For nearly 60 years, the Chinese authorities had vilified Western international interventionism, and in particular American interventionism, swearing on its great gods that the country would never follow the American example of creating military bases everywhere in the world. But, in 2015, Beijing announced the creation of a large military base in the small state of Djibouti, which already houses an American base and a French base, and that the PLA would deploy up to 10.000 men there permanently, creating a first sprain, and of size, in the Chinese convictions so long proclaimed. It seems that today the country is ready to take a new step, with the new bill governing the use of armed force, in order to replace the old text dating from 1997, and now deemed obsolete in view of geopolitical developments.
As often, the new text emphasizes above all the defensive capacities of the country, and on the possibility of resorting to a total or regional mobilization to defend its territorial integrity if it were to be threatened. A sign of the times, it also includes a whole section on the possibilities of intervention of the PLA within an international legal framework, within missions mandated by the UN, so as to protect populations and peace, and to fight against terrorism. But beyond these statements heard, which however shows that today Beijing has great confidence in the effectiveness of its armed forces, the most important changes vis-à-vis the doctrine of 1997 can be summed up in a few words from complete the perimeter of use of the armed forces, these words being, in reality, the bearers of profound changes in the use that will be made of the PLA in the years to come.
There are 75% of this article left to read, Subscribe to access it!
The Classic subscriptions provide access to
articles in their full version, and without advertising,
from €1,99. Subscriptions Premium also allow access to archives (articles over two years old)
