Publication

This paper analyzes the changing role of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) as China's security strategy shifts from national survival to national development. It exposes the PLA's new focus on building military trust with neighbors, participating in regional security cooperation processes and improving ties with the US and other players. The author identifies challenges to these new missions such as the mutual apprehension between China and its neighbors, strategic suspicions between China and the US, and the potential Sino-Japanese rivalry. He discusses how the PLA can carry out its new tasks while managing these challenges.