, the PLA also experienced important changes in its political focus and mission. Most significantly, Hu Jintao introduced the "historic missions," which oriented the PLA toward a much greater international mission than it had previously undertaken. Supporting this new international mission, the PLA expanded its participation in international military exercises, as well as peacekeeping operations and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions abroad, including its first ever permanent naval deployment abroad in the counterpiracy missions in the Gulf of Aden. Understanding how the PLA matured and developed in the Hu era is critical to understanding the PLA today, and for identifying opportunities to further cooperation between our two militaries.

Contents:

1. Introduction * 2. The "New Historic Missions": Reflections on Hu Jintao's Military Legacy * 3. The Evolution of Core Concepts: People's War, Active Defense, Offshore Defense * 4. What's in a Name: Building Anti-Access/Area Denial Capabilities without Anti-Access/Area Denial Doctrine * 5. Aspiring to Jointness: PLA Training, Exercises, and Doctrine, 2008-2012 * 6. The Role of Informatization in the People's Liberation Army under Hu Jintao * 7. China's Evolving Naval Strategy and Capabilities in the Hu Jintao Era * 8. Second Artillery in the Hu Jintao Era: Doctrine and Capabilities * 9. "Who Cares if You've Been in a War?" Veteran Activism, State Repression, and Civil-Military Relations in Hu-Era China * 10. Toward Strategic Leadership: Chinese Communist Party People's Liberation Army Relations in the Hu Era * 11. Trends in People's Liberation Army International Initiatives under Hu Jintao

Topics and subjects included: new historic missions, informatization, space, cyberspace, nuclear missile policy, PLC-CCA, PLA military diplomacy, veterans policy and grievances, propaganda, suppression of dissent, ASEAN, second artillery.