The US Army War College’s 2023 Conference on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was held February 22 to 24, 2023, at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. The conference, entitled “Decisive Decade: PRC Global Strategy and the PLA as Pacing Challenge,” featured presentations on PRC global and regional strategy, and the PLA’s enabling role by experts from a wide range of academic, media, and government agencies and organizations.
The conference papers better defined the notion of the PLA as a pacing challenge as evidenced by PRC strategies and activities in various regions to build a much stronger appreciation of how PLA operations in these locations matter to each other and the whole of the PRC’s broader national strategy. The event also included presentations on Chinese military deterrence and potential justifications for a cross-Strait conflict following US House Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022.
Specific topics included the PRC’s acceleration of military reforms and its extending reach; how the PRC can use various regional crises to justify military action against Taiwan; countering PRC military strength in Northeast Asia; and the PRC’s growing economic and security engagements with Latin America, Africa, South Asia, Russia, and Europe.
Editors
George R. Shatzer and Joshua M. Arostegui
Contributors
Christopher K. Colley, Lisa Curtis, Travis Dolney, Connor Donahue, James E. Fanell, Šumit Ganguly,
Ron Gurantz, Paul Nantulya, Elizabeth A. Wishnick
Chapter 1 – ©2024 James E. Fanell. All rights reserved.
Chapter 2 – ©2024 Lisa Curtis and Šumit Ganguly. All rights reserved.
Chapter 3 – ©2024 Christopher K. Colley. All rights reserved.
Chapter 5 – ©2024 Ron Gurantz. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
China, People’s Liberation Army, PLA, BRI, Sino-Russian, Chinese security, Chinese military