ABSTRACT
Refashioning Mao’s believes in “Whoever has an army has power”, Xi Jinping is reforming China as well as the global order through the PLA and its military diplomacy. Breaking up from Deng Xiaoping’s “hide and bide” dictum, China under Xi Jinping is increasingly viewing its military diplomacy as a vital tool for advancing its political goals, preserving its national security and attaining the “Chinese Dream”. It is in this regard, that Xi on August 1, 2016, announced the reformation of PLA, both structurally and organisationally, as an integral part of this overall structural reform process. Xi established the ground forces of PLA as a “mighty, modernized, and new-style” military force. He further accelerated PLA’s shift from a traditionally land-based force to a naval power. This has mainly been witnessed in the build-up of the PLA Navy (PLAN); China’s strategy of offshore diplomacy in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI); its and coercive attempts to attain complete reunification with Taiwan; its reclamation of islands in the ECS and the SCS; and its attempts to maintain law and order in Hong Kong vis-à-vis pro-democracy demonstrations. Xi Jinping’s vision of a “new era” of the PLA which urges to strengthen its resilience, preparedness and enhance its combat capabilities was further witnessed during its spat with the Indian army in Doklam in 2017. However, what remains unclear is, to what extent does PLA’s reform and restructuring linked to China’s overall foreign policy in terms of a regional connotation as well as China’s neighbourhood strategy? Further, to what extent is the restructuring of China’s PLA associated with its outreach, namely, (i) Beijing’s regional outlook, (ii) the politicking of the PLA over land and maritime territories, and (iii) an intense economic outreach policy on connectivity and corridors Belt and Road initiative (BRI)? This chapter would thus trace the transformation of PLA through reforms and restructuring under Xi Jinping and argue that such would have wider implications. The chapter would further link the PLA transformation under Xi with China’s growing security and developing foreign policy interests, as China’s PLA aims to attain world-class power.
