Beijing's New Defense White Paper

China’s 2008 Defense White Paper, released Jan. 20, offers insight into numerous aspects of China’s ongoing military reform (and conceals just as much). Clearly timed to coincide with the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama, the paper expands on the recent shift in the focus of China’s military, from one primarily of national defense to one more integrated into the overall political and economic foreign policy of the nation. The subtext is that China can be a valuable international partner or a potentially dangerous competitor, depending upon the U.S. attitude.

The White Paper offers the new U.S. administration things it will find positive. China is offering to take on a more active role in international security operations. It is placing the PLA on the table as one option among myriad others in dealing with social, economic and security problems, from counterterrorism and antipiracy operations to humanitarian and peacekeeping operations. China has already hinted, for example, that it might be interested in an expanded role in Afghanistan as part of a comprehensive regional solution. China, which borders Afghanistan, sees the problems there not only as contributing to potential terrorism inside China, but also as part of a larger instability on the Chinese periphery. The balance of relations among India, Pakistan and Afghanistan is of critical concern to China. While the PLA has not been offered up directly, Afghanistan is of key interest to China, and it is a place where Beijing might also be able to give its forces a real-world test of their capabilities and training while expanding China’s role and influence.

But the White Paper also contains aspects the new U.S. administration will find less positive. In the paper, Beijing raises the potential for competition, if not future confrontation, should Washington significantly adjust its current China policy. Beijing has been concerned about the incoming Obama administration from a trade and human rights perspective. The current economic downturn has left Chinese leaders feeling that the new Democratic administration and Congress could scapegoat China and implement protectionist policies. The White Paper reminds the new U.S. administration that China’s economy and military are part of the same policy.

The idea of a more active PLA far beyond China’s shores is only part of the potential competition Beijing warns of in the newest White Paper. The paper also openly states that China’s submarine force now possesses a nuclear counterstrike capability. (Previous reports simply say the Chinese navy was working on its nuclear capabilities.) It also says that China’s military has focused on information and electronic warfare and has accelerated the introduction of third-generation technologies into the PLA. Moreover, the paper says that China now has more precision-guided weapons, and that the military is expanding operations beyond China. It also lays out the process by which the Second Artillery Force, which oversees China’s ballistic missiles, would respond to a nuclear threat or attack. And it adds that the missile force could combine a nuclear response with the nuclear weapons of other branches of service, suggesting the existence of a nuclear triad.

While the White Paper is not directly threatening a more aggressive and confrontational Chinese military, it does suggest that the capabilities for a cooperative PLA are equally applicable to a confrontational one, should the global system evolve in the “wrong” direction. Coming as it did on the day of Obama’s inauguration, the paper is clearly part of a Chinese strategy to shape the new U.S. administration’s views on China from the start. And the message is clear: “The world [cannot] enjoy prosperity and stability without China.”