<div class="description">
<p>Accompanying the People's Republic of China's (PRC) emergence as a global economic and diplomatic power has been the concurrent phenomenon of its rapid military modernization. This confluence has engendered policy concerns stemming from the notion that if the PRC continues with its current trend of military modernization its regional military influence could at some point potentially rival or surpass that of the United States. This has spawned myriad literature that confronts the subject of the PRC's military modernization. General consensus indicates that the reintegration of Taiwan and countering United States intervention in such a conflict functions as a primary driver behind the PRC's recent military modernization. There is also a modicum of consensus that the PRC's burgeoning global stature has prompted the PLA to also pursue power-projection type endeavors such as sea line of communication (SLOC) defense and protection. Due to the intrinsic  value of naval forces toward these goals, the PLAN functions as a sufficient microcosm through which to identify broad PLA intentions. This thesis objectively surveys the PLAN's modernization in order to determine the extent of the balance between the PRC's military problem sets of Taiwan and SLOC protection as impetus for the PLAN's modern mission paradigm.
</p>
<br>Subjects: People's Republic of China (PRC); People's Liberation Army (PLA); People's Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN); Taiwan; sea line of communication (SLOC)</div>
<div class="fn value">
Cole, James B.</div>
Internet Archive identifier